Golden Rod and the 4-H Stone

Rollicking

2008-11-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

What I Have

2008-10-27T19:02:00.001-07:00

Britt + Joy + Weekend at Home + Train Ride + Bonfires + Coldplay Concert + Detroit + Road Trip with New Friends + Autumn + Winter + Life + One Point and Shoot Sony Camera

The only thing I need now is my camera's battery charger.

Race Recap: Men's Health Urbanathlon, Chicago

2008-10-20T21:18:00.001-07:00

I finished the second, and potentially final, fall race of my schedule this past Saturday. It was the Men's Health Urbanathlon, a roughly 10.5 mile race through the heart of Chicago. The twist with this race is that I entered as the first leg of a three person relay team (my two teammates were some friends from Pritzker) and that the course contains a series of obstacles.

It was a good race - I don't have any official times, but my 3.4 mile leg of the race was finished in, at most, 22:00 flat (and most likely less, as I stopped my watch...only to find my hand must have slipped a few minutes later when the watch was still running). That translates to a 6:29/mile pace and a roughly 20:09 5K. That's about where I wanted to be three weeks out of my half marathon training, and I'm ready to put down some good miles over the winter time.

The race itself was slightly bizarre for someone used to more traditional road races - there were no mile markers to speak of, so I wasn't able to pick up any mile splits. Similarly, I had no idea where the end of my leg was, and never really started a kick of any sort. Instead, I turned a corner to find my teammate and a multitude of our fellow racers waiting for the handoffs. So who knows how things could have turned out, especially if this was a traditional 5K that lacked the construction hurdles and tubes (my obstacles).

Overall result: our team finished 16th out of 186 or so male teams, running the 10.5 mile race in 1:22:42. I had the intermediate leg of sorts, as our second runner had a roughly 5.4 mile run and our third runner had a roughly 2.7 mile run (including a run up the side of Soldier Field and climbing an 8 foot wall before the finish line). My leg was the easy way out compared to those guys!

Break It Down

2008-10-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Gospel (Lk 10:25-37) for today is one of my favorites:

"There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
"Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law?
How do you read it?"
He said in reply,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself."
He replied to him, "You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live."

Race Recap: Banco Half Marathon, Chicago, 9/14/2008

2008-09-14T15:24:00.002-07:00

Well, the Banco Half came and went. The conditions were less than ideal - a strong wind, rain, and cold temperatures made my half marathon debut an interesting race. Mile splits are below:

Mile 1: 9:06
Mile 2: 17:18 (8:11)
Mile 3: 25:44 (8:26)
Mile 4: 34:20 (8:36)
Mile 5: 42:46 (8:25)
Mile 6: 51:16 (8:29)
Mile 7: 1:00:24 (9:08)
Mile 8: 1:08:16 (7:51) <- ?!?!
Mile 9: 1:17:10 (8:54)
Mile 10: 1:26:27 (9:17)
Mile 11: 1:37:01 (10:34) <- bathroom break
Mile 12: 1:46:24 (9:22)
Mile 13.1: 1:56:26 (10:02 for 1.1 mile)

My plan for pacing was anywhere between 8:20 a mile and 9:10 a mile for the first 10 miles, and then I would see what I had left in the tank for the last 5K. I wanted to start slowly for the first 4 or 5, as well.

You can see that I took it easy for the first mile, mainly out of necessity due to the massive number of runners. Miles 2-6 were just about where I wanted them to be, but then Mile 7 was a little bizarre, for whatever reason. I recall cramping up a bit in my quads around the seventh mile marker, so I tried to pick it up over the 8th mile to compensate. Obviously, I overshot by running a 7:51 mile, much faster than I would have preferred at that point.

I really started to feel it after the 7:51 mile, as evidenced by miles 9 and 10, and also started to feel the pasta, cookies, and oranges I ate the night before the race (I wasn't able to fully digest the food by the onset of the race). I limped through the last three miles.

My new insoles never arrived - they'll probably get here tomorrow. The knees definitely hurt this afternoon, but not as badly as I feared they would, and I should be running again tomorrow or Tuesday morning. I did notice, though, that my legs felt more banged up in the later miles than they did during my two 13.1 mile training runs. So I suspect that the new insoles would have helped improve the last 5K of today's race. Some new Asics would have been even better.

Overall, I was satisfied with the race. I thought I had a serious shot to go sub-1:50 today, but the beat up shoes, old insoles, difficult conditions, and strain of carrying my meal from last night were a bit much to overcome. It's OK, though - this was my first race in more than 4 years, and, as my races always are, it was a terrific learning experience and the sheer magnitude of the event was something completely novel. Of the factors that hampered my performance, all but one (the extreme weather) were preventable, and should be nonfactors in my next race.

So, in the end, I've learned the following:

1) I need to eat less food earlier in the evening the night before a half marathon. I also need to attempt to use the same eating patterns for my long training runs that I do for the eventual race so that I can tweak my eating habits as needed.
2) I need to arrive at the race earlier than I did today, and I shouldn't walk to the race. I walked from my place to the starting line, a good 12-15 block walk, after meeting with two of my classmates who also ran the race. On a day like today, with the flooding and winds, spending time walking around with water-logged shoes before a race even begins is tremendously energy-consuming.
3) I need to improve my pure foot speed. I basically jumped from my winter training plan, which was used simply to get back into shape, to the half plan without doing any basic 5K workouts. I don't have any idea what my 5K time is right now, but I'm guessing it's at least 22:00 or 23:00. If I could shave some minutes off that before my next training cycle, especially by utilizing a training plan that maintained at least 60 min long runs on Sundays, than my next distance race should be a significant improvement over the Banco Half.
4) I need to make sure my shoes/insoles are sufficient.
5) I need to make sure my gear is ready to go. My Suunto heart rate monitor died about 1/4 in the race, and I suspect it was the battery of the watch (I changed the heart rate strap battery two weeks ago). If the last 5K of this race was problematic due to endurance issues, they likely could have been remedied by simply having a functional heart rate monitor.

Overall, my self-grade for the race was a B+ (or an A-, even, given the conditions). There are two shorter races coming up this fall that will finish up my fall training cycle: the Chicago Men's Health Urbanathlon, which I'm running as a tri with two of my class mates, and (potentially) an 8K, the Hyde Park Gargoyle Gallop. Then it's on to winter, and then hopefully a 5K or two, a spring half, and (maybe) a full marathon.

Mileage Charts

2008-09-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

For whatever it's worth, I've included some graphs of my mileage over the past number of months and weeks:

I'm A Little Nervous

2008-09-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

About the pain that presented itself in my outer knee when I finished my 4.2 mile tempo run this morning. It lingered throughout the morning and early afternoon, then went away in the evening. The same thing happened yesterday.

The shoes (seen in my last post) will have, as of tomorrow, 301 miles on them and they're lighter weight Asics. Most of my training has been on asphalt and concrete, so it would make sense that this pair is getting worn out around this time. It's disappointing, though, that the shoes have started their last leg during my taper for the half.

Anyways, there's no way I'll be able to pick up a new pair of Asics before the race. I have a 2 mile tune up run tomorrow, then I'm off until Sunday morning. I also have some new insoles arriving on Friday or Saturday. So I'm hoping that the taper, along with the new insoles, will get me through this race unscathed.

Grading Myself for this Sunday

2008-09-08T20:10:00.001-07:00

A: sub 1:50
B+: sub 2:00
B: sub 2:10
C: finishing

That's really about it. After four years away from racing, it feels pretty fantastic just to be back in a position to do this sort of thing.

A Man Without A Party

2008-09-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's too bad that Rove & Co. buried McCain in the South Carolina primary of 2000. The last third of McCain's speech tonight probably reminded a good number of independents and moderates why they supported him so strongly back then and throughout the early years of the Bush presidency. It's a shame the guy sold out along the way.

My own disillusionment started with this.

Well...

2008-08-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

That was quite good - the exact speech that he needed to give.

Keira Knightley v. Breast Enhancement

2008-07-30T21:55:00.001-07:00

She refuses to allow studio execs to digitally enlarge her breasts in upcoming promos - an admirable stand.

McCain Goes Negative.

2008-07-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

We knew it was coming, especially when Steve Schmidt joined the McCain camp. But the reasonably civil, rational debate that the likes of Andrew Sullivan and Matthew Yglesias expected has now been thrown to the curb, at least by the Republicans, in favor of the new highly negative ads produced by the McCain folks. It's an act of desperation for a stale, bungling campaign that has failed to generate any enthusiasm at any level, whether it be from small donors, the blogosphere, live audiences, the participants in Web 2.0 (McCain has 8,704 subscribers on his YouTube channel; Obama has 65,248- even Ron Paul has 53,326 subcribers!), or the voting public - see the trend at Pollster.com's National Poll of Polls. The new ads are, at best, juvenile indeed:

There are roughly 98 days left until the election. It's disappointing to think that these two ads may only be the beginning.

Recent Addition to Reading List

2008-07-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Lolita, Vladimir Nobokov

So.....

2008-07-26T00:02:00.001-07:00

I'm done moving.

2008-07-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

An update:

Finished:
Hunting for Hope, Scott Russell Sanders
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
True at First Light, Ernest Hemingway
A Man Without A Country, Kurt Vonnegut
The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, Charles Bukowski
Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality, Dr. Pauline Chen
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death, Jean-Dominique Bauby
How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

In Progress:
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, Atul Gawande
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, Atul Gawande
Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Summer Reading List (Evolving)

2008-06-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Here's what I have so far (bolded titles have been finished):

Hunting for Hope, Scott Russell Sanders - written by my favorite professor at IU

On the Road, Jack Kerouac - a classic, and the timing feels right

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, Robert M. Pirsig - the subject matter intrigued me

True at First Light, Ernest Hemingway - it's Hemingway. I can't go wrong.

A Man Without A Country, Kurt Vonnegut - it's Vonnegut. I can't go wrong.

The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship, Charles Bukowski - a different strain of Bukowski

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond - recommended by an IU professor in order to 'round out any quality liberal arts education'

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson - recommended by same professor that recommended Diamond, for the same reason

Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut - I've never read it, for some reason

Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality, Dr. Pauline Chen - on the Pritzker reading list, and something I've been interested in for some time now

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, Atul Gawande - another quality book recommended by the Pritzker folks

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, Atul Gawande - Pritzker, again

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death, Jean-Dominique Bauby - Pritzker, again, and I've heard good things

How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman - Pritzker, again.

Choke, Chuck Palahniuk - written by Fight Club author. Involves a dropout med student. Interested?

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Pritzker, again. Good things, again.

Finish the Harry Potter series

The list will evolve as I finish some of these works, I'm sure. There's also quite a few of books from the Pritzker recommended reads list - I'm partially following the list for two reasons: I've never been a fan of medically-oriented TV shows (Scrubs, ER, etc.). This is primarily because I don't watch TV all that much and secondly because I find other things more worthwhile. The second reason is that my exposure to medical literature is limited and doesn't extend far beyond Michael Crichton, sadly. So I hope to resolve that situation.

Medical Specialties

2008-05-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to keep an open mind regarding one's future when a financial aid information sheet asks:

"Name of medical specialties under consideration:

Specialty #1)
Specialty #2)
Specialty #3)"

That question, along with, "Are you considering primary care as a specialty?", is geared toward third years, or at least one would think. But it lends a sense of immediacy to my summer.

Prediction

2008-04-27T18:35:00.001-07:00

If Hillary gets remotely close to securing the nomination, or if she does, Evan Bayh will be named her VP candidate. He helps win votes in a red state, brings a Midwestern flavor to the ticket (since Hillary disowns her own roots except when she's, you know, campaigning in the Midwest), and he's been used to offer a moderate dimension to the national Democratic scene before (see the DNC from a few years back).

In doing so, Bayh would finally receive the national PR he needs to make a legitimate run at the White House - his campaign stalled early on this year, but I think it's interesting that he still dropped out earlier than what most expected. Maybe it was some early signal calling on the Clinton campaign's behalf; they did, after all, anticipate having the election wrapped up by Super Tuesday.

Why Clinton Always Asks For A Debate

2008-04-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

Days before the next primary - it's simple, really. She knows that the more time Barack spends on the ground, traveling from locale to locale, the worse it is for her campaign. Generally, the advantage Barack has from a day on the road is significantly greater, considering his lack of name recognition and voters' skepticism of a young first term Senator, than it is for Hillary, considering her household name and familiarity.

Thursday In Bloomington

2008-04-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

Cubs Win over the Brew Crew, Crean starts to settle in, I'm essentially done for the week (academically, my lab work remains on the docket), Initiation for the chemistry fraternity is tomorrow evening, my graduation date is officially set, and I'm struggling to find time to make it to 4 graduation ceremonies (Biology, Biochemistry, English, University-wide) during the span of one Saturday.

We'll see how it works.

Stories Like This

2008-03-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Break your heart.

Money quotes:

"it is walking on that thin line between sanity and insanity. that feeling of total abandonment by a government and a country you used to love because politics are fighting this war......and its a losing battle....and we’re the ones ultimently paying the price.
Ryan Wood, Myspace blog, Adhamiya"

"A few days ago I realized why I am here in Baghdad dealing with all the gunfire, the rocket attacks, the IEDs, the car bombs, the death. I have only been here going on a month and a half. Already I have seen what war really is... but officially its called “full spectrum operations.” No I don’t down Bush, he is my CinC, and I think he is doing an good job with what Clinton left him. I don’t debate why we are involved in Iraq. I just know why I am here. It is not for the smiling Iraqi kids, or the even the feeling of wearing the uniform ( it feels damn good though :) . I am here for the soldier on patrol with me.
But why are you there in the states. Why are you having that nice dinner, watching TV, going out on dates...
Daniel Gomez, e-mail to friends and family. Sept. 27, 2006"

Running, Part II

2008-02-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

As of yesterday's run, I doubled my mileage from January to February.

Conditions are crazy here in Bloomington, though. Most of the roads I run on have a good amount of traffic, and some of those roads are extremely narrow residential thoroughfares. This means that I often have to run on the sidewalk, which I try to avoid due to cracks in the sidewalk tripping me up. Running on asphalt is generally better for your legs than concrete, as well.

But yesterday, the roads were icy and crowded, so I did my run on the sidewalks. In some locations, it was fine - for some reason, a narrow path of non-ice had been carved out on the sidewalk. But in other spots, it was quite treacherous, and the entire path was frozen over for a number of yards. That slowed down my pace quite a bit, but it was still a good run.

McCain and Lobbyists

2008-02-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

Regarding the Times story that broke today about McCain: this about as huge of a blow to McCain's chances at this stage in the game as one could imagine. Imagine this scenario: these allegations turn out to be false, Iseman and McCain clear up the currently muddied waters, and the Times somehow offers an apology for this story.

That would never happen - the story seems solid, and it follows the Rovian formula of attacking your opponent on his or her strongest issue. For McCain, it's his persona as a straight-shooting, honorable kind of guy. This is somewhat ironic, considering McCain's sharp attacks on Obama's oratory over the past two weeks.

But imagine this story is retracted. The damage is still done. What has happened? People unaware of McCain's checkered past with lobbyists and insider deals is now brought back up to the surface for political newcomers to see. Obama's talking points about removing or curbing the influence of lobbyists acquires a greater resonance. McCain loses momentum and is put on the defensive: is this the type of experience that he expects from Obama? These are things that can't be undone even in the wake of a retraction.

No, this is not very good for the McCain team.

And the actions of Alcalde & Fay don't offer much support for their lobbyist - they removed her bio from the firm's webpage.

The side note on all of this is why the Times held on to the story for so long - the Huffington Post is all over this issue. It seems, though, that the McCain team has been aware of the story for quite some time and has been fighting its publication. So no, it doesn't appear this was some sort of surprise for the GOP until after the primaries were all-but-finished. It does make one wonder, though - if you're the Republicans at the convention, how do you handle this?

A Surprise

2008-02-11T22:20:00.000-08:00

The new Microsoft Office 2008 for Macs is actually quite good, considering how badly flawed the 2007 edition is for PC.

Running

2008-02-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

I've already logged more miles during the month of February than I logged through September, October, and November combined.

It feels good to be done with interviews.

Giants Win!

2008-02-03T19:40:00.001-08:00

What an amazing game. How many great plays were there for the Giants? Watching the Giants defense was watching hard-nosed, smashmouth football at its finest. It's going to be a long time before we forget this one.

What strikes me about this game: 1) the Giants just flat-out wanted this one more, and they wanted it badly. The defense was incredible - play after play, they kept on coming after the Patriots, bottling up holes, hitting hard, roughing up Brady. 2) Eli Manning - what type of maturation has this been for him since the Patriots and Giants first matched up during the regular season? What about the tremendous scramble and throw he made after being bottled up and grabbed? Amazing play from Manning - if you can't single out one individual on the Giants defense, then Eli deserves the MVP, which he did win. 3) Belichick's lack of class. Who walks off the field before the game's even done, after congratulating only the opposing coach. He didn't congratulate the Giants defensive players, or Eli, or Burress, or anyone. He just walked off. I suppose it's the same person who videotaped a Super Bowl practice just prior to one of the narrowest victories in Super Bowl history (the Rams). Completely classless. 4) On the flipside, how good must it feel to be Tom Coughlin? You go from being on the brink of losing your job to winning the Super Bowl over the 'greatest team ever'. Cheers to that guy.

It's February

2008-02-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

And the birds outside my bedroom window are chirping away. The weather has been beautiful this weekend - 33 degrees today, but it feels warmer because the sun is bright and the snow outside has melted. No ice is left on the sidewalks, either, which made my run yesterday feel much less treacherous than the one I did on Friday evening, when I nearly fell on three or four separate occasions.

Republican Debate

2008-01-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

I caught the last five minutes or so of the Republican debate this evening.

It's very difficult for me to envision either Romney or McCain defeating an Obama-led ticket in the fall. I'm a fan of McCain, but he seemed surprisingly arrogant in his exchanges with Romney. Mitt was the same as ever - you don't believe 85% of the words that come out of his mouth. This is an incredibly weak Republican field, as a whole, though. I'm still shocked that Huckabee hasn't caught on to a greater degree.

Oh well. We'll see what happens in a few days, but it appears as if my Huckabee prediction has already been proven incorrect. It's still incredible to think that McCain campaign workers in New Hampshire were losing their posts as recent ago as the dog days of summer. Hopefully John can come full circle; I still have hope that a McCain-Obama contest would bring a new civility to national politics.

Obama and South Carolina

2008-01-26T22:30:00.000-08:00

I can't believe some of the things I'm reading in the wake of Barack's landslide South Carolina victory. Witness what some of the Republicans over at National Review's Corner are saying:

Peter Wehner discusses Obama's ability to rise above the typical political fray:

"Barack Obama's speech tonight was simply exceptional — and a reminder of why he is one of the most remarkable political talents in our lifetime. He was able to speak in ways that seem to rise above conventional politics, even as he was able to masterfully push back against the Clinton attacks of the last several weeks. His capacity to touch and stir authentic emotions is remarkable. And unlike Clinton and especially Edwards, the Obama message is about unity, not divisions; and hopes rather than grievances. If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, Republicans have a great deal to fear. He has tremendous break-out potential."

And then he continues:

"Politics is, at the end of the day, about ideas and philosophy, not simply rhetoric. But, as all the great presidents have shown, rhetoric matters, too. Beyond that, Hillary Clinton is a conventional liberal, as is Obama; the difference is that Obama is a graceful and dignified person who draws people to him rather than drives them away. He is impossible to dislike. And when you see Obama and Clinton together, or back to back, is there any doubt who is the more impressive person — or the more formidable political figure?"

And then Rich Lowry says:

"That was not only a stirring victory speech by Obama, but a devastating rebuke to the Clintons clothed in inspirational liberal terms.

Obama embraced diversity, the subtext being that Hillary can't win blacks and is depending on keeping him from winning whites; he said that the old politics objects even to saying that Republicans have ideas, a dig at Hillary's ridiculous attacks on what he said about Republicans formerly being the party of ideas; he said that the old Washington thinking values time spent in Washington and proximity to the White House, a slap at Hillary touting her time as First Lady; he attacked Washington lobbyists, when Hillary has defended their role in the process; he said we can overcome racial categories, a rebuke to the Clinton strategy of polarizing the campaign along racial lines.

Then, he grounded his message of hope in Edwardesque stories illustrating the need for better health care, education, and wages—a lunch-bucket appeal. Near the end, there was a soaring call for national unity, echoing his famous 2004 convention speech, "I didn't see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina, I saw South Carolina." And he framed his fight with Hillary, in another reference to the way she and her husband have fought this campaign, thusly, "It's not about black versus against white, it's the past versus the future." Ouch. And when he said the old politics was about "divisions, distractions, and drama," could there be any three words better suited to describe Clintonian attack politics?

Overall, a stunningly deft performance, and a moving one. It's the best liberal case you'll ever hear for moving on from the Clintons."

And then David Freddoso:

"He is getting above the fray right now. I really think it will work for him in the future. Clintonian politics may have died tonight — but let's not say such a thing too hastily.

Hillary fled without a concession speech because a 30-point defeat, after the disgraceful, negative, and even at times racially charged campaign she ran, is an embarrassment.

By the way, did anyone else notice the cable networks cutting Bill off earlier?"

What a win. Here's Barack's speech:

Lance Armstrong and NYC Marathon

2007-12-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

The commentary at the end of this clip is amusing:

Armstrong ended the marathon at 2:46:43 (13 minutes faster than his prior year's finish).

Shawshank Redemption, Revisited

2007-12-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

This story reminded me of one of the epic films of our time:

"All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the knub. I remember thinking it would take a man 600 years to tunnel through the wall with it. Ol' Andy made it in less than twenty."

Obama and Primary Voting, part II

2007-12-10T15:41:00.001-08:00

A brief excerpt from one of my experiences has been posted over at Andrew Sullivan's blog. You can find it here.

Obama Primary Voting

2007-12-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

Barack's going to get the Democratic nod, I think. He's statistically tied with Hillary in Iowa and trending strongly upward there, whereas Edwards and Clinton both have been stagnant in the polls for quite some time. Obama's supporters are more likely to caucus than those of the other candidates, as well.

Then, you turn to New Hampshire and see the same thing occurring in the Granite State, with Obama starting to trend strongly upwards there, as well. Judging by the Pollster data alone, it appears that his support stems directly from Clinton dissidents (and Gore supporters, many of whom I assume initially supported Hillary):

The GOP version of Barack is, of course, Huckabee, who is going to lock up the GOP nomination fairly soon. His polling patterns directly duplicate Obama's, except those patterns are even more dramatic in the case of the former Arkansas governor.

The race then turns to Huckabee v. Obama; Obama carries (and strongly) the female vote, along with the typical Democratic states, and he makes substantial inroads into the swing states. Regarding voting demographics: I'm guessing he'll carry everything up to and including 40 and 50 year olds. The under 30 crowd is going to be a complete wash for him, and I think that group will be fairly mobilized. Obama's going to be declared President in 2008, barring any catastrophic revelations. I'm now on the record, let's see if I call it as accurately as the 2004 election.

It Must Be Finals Time

2007-12-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

I heard a "THUMP" while studying for finals last evening at the Wells Library. I looked to my right and saw the following:

It's a little blurry because I took the picture with the iSight camera on my MacBook Pro and was in the process of turning the computer when the camera snapped. The young lady stayed in this position for about six or seven minutes.

Night Shifts and Cancer

2007-12-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

I'm listening to NPR right now. They're interviewing an AP writer about a recent report that ties night shifts to an increased risk of cancer.

The interviewer just asked the AP writer something along the lines of: "Do you think this report will have a large impact in the business world, or do you think it will be largely ignored?"

AP writer: "I think it will have a huge impact on the business community."

My response? Righhhhhhhtttt. This report's not going to have a significant impact at all, unless the government steps in.

Reined In

2007-11-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

(Photo - MATT DETRICH / The Star)

Pretty good weekend for football.

Colts lose to Pats - the arrogant Colts fans on campus have to realize they can't run their mouths 24/7.
Adrian Peterson throws down a monster game - Billy, you guys have something special up north.
The Pack wins - hey the Bears had a bye, I had to cheer for my number 2 team.
IU gets 6 - we'll need one more to truly be bowl eligible, but hopefully that will come against Northwestern this weekend, and/or Purdue after that (I'll be there).
Drew Brees continued to redeem himself after a terrible start this season - my fantasy team is finally reaching its potential.
Notre Dame loses to the Navy Midshipmen - probably my favorite aspect of this weekend. The talking point among the Irish fans has been the poor quality recruits that Ty Willingham had and that Charlie Weis has inherited. Well guess what? No matter how poor those recruits were, they were better than Navy's. The Irish were out-coached.

Space

2007-10-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Guardian just released a report covering the work spaces and studies of various writers. After passing over most of the pictures, I think David Lodge (top) and Mark Haddon possess the rooms that I would be most inclined to include in my own home:

Haddon's room strikes me as being incredibly personable: the wood floor, the doors at the end of the room, the art, the odd light fixture. His chair is also intriguing. My only concern is it seems to be a very warm feeling space, and I would most likely have difficulties remaining awake while burning the midnight oils. It also strikes me as being somewhat dim. I'd pop a few lights in there, brighten it up. That would help with the whole issue of warmth, as well. But I find the prospect of walking out those doors and finding a garden of some sort is incredibly tempting.

Lodge's space is all about business, and I despise the floor. Other than that, though, it seems incredibly well-suited to churning out pages upon pages of essays, or perhaps opening up the Biochem book. I love the windows and the overhead adjustable lights. The bookcase being situated behind the desk is also a nice touch - it opens up the space a bit. If it were my space, I'd ditch the telephone.

I'll post a picture of my own space some time soon, perhaps a 'before' and 'after' cleaning picture, as well. Obviously, it doesn't even approach the level of these spaces, but I suppose that's part of the dreams we possess as students.

Because Fall is Here

2007-09-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

"I lie in thick grasses covered with sun and listen to the music made there."
-Janisse Ray, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood

(Photo from Luzern, Switzerland)

Interviews, etc.

2007-09-27T11:41:00.001-07:00

I never seem to blog.

Interviews for medical school have been going well - visiting the various schools and programs is enjoyable. Seeing various parts of the country that I've never been to before has also been a treat. It's also interesting to notice the different types of students the various schools attract. My method, though, has been to schedule one interview per week, on a Wednesday. Last week I had a visit scheduled on Tuesday, followed by another trip on Wednesday. Five flights in three days, followed by English papers on Thursday and a Biochemistry exam on Friday. It's tiring, but enjoyable.

Fall seems to be knocking on the door, as well - I can't wait for the trees to change in Bloomington.

The following photo is from a trip Britt and I took to McCormick's Creek toward the end of summer.

Cute

2007-08-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

2007-08-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

So, I'm kind of itching to blog again.

A Little Something Going In The Blog...

2007-05-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Billy Collins, with animation

2007-05-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across some of his poetry on YouTube; here's one of my favorites.

SPIN

2007-05-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Check it out:

Backpacking Home

2007-05-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

After three months of pasta, new types of courses, 12 countries, and immersion in countries where the best I could often hope for was to pick out single words in other languages, I'm back in the States.

After the conclusion of my academic program on April 24th, I packed up my belongings in three cases: my checked bag, my carry-on, and a small backpack. The first two were to remain in Firenze until it was time for me to depart from Europe. The third would accompany me as I traveled through Western and Central Europe (Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany again, France, Belgium, the Netherlands).

It's really quite amazing how being forced to live out of a backpack, along with a short time span, can force an individual to pursue certain actions. For example, I decided against spending the night in hostels or hotels, opting instead to remain on sleeper trains. By doing so, I could explore a location for a full day, head to a train station, sleep, and arise in an entirely different nation. It also meant that shaving would be a luxury, as the water from faucets on sleeper trains is less than desirable and would likely have dire consequences if mixed with razor burn. Second, sleeper trains don't include showers. Enough said.

High points of my backpacking experience were numerous, but a few particularly stand out in my mind:

1) Time in Germany with Sue, Sebastian, and Sue's family. Sue was an exchange student while Brittany was in high school, and her hometown is located in southern Germany. We stayed at her home for a weekend, eating well-cooked German meals and enjoying breakfasts on a porch overlooking a valley in which gliders noiselessly circled, riding the drafts of a warm spring time morning.

2) Vienna with Billy and Petra; Billy (a link to his blog is on the right) was a friend of ours from the Firenze program; his girlfriend Petra was studying in Vienna for a few weeks after the conclusion of our semester. We met up with them in Vienna, and they pointed out some interesting tidbits about the often stunning architecture present in Austria.

3) Krakow. I had low expectations for my 3/4 homeland, expectations that were diminished primarily by the opinions of Americans traveling or residing in Germany. Those expectations were wonderfully exceeded by a city that was surprisingly clean, with a low number of tourists, a large number of backpackers, and enough churches and walking paths to occupy an entire day (which, if not for a visit to Auschwitz, they would have accomplished). The cheap prices of basic goods in Poland also can't be beat.

4) Paris. Say what you will about the French, but I do believe that they have the best large city in Europe, at least from what I've seen. I wasn't overly impressed by London, which is a somewhat blasphemous statement for an American student to make, but Paris has everything London does, yet it offers more fun and excitement. Plus, it's more beautiful, extravagant, and clean than the British cultural center. London has the National Gallery and the Tate; Paris has the Louvre. London has Big Ben; Paris has the Eiffel Tower. And so on and so forth...

Thoughts on some of the other locations I visited:

1) My visit to Auschwitz was not as emotionally challenging as I expected - it felt more like a ghost town than the terrible facility that we read about in horror. There were three primary death camps set up by the Germans, along with 40 subcamps, in the area; the first of which, the most famous of the three and the one that I decided to visit, was nearly completely destroyed by the Nazis as the Allied marches placed the camps in imminent danger of being located and documented. This resulted in the camp being nearly completely dismantled in certain portions (for example, the gas chambers no longer contained the infamous shower heads). Auschwitz II, which was larger and located up the road from Auschwitz I, is supposedly much larger and emotionally charging. This isn't to say that Auschwitz is not worth a visit. Rather, it's probably a good idea to spend an hour or two at the first camp and then follow this visit with a trip to Auschwitz II. I missed out on the second camp, and I regret not being able to see it.

2) Prague had a nice international feel to it, with more European tourists floating around the town than there were Czechs. They were very few Americans. Even so, it still felt as if the city had sold-out, ever so slightly, to tourism and lost some of its charm (this charm was still present in Krakow, and visiting the latter city back-to-back with Prague made this evident).

3) Belgium and the Netherlands were OK to look at, but we didn't really do all that much in either one (commuted through one, slept in the other).

It's nearly 2 AM and I'm tired. Goodnight.

An Explanation Is In Order...

2007-03-30T03:46:00.000-07:00

For my lack of both blogging and photos.

The first month I was here in Firenze, my Dell Inspiron 1150, which I've had since my freshman year at IU, crashed. The screen went black, even though the components could be heard engaging (although very quietly, and the fan didn't seem to be working). Two weeks before I left for Italy, my hard drive crashed, so I had just replaced the hard drive on the laptop, and had a feeling this new problem was slightly more serious.

Turns out, the motherboard was toast. So for the past few months, I haven't had a computer of my own, and Brittany's laptop can't upload pictures due to a busted USB port. So all my pictures are on other computers, and it takes upwards of three to four hours to load my full-sized photos on Yahoo. So I haven't uploaded anything.

This lack of computing hardware also may be blamed for my lack of blogging. Granted, we have access to the Net here at school, but I hate blogging on public computers in a crowded room. It's hard to concentrate, and access to the hardware is limited.

I have three more weeks here in Florence, and then I'll be backpacking across Europe for ten days. When I return, I'll promptly order a Apple MacBook Pro laptop (I've had enough of Dells, PCs, and all my friends love their Macs. So I'm going to make the switch, especially now that I can run Windows on a Mac - even though I doubt I will, given the raves about OS X).

That's all for now.

Long time, Little blog

2007-02-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

Quite a bit has happened since my last post, but I'll try to be brief.

Since the span between January 19th and February 21st, I've visited the following cities:

Fiesole
Pisa (Leaning Tower, Cathedral of Pisa)
Lucca (inside of the walls)
Rome (primarily the Vatican City)
Sienna (Cathedral of Sienna, the main square)
San Gimignano

I've also visited the following places in Florence:

The Piazza of Michelangelo, which overlooks the city of Florence (all those postcard shots of the city you see are taken from this Piazza)
The Academy
Santa Croce
San Lorenzo Leather Market
Pitti Palace
The Uffizi Gallery
The Bargello Museum
The Medici Palace

Which has exposed me to the following artists and their works:

Michelangelo (David, Tondo Doni, Bacchus, Pieta, Julius II tomb, Dome of St. Peter's, Saint Matthew, The Prisoners, ...)
Donatello (Marble David, Bronze David, Saint George, Cavalcanti Annunciation)
Cimabue (Majesty of Saint Trinita, Santa Croce Crucifix)
Giotto (All Saints Madonna, Stigmata, Death of St. Francis, Baroncelli Polypthic)
Boticelli (Madonna del Magnificat, Birth of Venus, Primavera)
Verrocchio w/ Leonardo (Baptism of Christ)
Leonardo da Vinci (Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi)
Brunelleschi and Ghiberti's Baptistry Panels

and other places that I can't remember off the top of my head right now.

But that it's for now, because I'm at school and they're closing down for the evening...

Photos, Take 2

2007-01-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

Here they are:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/bucky_159/

There are plenty more to load, but these are better than the Flickr albums.

Photos

2007-01-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

I've posted some photos of my trip thus far at my Flickr website.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74033623@N00

There are a ton more, but Flickr will only let me load a maximum of 200 on a free account (which is what I have, for the moment). My apologies, as well, for the fact that some of them are sideways. They shouldn't be, and I don't have time to correct them because I'm writing this in an Internet cafe and would prefer to remedy the problem when I'm not being charged €2,00 an hour.

I hope all is well, I'll update in a few days.

Settling Into Florence, Night One

2007-01-19T04:54:00.000-08:00

After we arrived in Firenze (Florence, I will use them interchangeably), our buses dropped us off in a section of town on the West Side, and we started the process of hailing taxis for the trips to our apartments. Lorenzo, the director of the study abroad center (CAPA) I am studying at, was in charge of hailing the cabs, and the process was a long and by no means smooth process. There was a sizeable fashion show in Florence on the night of our arrival, and most of the cabs were busy catering to the throngs of people exiting from the show (we arrived late in the evening). We knew who we would be housed with, and my two roommates, Jeff and JP, and I patiently waited for a taxi, while most of the female students were shuttled off first. We eventually hailed a small Fiat cab, dumped our luggage in the back, and the luggage that didn't fit was nestled in our laps.

My first experience in Italian traffic, aside from the bus, was an enjoyable one. Cars, scooters, and bikes travel inches away from each other, and traffic generally moves very smoothly. Cab drivers in Italy are paid extremely well, and there is no need to tip them - the process of becoming a cab driver is extremely political, with the cost of a cab license being in the six figures. So, if you know somebody, you can be a cab driver and earn good wages. If you don't have connections, you find other means of employment.

We were dropped off outside our apartment, and our landlord and his wife were waiting for us. Neither spoke English well, but the wife could understand very basic phrases. Our Italian was not good enough to effectively communicate, so they showed us around our apartment, and we conversed in a mixture of Italian, Spanish, and English. They were friendly folks, and explained to us that the most important rule was to keep quiet, as the people in our building wake early and need every bit of their sleep.

Our apartment is nice. It's a two bedroom, one bath, with a nice kitchen, a balcony, and another small balcony. We have expansive windows overlooking the street below, and a rustic-looking, Tuscan-styled living room with very comfortable colors on the wall. To reach the apartment, you climb a winding staircase, key open a wrought-iron, antique door, and climb some more steps. The staircase has windows that remind me of portholes, which allow views of the outside from the stairwell. I'll post pictures of the apartment on a photo-sharing website soon.

The landlord also left us a small assortment of groceries and a nice bottle of wine for our first night in the apartment; we wanted a meal, however, so we embarked in search of a restaurant.

A significant difference between Italy and America is the availability of restaurants open late into the evening, and we had difficulty locating a suitable location for dinner. We headed into a local pizzicheria for directions. A pizzicheria is referred to as a 'bar' in Italy, but it's very little like the bars in America. The name 'bar' derives from the fact that, yes, there is a bar with a server, but he or she serves different versions of coffee. The place resembles Starbucks, except there are no seats or scenesters, it's tiny (with room for maybe 15 people packed together), and people are very quiet. You can also order a small pastry, and they provide beer and wine, but very few people drink beer at the pizzicherias. Italians in general seem to drink very little beer, a refreshing difference from America. Heineken is, hands down, the most readily available brand.

Anyways, Jeff asked a local where a restaurant was in English, but the man didn't understand what he meant. Jeff doesn't know Italian, so he resorted to his Spanish skills: "Donde es el restaurante?". JP and I walked away laughing; it was obvious that the locals were quite amused by his lingual abilities. Regardless, a local girl caught the gist of his statement, and gave us directions to a small pizzeria down the street. We had some delicious calzones for €5,00 apiece, headed home, and fell asleep, getting ready for our first full day in Firenze.

Amsterdam, Rome, initial entry into Firenze

2007-01-17T07:12:00.000-08:00

My flight from Amsterdam to da Vinci airport in Rome was on a much smaller jet, which I believe they refer to as a city-hopper here. The flight flew right through the heart of the Alps, and I snapped a few pictures, here's two of them (the current header picture is another one I took):

The approach to Rome was underwhelming. Rome's an expansive city, but da Vinci is situated well outside of the major urban area, and it's very isolated by open ground. I even joked that it seemed as if we were touching down somewhere in the American heartland, and da Vinci was also significantly older than the Amsterdam international airport. Amsterdam had a much more contemporary design, whereas da Vinci resembled a quintessential airport from the 60s or 70s: lots of matte metal and a slightly confusing layout. It also was much more reserved in terms of technology, with a lack of large screen TVs, computers, and other technological items of that sort.

We met some folks from our overseas study program, and the approximately 60 students in the Florence program loaded their belongings onto two buses that basically resembled the Italian versions of Greyhounds in the States. Most of the students had a carry-on on wheels and a larger checked bag. Some of the girls had an additional checked bag. I had my laptop case.

The bus ride was about 4.5 hours long, and I slept for most of the trip. I had only gained 5 hours of sleep on the flight from Chicago to Amsterdam, and I knew that jet-lag would kick in when we settled down in Florence.

I woke up with about 45 minutes left in the bus trip; Italian traffic actually isn't as bad as people told me, and there seems to be many unstated rules of the road. Horns are used extensively, but I didn't observe any incidents of road rage. Generally, vehicles tend to move smoothly, and drivers are intelligent on the road.

Our entry in Florence was through the back part of the city; we entered on the south side of the Arno, the older section of town, but the exit from the highway was on the southwest corner of town, which is lower than the rest of Florence. Consequently, we were robbed of any type of breathtaking view of Firenze during our initial minutes in the city. There were a decent number of hotels most Americans are familiar with: a Holiday Inn, a Hilton, etc, an interesting observation I made before being dropped off to catch a taxi to my apartment.

Chicago -> Amsterdam

2007-01-17T06:38:00.000-08:00

Ciao! I'm behind on posting, so I'll provide a quick recap of my flight from Chicago to Amsterdam on this past Thursday evening. To keep a long story short, I was fairly busy during my last few days in the States, in between finding housing for next school year, taking care of resources (Student ID cards, luggage, Italian dictionary, haircut, etc.) I needed and/or wanted before leaving for Florence, and just trying to enjoy whatever time I had left in America. So most of my packing was put off until Wednesday night, and I finished at about 5 in the morning. On Thursday, Dad and I left Hebron and arrived at about 12:30 at the airport; my flight would leave at 4:30, and Northwest Airlines recommended I arrive three hours earlier since security for an international flight may have been a little tenuous (I tacked on an extra hour just to be safe). Anyways, Dad and I decided that we'd just pull up to the proper terminal for the flight, I'd get out, we'd say our goodbyes, and he'd head on home - there would be no need for him to remain at the airport late, just to see me through security, and then have to drive home on the interstate at night.

Our plan worked well, except that the minute Dad drove off, I realized my wallet (containing all my debit/credit cards, international student id, driver's license, and a small amount of cash) was on the floor of the Ranger! To make things worse, Dad wasn't answering his cell phone. There was no way I could miss my flight, I decided - so I would just use my passport to get through my flights (I wouldn't need ID, as long as there were no problems with my passport), and then I would have my family mail my wallet to me in Firenze.

Thankfully, Dad called me a short while later on his phone to see how things were going. I frantically explained to him to turn around and drop off my wallet. It took him a while to locate the proper terminal, and for me to make my way back through security, but we were able to transfer the precious item with about thirty minutes to spare before my departure. Disaster averted!

The flight itself was a breeze - it was a 6 hour, 45 minute trip, which was actually about 1 hour, 45 minutes shorter than predicted due to a strong westerly tailwind. There wasn't really much to see; about twenty minutes after we lifted off, the sun set and heavy cloud cover resulted in city lights being completely masked. The plane traveled over Newfoundland, the Atlantic, and the middle portion of the UK - the UK was very, very dark, and we were only able to see a small city that was very dimly lit. Our approach into Amsterdam was interesting; the city looks very, very spread out from above, and very flat. The lights on the streets are much more distant from each other than, say, the streets would be in Chicago or Denver, or most modern American cities. Our landing was surprisingly smooth.

We landed in Amsterdam very early, somewhere near 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM local time. The airport had a very eerie feeling about it; the people seemed tired very tired due to the early hour, and the airport was fairly deserted. There was also a very palpable feeling of being in a foreign land, even though it was an international airport. The few people that were up spoke no English; they also had an inclination to speak very quietly. We Americans are surprisingly loud, something that is very evident abroad. I purchased a citrus drink at the airport grocery for €2,35, since the plane cabin had left my mouth dry. For the next two or three hours Britt and I relaxed at a vacant tropical-themed bar, watching the locals filter in for early morning flights until it was time for our flight to depart for the da Vinci airport in Rome.

Here's an example of some local art in Amsterdam:

See my next post for my recap of my arrival in Italy.