Pick #172

The Killers - "Read My Mind" from Sam's Town

Recap of 2009: An Action-Packed Year

Intro

I meant to write this closer to the new year, but got side tracked. I had a bunch of really great things happen to me in 2009. I'm sure I'm forgetting some of them. I'm trying to break them down according to topic...


Academic

I finished my coursework for the PhD program in the Spring semester.

Taught over the summer and I'm reevaluating if I want to teach professionally.

Started on dissertation, but learned that it is illegal for me to get the data I'd need for that topic and had to get a new topic. I got a new topic which should be easier to do because it's kind of an extension of my research .

Athletic
I completed my first marathon in February, my first half ironman at the beginning of summer, and my first ironman in October. I placed really well at the Half. I ran 848.5 miles in 2009. Over the course of my ironman training, I learned more about listening to my body than I have in the past 10 years of running. I was unanimously selected to be the president of the Triathlon Club at FSU. In that role, I hosted a race called "Tri the Rez" at the FSU Reservation. It was put on with pretty short notice and was pretty successful.

Travels
I started travelling at the beginning of summer. Put more miles on my car since the summer began than I have in the past 2 years before that. Let's see if I can remember how it went: 1st week of summer to Panama City Beach for the Gulf Coast Triathlon (Thursday - Sunday), next week to Gainesville for Snyder wedding, back to Tally, to Baton Rouge to see Aunt & Uncle (and Granny was there too by chance!) with side trips to New Orleans and surrounding areas, back to Tally for 2 days when my immediate family came up, spent a day, drove us to Virginia to see extended family...back to Tally then off to Atlanta to fly to Prague. Traveled all around Prague with Carmen and got to see some awesome countryside and castles and nature (and field experiments). Back to ATL to Tally and teaching for the second half of summer...Up to Indiana to see Carmen upon her return...spent time in Bloomington, Bowling Green (IN), Indianapolis. Back to Tally. Clermont for ironman. Weekend trips down to S. FL for Granny's 80th Bday and Thanksgiving (with Carmen!) and Christmas.

House
In April, I got a new gas water heater, gas furnace, gas stove, and energy efficient A/C compressor unit/air handler. I also tried to start a small vegetable garden, but it's pretty weak. I hope to make it better in 2010 after it gets done freezing in Tally. Andrew and Dan moved out and another Andrew and David moved in.

Conclusion

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of stuff. It was an eventful year. I hope 2010 can bring as much excitement, but I'll be alright if it doesn't.

Save Paper and Ink

I thought I would have shared this before, but I'm going to tell you about my favorite way to print things. This works with .pdf files and Microsoft Office documents and maybe other stuff too. It works amazingly well for proof reading essays and taking journal articles to class.

When you go to File -> Print, there will be a section called "Page Handling," probably near the bottom left. Under "Page Scaling," select "Multiple Pages per Sheet." You can have the computer print more than one page of your essay or article on one side of one sheet of paper. For journal articles, I usually put two pages per sheet, then flip on the short edge of the paper (this is an option if you have an automatically duplexing printer...or you can do it by hand if not). For editing double spaced essays, I usually put 4 pages per sheet. I find that this makes it easier to take a sentence or paragraph from one page and move it to another page with just an arrow.

This method saves not only paper and ink, but also time and valuable space in your 3-ring binders.

Pick #171

Willie Nelson - "On the Road Again"

Candelabra Bases Only

I was at Lowe's looking at ceiling fan light kits and noticed a while back that they were making candelabra base kits instead of medium base kits. The medium bases were getting phased out. Back then candelabra base CFLs were really expensive. I wondered why anyone would want to buy the candelabra base kit when that means that they'd have to keep special bulbs around just to put in their ceiling fan's light kit.

Just this week, I was looking at ceiling fan light kits again and I couldn't find a single medium base kit. Found the reason why: government regulation. It's kind of stupid...because of the way they define ceiling fan, none of the fans in my house would be subject to the regulation...apparently it's not a "ceiling fan" unless it's mounted with a down rod. The reason I can't get medium base light kits for my fans is because the light kits for my fans are compatible with other fans that are installed with down rods (and my fans came with the option for a down rod).

Pick #170

Velvet Underground - "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"

(this post is a few days late)

Krispy Kreme Challenge

This race looks awesome. I'm doing it.

http://studentunitedway.org/events.htm