Logs From Spring '07

Week: 120 min bike. Hmm, not sure what's going on with the knee. I hope I don't need to get knifed, but if that's what it comes down to, so be it. I guess I'll see when I can get an appointment, in the past I haven't been able to get appointments sooner than a week after I called.

Sunday 6/3/07: 120 min bike
After lounging around all morning (no church today, which doesn't really matter to me either way, I'll go if the fams goes), decided to take advantage of a warm day and go cycling in the afternoon. I rode the mountain bike that I usually ride while here. After climbing up to Padua Theater, where a bunch of new houses have been built to just get burned down in the inevitable fire in the hills given the dry weather, cruised down to the bike path through Upland. I took that to Euclid, turned around and rode back through the colleges, then over to Mountain and up to the Thompson Creek Trail, over to Mills and down Mills to the colleges again, and finally back home. I was gone for 2 hours, riding pretty much the whole time, and was quite sweaty when I returned due to the heat. When I got back, I noticed my lungs were really irritated. Damn smog, I'm so glad to not have to deal with it in Santa Barbara. I also think I got a little sunburned, as I was gone longer than I anticipated. Showered, went out for Chinese Food, and then watched the Sox game on TiVo. Unfortunately (fortunately?) the recording ran out just as the bottom of the 9th was starting. The TiVo on the HDTV is a complete piece of junk, apparently, because even though it was always on ESPN while I was catching up, it neglected to continue saving the channel to memory after the recording ended. (That may not make any sense, but in any event it's stupid and terribly designed, you'll have to trust me.) The moral of the story is that I'm going to keep recording baseball games for 3 hours after the fact to be absolutely certain that I don't miss anything (say, if the Sox end up in the Series and I need to record game 4 while at Hodas' wedding). Oh yeah, and mom made a pie in honor of my upcoming 25th birthday on Tuesday, but I only got to eat 1/4 of it (which I was able to do no problem).

Saturday 6/2/07: Rest
Mikey and I headed to Stone Brewing today so that I could pick up some beer and spend some gift certificates on lunch and a growler. Lunch was good, the restaurant there isn't your typical pub grub (which is always a nice change, not that I have anything against brewpubs that make good beer and good pub food). I had a good salad and a bowl of cheddar-garlic-Ruination IPA soup that was delicious. A growler of Stone IPA and we were back on the road so that I could get back in time for Thalman's wedding celebration.

Yeah, surprise, surprise, a Mormon is getting married (I wondered what took him so long). For those not familiar with the procedure, the wedding itself is limited to the immediate family, and the larger celebration is what includes the more distant relatives and friends. They got married 3 weeks ago in Utah, had a reception in Utah, and finally this one in Claremont. Besides myself, Ben was there, as was Rob and his family (his daughter slept through most of it but did wake up a bit before I was about to leave). I believe that this makes 4 times that I've worn pants in 2007 (Yo-Yo Ma, Church twice, and now this). Afterwards, chilled at home before watching The Ring with Matt, Jon, and Wendy and consuming the growler from earlier today. I didn't think it was that scary, only a few startling scenes, but nothing that I thought was subtly creepy (the kind of stuff that, say, The Shining is chock full of). Wendy was rather freaked by the movie, though.

Friday 6/1/07: Rest
Wow, it's June. If you look back over the past year and half, I'm pretty sure that I make a comment like that every month. Time flies. I headed back to Claremont this morning, arriving just in time to have Mexican for lunch with my mom and dad. After lunch I did a little work before heading to my physical therapy appointment. I warmed up on the bike for 10 minutes, then Joe took a look at me, and said he didn't think there was anything else he could do for me. He stuck my on the quad machine to verify that there aren't any imbalances, had me do some exercises with what appeared to be an intern of some sort, and said that I should see the orthopedist again. That worried me, because he seemed to think that a surgical lateral release on my left kneecap is what I may need to fix this (which didn't make me too happy, but maybe that's inevitable given this has gone on for over a year). So I headed home after that, watched some of the Sox game, had dinner, and hung out with Matt, Jon, and Wendy for a bit. I guess we'll have to see when I can see the orthopedist again and then hear what he has to say.

Thursday 5/31/07: Rest
I was able to get myself an appointment with Joe tomorrow afternoon, so it looks like I'm headed to Claremont tomorrow morning. I have some work to do on my paper (not being sick and with my advancement done I don't have any more excuses for putting this off), so I'll take that along with me. There was an interesting talk this afternoon about fluids and aftershocks in earthquakes, I always do enjoy interesting talks. Oh yeah, and for some reason I felt compelled to turn on the end of the 4th quarter of the Cavs-Pistons game. Good Lord that was a fine decision.

Wednesday 5/30/07: Rest
Well, I didn't think that I should run today, my knee felt funny all day. I had my advancement exam this morning, which went fine (I could potentially have myself a master's degree if such a degree wasn't completely meaningless if you have a Ph.D.). My committee spent as much time discussing my research amongst themselves as they spent asking me questions. After that, I did a bit of work, paid my advancement fee, and went home to watch the Sox game (and drink some beer). The Sox lost, but I was in a good mood. Now, if I could only run without problems in my knee, then I might actually get more work done without my complete inability to concentrate and be productive. But alas, I guess that's life, I'm stuck unable to run during a key period of my grad school career.

Tuesday 5/29/07: Rest
Nothing much going on today. Finishing up my talk (I think it's ready to go now), a quick game of bocce, and I caught a bit of the Sox game (it's great to have Beckett back). I'll try running a little tomorrow, 15 minutes depending on how my knee feels. If it starts right away like the last run, I'm going to shut it down, but if it isn't as bad I'll see how it does.

Monday 5/28/07: Rest
Spent the day brewing, looking over some stuff for my advancement, talking to Aidan for a bit, and watching a M*A*S*H marathon during the intervening time. That was a solid show for a long time. Anyways, one more day tomorrow of finishing up this talk, and then it's go time.

Week: 1 run, 2 days of biking. Being sick this week was unpleasant, but I'm glad to be over that. I'm pretty sure that I'm still hurt, I'll give running one more chance this next week (I think Wednesday after I have my advancement exam), but I'm going to try and see Joe either on Friday or Monday. I guess we'll see what I learn from that.

Sunday 5/27/07: Bike
Pretty much another day like yesterday. Well, not exactly, I slept really well last night. After breakfast, the group got together for a ride to Star Farms. I felt great, it was a little chilly but my feet were doing fine as it warmed up a little throughout the morning. We made it to Star Farms without any problems, and I got a chance to open up the throttle a little bit the final 3 miles or so to our destination. I was all the way in the back to start (I was talking with a cyclist from another group as the rest of my party left), and the slowest people had left 10 minutes earlier to try and get there sooner, so once I was sure someone responsible was in the back of the group, I dropped the hammer. Mostly it was to try and catch Daniel, who had gotten a head start (I might have had I not lost my chain right at the end and had to string it back on before the final climb). We had lunch at Star Farms, then most of the group split early to head back (I have no idea why, it was really pleasant at Star Farms). The few of us that remained took a different route back to hit up the winery from yesterday with the train in back. I just chilled outisde and enjoyed the afternoon as I didn't want to walk a bunch with my cleats on and hurt my feet more. Finally, after we lost Kerry to a blown tire and the one scout that was riding with us, we headed back to the fairgrounds. I took a shower, packed my stuff, had dinner, helped the group break camp, and was on the road back to Santa Barbara at 7:15. Another great trip to Great Western, I'll definitely be back next year.

Saturday 5/26/07: Bike
Okay, so I didn't sleep great last night (the fairgrounds where we camped is about 100 yards from the 101), but I did feel good when I woke up around 6 am. After breakfast, I changed into my cycling clothes, got my bike out and ready to go, and just as I was about ready to head over with the rest of my old troop to start the ride I saw the group head out without me. I knew what ride they were going on, and since I am considerably fitter and a faster rider than everyone else save Daniel, there was no worry about me catching up with them. I caught up within like 1/4 of a mile from the fairgrounds, and it was slow going from there. The ride that the group was doing was a ride to the Templeton Farmer's Market, a round trip of 27 miles with a few rolling hills (but nothing serious). At one point, everyone was going too slow for me, so I jumped out in front, and ended up dropping the group fairly easily. We stopped several times along the way, and around noon we arrived at the Farmer's Market for a food/water/rest break at the park there. It was very pleasant, and I had a chance to take off my cycling shoes a bit to rest my feet. I was worried a bit about this weekend, but fortunately it was very warm out all weekend, so my feet were not numb from the cold like I was worried (more on this in a second). We rode back fairly uneventfully, or at least as uneventfully as a bunch of non-cyclists can ride 10 miles.

Back at the fairgrounds, everyone took a break. I had a late lunch, and wanted to go for another ride. I was guessing that the only people I would get to come along were Daniel and Megan (his lady friend), but I did try to get some of the scouts to come along. It ended up being only the three of us, but we went to a winery with a train in the back (I rode there last year on Saturday afternoon if that sounds familiar). Walking through the train in my cleats was hurting my feet a bit, and this was causing them to get really numb from a lack of circulation. This evening when walking around camp I noticed that the spot between my second and third toes was kind of sore (those were the two toes that were numb when riding). It was fairly uncomfortable, on par with the cold feet, but I was able to deal with it riding this weekend. It remains to be seen if this is a problem I need to be concerned about. In any event, it was extremely windy this afternoon, which made the ride a bit of an ordeal, especially since I hadn't dealt with fierce winds with my light racing bike before.

After the ride, we had dinner, and then it felt great to take a hot shower after a long day of riding. I wasn't particularly tired (my toes hurting was limiting my cycling, not my fitness), but it was warm out and being in the sun zapped me a bit. I went to the wine and cheese party to taste some wine and snack a bit, then went back to camp to read for a while before bed. A long but fun day, more tomorrow.

Friday 5/25/07: Rest
Well, I certainly didn't get a good night's rest last night. I went to bed early (9:30), slept a bit before midnight, then just couldn't fall asleep again until well after 2 am. I woke up again at 5:30 in a heavy sweat. And heavy is perhaps an understatement -- I was as sweaty as I would be returning from a summer day's run. My sheets were completely drenched, and when I got up to grab a towel I was totally shivering. I have no clue why this happened, but I toweled off, put a few towels down over my sweaty bed, grabbed my extra blanket and went back to sleep. I got my best sleep of the night between 6 and 8. However, I did feel much better once I woke up. I think I'm over this. I have most of my talk done after being productive at school today, so I can head to Great Western this weekend without too much to worry about when I get back on Tuesday.

I got home in the early evening, packed, loaded up my car, ate a quick dinner, and got gas on my way out of town at 7:30. There wasn't any out of the ordinary traffic, and was on the Fairgrounds a little over 2 hours later. I met up with Daniel Wu, an old friend from scouts, and his girlfriend, pitched my tent, and went to bed, hoping that I'd finally get some good rest tonight.

Thursday 5/24/07: Rest
A so-so day. There was a talk by a prospective post-doc, plus I had a meeting with him and the rest of the earthquake people, so a fairly busy day. I felt okay to ride my bike home (though it was kind of windy, which had me slightly chilly). I'm hoping that another good night's rest will help get my back near 100%, allowing me to go through with my weekend plans. Amusing anecdote from riding the bus to school this morning: a guy wearing a Mighty Ducks hat (I don't care what they say; that team will always be the Mighty Ducks to me) was talking to someone on his cell phone and claiming that the Mighty Ducks were going to sweep in the Stanley Cup Finals. My initial reaction was not, in fact, that the Mighty Ducks were going to the Stanley Cup Finals, but rather that there still exist any hockey fans outside of Canada. That's how irrelevant the NHL is these days: I'm surprised that there are any fans at all.

Wednesday 5/23/07: Rest
This morning I thought I was starting to feel better (the sore throat seemed to be abating), but in the late morning I was not feeling well. I didn't quite feel bad enough that it was a no-brainer to go home and cut my losses, and I was still getting work done, so I hung around school. Around 3 pm I was at the point that I needed to go home, and I hopped on the bus (I didn't feel up to riding my bike home). I went straight to bed when I got home, and 17 hours later as I write this (I've been in bed since then), I'm starting feeling better. Not a pleasant night, at one point I got up to go to the bathroom, and I felt really lightheaded dizzy. We'll see how I feel on Friday to determine if I still want to go to Great Western. I think things should be fine after another good night's rest tomorrow.

Tuesday 5/22/07: 15 min
I headed out from home in the afternoon to see if my knee would be any better or worse than on Sunday. About 3 minutes in, it was clear that my knee was hurting. That's the soonest it's hurt since this injury started, so my gut feeling is that I'm still hurt. I finished the 15 minute run to see if it would get any worse. It kind of depended, sometimes it wasn't bad, sometimes it wasn't too comfortable. It hurt the whole time though. And when I stopped at the end, it hurt the most to walk on it. My right knee didn't hurt today. Oh, and to make matters that much better, I'm in terrible shape. Am I stubborn enough to run again on Thursday? I don't think so. Maybe this weekend I'll do one at Great Western and see if more than one day off makes a difference.

I'm definitely going to see someone in a week and a half. With my insurance expiring, I may have to go back to the folks at student health this summer and see if they think anything different the second time around (and maybe if I tell them up front that I don't want to be coming in more than once every two weeks they will give me more things to do). I doubt that unless there is a dramatic turnaround that I'll be able to do much by July 4th. You know, sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you.

Monday 5/21/07: Rest
I wasn't feeling much better today, and being just a little bit under the weather was enough to keep me out of the weight room. Sore throat was still pretty gnarly, hopefully it won't last too much longer. Got some work done on my talk today, played some bocce, and watched the Sox lose to the Yankees. My knee felt like it hurt a little bit at times (probably not a good sign, but I'll be stubborn and try running tomorrow). I need to make sure that my feet are going to be able to handle cycling this weekend in my shoes without freezing on me, so I need to go for a longer test ride one day this week. Hopefully we'll have warm weather and everything will be fine, but I want to know if I might want to have an extra set of regular pedals standing by just in case.

Week: 15 min, 1 run. The jury's still out on this one, it wasn't as bad, it wasn't pain free, and the right knee hurting some is a real head scratcher. I guess I'll take it, though. I hope to do 3 runs this upcoming week, some cycling at Great Western, more lifting, and find some time to make slides for my advancement talk. So it's going to be busy, but I hope that doing a little bit of running helps. Are things looking up a little? We'll see.

Sunday 5/20/07: 15 min
Well, this is an interesting one. I headed out to test my knee this morning, figuring that it would hurt like usual, but hoping that I would be pain free. In the former case, I would need to see someone again, in the latter I'd start building up a little bit at a time. Instead, some different things happened. First, my knee was hurting a bit at the usual time, but it hurt much less than before. I was able to run for another 6-7 minutes once I felt some pain without the pain getting any worse. And then here's the real head scratcher: my right knee was hurting a little bit in the same place. I finished my 15 minutes, wondering what this all might mean. Right now, I think I'll see if it gets any worse running some more this week, keep up icing and lifting, and still plan on seeing Joe in 2 weeks even if it doesn't get any worse. Three runs, 15-20 min each is the plan. If it gets worse I'll stop, if it stays the same I'll see if I can't run a bit longer the next week. Also, I have a bit of a sore throat. I hope this goes away and doesn't turn into an extended illness, because I have a lot to do this week.

Saturday 5/19/07: Rest
Lifted in the morning, then spent the day doing work. I know that's no fun, but I'm going to Great Western Bicycle rally next weekend and my advancement exam is the week after that. I need to be sure my talk is ready to go before I leave. I watched the beginning of the second part of the Sox-Braves double header, but because the Fox national blackout policy sucks I couldn't watch the good game for the Sox. I understand the point, and I'm sure it does help their ratings, but I don't understand why it helps them to blackout a game on the west coast when there aren't any west coast games on to oppose it. It's one thing if the two Fox games are a Sox game and a Dodgers game and they show the Dodger game here (that makes perfect sense), it's another thing if Fox isn't showing any game in California at 10 am on the west coast but I still can't watch the game broadcast to the east coast. I guess I need to write a letter to Bud.

Friday 5/18/07: Rest
The NBA season is dead to me. The Suns didn't get any calls, Tony Parker travels every single time he gets into the lane but they NEVER call it, Tim Duncan was incredible (I've got nothing against him, just wrong place, wrong time), and after an incredible first half, the second half didn't do justice to the end of the NBA season. You just can't hand a road game to a team as good as San Antonio, it takes a lot of the fun out of it. I will watch a hypothetical game 7 between San Antonio and Utah, but other than that no more basketball until the next college season tips off (and Stanford is going to be good next year along with the rest of the Pac-10, which has me excited). As for the NBA, we'll have to see if we can actually manage to get some good teams next year. If not, I don't see myself having much interest.

Thursday 5/17/07: Rest
Lifted in the morning. One more to go before I try and see if I can run. When riding my bike home today (with my feet absolutely frigid, which still is an annoying problem), I ran over a huge snake on the bike path. There was no way to avoid it because it was as long as the bike path was wide (no joke). My heart of course jumped when I realized there was no way for me to avoid it. It wasn't a rattlesnake, so I wasn't worried about getting bitten or something, but the unexpected encounter did startle me.

Wednesday 5/16/07: Rest
I finally got off my lazy ass and got my bike fixed today. Yes, I know it took me a month to do it, and there's really no excuse, but I'll admit it, I'm lazy. And sometimes "lazy" means "I'd rather spend today brewing beer" or "I'd rather watch baseball or basketball," but in any event, I should get back on some riding when the weather warms up. I went out for a bit today, but it was far too cold for my feet, and ended up turning back after 15 minutes. So 30 minutes on the bike today, I did break a sweat, so at least it's something.

I know everyone and their mother in the sports world is weighing in on the Suns-Spurs right now, so I'll be brief. At least it was a good game. That's all I'm going to say. The East is a complete trainwreck, which has convinced me more and more that expansion has killed the NBA. There just aren't enough good players. Maybe the Suns can still redeem the league, but the 2006 Western Conference playoffs are looking more and more like an abberation, a glimmer of false hope.

Tuesday 5/15/07: Rest
Lift this morning. It seems like my left quad has been getting slightly weaker as of late, despite the fact that I've been consistently lifting. I don't know if that is a cause for concern. Heck, maybe it's a good sign, given the history of this injury that wouldn't surprise me. I think that I'm going to lift again on Thursday and Saturday, then see how the knee feels on Sunday.

And the NBA has made it clear that leaving the bench during a fight is 100% completely unacceptable, with no tolerance whatsoever. Trying to lose that thug image is on top of the Commish's list of things to do, I guess. I hope they also realize that if they end up handing the championship to San Antonio, that would be far worse than a few fights getting out of hand. The refs already handed a championship to Miami last year. I would have no issues boycotting the remainder of the playoffs if this ends up ruining a great playoff series. I mean, let's recall game 3 the 2003 ALCS, where Pedro drills Karim Garcia, tensions are flaring, Clemens throws a pitch that Manny takes issue with, the benches clear, and Pedro bodyslams Don Zimmer (a far worse fight, even when you take into account the different nature of the kind of fights in each sport). I think MLB knows better than to suspend anyone from a fight like that, because the backlash from fans over spoiling a great series would be tremendous. Well, if there is no game 7, the iron fist of the NBA ruined one of the only good series they are going to have after a forgettable regular season, and I'm done with basketball for the year.

Monday 5/14/07: Rest
A great game between the Suns and Spurs, with some intrigue thrown in there with the chaos after the hard foul on Nash. I hope desperately that the Commish buys Amare's excuse that he was going to check into the game, because I don't think the NBA can afford to have a star missing from a pivotal game in the Real NBA Finals. Nash's postgame comment about the hard foul was priceless, though: when asked if he wanted a piece of Horry after the play, Nash replied, "well, I've been working on my guns in the gym..." Wonderful, that had me in stitches (as well as a host of jokes on Inside the NBA). I'm really glad this series is shaping up to be a good one.

Week: Nothing. I'm going to give it one more week, and try running next weekend. If I'm still hurting, I'll give the physical therapists one more chance; if that doesn't work then I don't know what to say. I'm really unsure as to if I've made any progress, there's really only one way to find out. All I think about these days is running again, I'd hate to be disappointed again with this. Most of one more week of lifting, icing, and otherwise trying to help myself, then we'll find out what happens.

Sunday 5/13/07: Rest
A long brew day. I decided to get this string of brew days going today with a Scottish 60/-. Even though this was the lightest beer I've ever brewed (it will probably end up being on 3% ABV), it was quite exhausting, because extensive caramel flavors from a long boil are characteristic of the style. I took the first gallon of runnings and boiled it down to half its original volume (lots of caramelly flavors from that), plus a 2 hour boil for the rest of the runnings. I hope this ends up being tasty, because it was heck of a lot of work. At worst, this beer ends up being a glorified yeast starter (I really brewed this beer to make yeast for my upcoming hoppy ales), as I'm trying to be better about always having enough yeast to pitch into my beers. We'll see if this ends up being worth the trouble, if so I'll be brewing this style frequently to make yeast for my IPAs. Also called my mom on account of it being Mother's Day, grilled some tri-tip and flatbread during the Jazz-Warriors game, and otherwise enjoyed a beautiful Sunday.

Saturday 5/12/07: Rest
Lifted this morning. Other highlights of the day included the Suns and Spurs, and the May meeting of the homebrewing club. My Belgian Dubbel ended up with the highest score, but didn't accumulate enough net points on the judging to merit first place points. Some of the judges really liked my beer, some didn't, but on average it did better than any of the other entrants. So I'll get second place points in the standings despite beating everyone else. I really don't care about the standings (I may pretend to at times, but at the end of the day I don't brew beer to win, I brew beer to drink beer), but some other people that tasted my beer disagreed with this outcome, and argued my case to try and get my beer first place points. The irony of this conflict of course ended up being that the most vocal critic of my beer knocked his beer out of the top 3 by bashing my beer and cost himself sole possesion of first place in the overall standings to date. What goes around comes around, I guess.

Friday 5/11/07: Rest
I think I figured out what is going wrong with my code. Now the only problem is determining the best way to fix it. It's caused me to scratch my head all week, so at the very least knowing what is going wrong is nice. As I thought the crowd totally got the Warriors going tonight (Harrington, Ellis, and Pietrus were worthless on the road, but the crowd really gets their confidence up and contributing) and the game wasn't even close. I hope the Warriors win game 4 on Sunday, though Utah won't be quite so rattled having been through the fire for one game. It should be a good one.

Thursday 5/10/07: Rest
Lifted this morning, then spent the day trying to figure out why I am getting numerical instabilities in my code (still not completely resolved, but I'm narrowing down what the problem could be). No basketball games of interest tonight (I'll watch the (L)East finals, but not this round), so I won't discuss sports at all.

I'm trying to decide when I'm going to brew these next few batches of beer. I want to have a few kegs ready to go for the summer, so probably over the next month. I'm thinking about doing the first batch on Sunday, we'll see. Another thing I've been considering lately is if there's any more equipment I want to add to my set up. Probably a water filter, maybe a pump so that I can whirpool when chilling. I've been pretty content with my current equipment and haven't bought much in the past year since the kegging stuff. I'll probably go ahead with the filter, and think about whether I want to go to the trouble of the whirpool.

Wednesday 5/9/07: Rest
Well, I missed a lift today for the first time, I just had too much to do this morning. The power went out on campus last night, which ruined a big set of rupture dynamics calculations I had going, so I had to get my computer back up and running and get those started again. I'm getting some weird numerical instabilities that I cannot figure out the cause of, so I'm doing some runs to diagnose this. I also did a Physics Circus Show. I'll push the lift back to tomorrow, no big deal to do that. Another great game between the Warriors and the Jazz. It amazes me that even with the enormous rebound deficiencies, the Warriors were in both of these games down to the very end. I think the crowd is going to will them to victories in games 3 and 4 (which I have no plans on missing after seeing the crowd's performances in the Dallas series).

Tuesday 5/8/07: Rest
Another nice day out, I got some good work done and also played some bocce in the later afternoon. Watched some of the Sox game and game 2 between the Suns and Spurs. Ever since game 1, I had been worried that the Spurs would win this game, roll on to an easy win in 5 games, and the series wouldn't be very exciting. Of course, Spurs in 5 can still happen, but at least it guarantees that the next 2 games will be meaningful.

Monday 5/7/07: Rest
Maybe found something interesting today? I like to try and mix things up in the weight room every once in a while, changing some exercises so that I don't miss anything. Today I did an exercise from back in the "Fletcher Lift" days of Williams Track, and I noticed it was harder with my left than my right. I'm not 100% sure that it is a definite imbalance, but it's something to work on. Depending on how this one feels at the end of this week, I may postpone running until that problem doesn't work here anymore. It still gives me 6.5 weeks until the 4th. That isn't a lot when starting from nothing, something more like the 8 weeks I spent coming back in the spring of 2004 would be nicer. I guess I'll just have to do what I can and hope that I'm not too far over 20:00 (a number that I'm just throwing out there right now, I have no idea if that is accurate at all). Also, the Physics Department treated the grad students to beer, chips, salsa/guac, donuts, cookies, quite a spead for Grad Student Appreciation Week. Enjoying 2 bottles of Firestone Pale made a gorgeous afternoon that much better. Great game (a real "barn-burner") between Golden State and Utah tonight, I still have high hopes for the rest of the Western Conference Playoffs.

Week: Nothing. Lifted 3 times this week as planned. I really have no idea whether my knee is getting any better. Sometimes it feels like it is still hurt, but I don't notice any problems in the weight room. I guess in another week I'll give running a shot as planned, and see how things go from there.

Sunday 5/6/07: Rest
My beer was fermenting when I woke up, so hopefully the difficulties of yesterday won't end up giving me 5 gallons of undrinkable crap. I did some basketball watching today (some of the Cavs-Nets game, plus all of the real NBA Finals), and while the West game was certainly a good and close game, there have to be other sports fans besides myself that were rather irked at the end of this one. First, there's the obvious problem that Steve Nash was unable to be on the floor when the game was in limbo. He was scorching the Spurs on pick and rolls in the 4th quarter, then had to sit and watch a critical playoff game when it came down to it. I see a big game 2 from Nash. And second, the foul away from the play called on Barbosa is just idiotic. I understand the intent of that rule, and there is no way that qualifies (Tony Parker flopped anyways). Apparently you can't touch someone that is running towards the inbounder 5 feet from the ball, because that is "away from the play."

Saturday 5/5/07: Rest
I didn't sleep great last night, but I felt better upon waking up. Headed to the gym, got in a good lift, and then got ready for a big day of brewing. In celebration of National Homebrewing Day, the homebrew club gathered for a parallel brew. The idea was that we make one huge mash, and then disperse the beer among many different people to make a variety of beers from the same set of grains. Despite a few problems (a stuck run-off on the intial big batch and very high gravities due to someone's error), I now have 5 gallons of an American Pale fermenting away. About the high gravities: when I brew at home, I'm usually very dilligent about measuring the gravity pre-boil to try and add the right amount of water so that I end up close to my target. Well, I didn't bother with this batch, nor did I know how much I would boil off, and it turned out that I ended up with 4 gallons of very strong beer instead of 6 gallons of regular strength beer. I added some boiled and cooled water to dilute, so the gravity ended up at a more managable level. I think that collectively, we brewed 70 gallons of beer today, so a pretty impressive event. I also managed to get a little sunburned while outside brewing all afternoon on a gorgeous day. I realized that I might be getting burned around the time that my boil was starting, so I didn't want to run out to the car to get some sunblock and leave my beer unattended. I should have put it on before starting for the day and things started to get hectic.

Friday 5/4/07: Rest
I felt lost today without any worthwhile basketball to watch. Caught the Sox game (thankfully we got Wakefield some runs today), and was kind of feeling like ass after that, a bit under the weather. I'm hoping a good night's sleep takes care of this -- I've got some lifting and brewing to take care of tomorrow.

Thursday 5/3/07: Rest
Lifted this morning. My knee felt pretty good throught today, maybe I'll be alright after all. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about running again. I really don't want to get my hopes up too much and then have my knee hurt again, but I just can't help it. I want to try and make the 4th of July happen, and am very tempted to just run on this knee and see what happens. (I want to state for the record that I think this is a bad idea, but last time I checked resting hasn't helped at all.) If I could manage to run for 20 minutes at a time 3x a week without my knee hurting, I could deal with that. I guess we'll see.

And did you think I'd let a day go by without commenting on basketball? The Warriors got the crowd going, and delivered the knockout punch with a stellar 3rd quarter. Baron Davis played spectacularly for a gimpy guard that was cheating on defense and unable to get into the paint. I think they can take Houston, but Utah presents a more interesting matchup. Boozer can pound them inside, AK-47 is going to be a much less lumbering and more active Diop defensively, and the more I see Deron Williams run pick and rolls, the more I like how he plays.

Wednesday 5/2/07: Rest
They had me a little worried there, but thankfully the Suns closed out another Laker season without a title. I grabbed a beer from the kegerator as the final horn sounded, and enjoyed Inside the NBA as I enjoyed my beverage. The next series between Phoenix and San Antonio has me very excited, it's going to be a good one. Earlier in the season, I didn't think that San Antonio had the horses to keep up with the Suns over 7 games, but they slowed Denver down very effectively in the first round. After the second round matchups between the Spurs-Mavs and the Suns-Clippers were so great last year, I'm hoping that this one lives up to my expectations.

Tuesday 5/1/07: Rest
Wow, this is really turning into my sports blog, as we had another fantastic game between the Warriors and the Mavs. I do love this time of year, with lots of playoff games and baseball season starting to take shape. Unfortunately, I watched the Sox bullpen blow a lead for the first time in forever (when I saw Papelbon only hitting 94 on the gun, I was a bit worried that someone would belt one, and it did happen), but the basketball game made up for it. Glad to see that Dirk finally showed up with the season on the line, he was playing well and attacking the basket in the first half. Then he picked up his third foul, and disappeared until the Mavs season outlook was totally grim. Then, out of nowhere, he found that extra gear and all by himself brought his team back from the dead (that block was sick, plus those clutch 3s). Baron Davis fouling out was a totally dubious call, but then again if you have 5 fouls why even give the refs the impression that you are reaching in an obvious quick foul situation? And then the T to get Jackson ejected was bogus, but the game was over at that point. I still say that the crowd in Oakland on Thursday is going to be unreal, there's no way Dallas wins if that game is remotely close in the 4th quarter.

Oh yeah, I lifted this morning. Knee is still out of sorts, but my left calf feels like it is improving. Another week and a half, and I'll see how I feel at that point.

Monday 4/30/07: Rest
Two fantastic basketball games. Now that the 3 sweeps in the East are over with, we can focus on the great series going down in the West. First, there was Houston-Utah, featuring tough, physical play, a superb 4th quarter by McGrady, and me scratching my head as to why the Jazz went away from the pick and roll with the game on the line (Boozer and Williams had several easy baskets in a row off the pick and roll, then on the deciding possession they let Derek Fisher get called for a charge?). In any event, that was a great game. And the late game in the west was even better, with the Spurs again doing the little things that win basketball games. Robert Horry, again! I hated when he would do that on the Lakers, but once again he's in the right place on the kick out from Tony Parker. I'm excited for the games the rest of this week, so far it has been a good first round.

Week: Nothing. Lifted 4 times, 2 more weeks of that before I give running a shot. Lots of basketball and baseball this week, just the way I like them in the Spring.

Sunday 4/29/07: Rest
For whatever reason, I was up bright and early at 6:30 this morning. Had some Cheerios, went to the gym to lift, ordered some stuff to brew next weekend, baked some cookies, and settled in for some basketball. The Suns didn't let me down with a quality game 4 (that series is over on Wednesday, I just need to pick out what beer I'm going to crack when the Lakers are eliminated). What a difference from a year ago, when Kobe nearly gave me a heart attack twice, I almost punched the wall in frustration, I was running around the living room dropping f-bombs, and I had to go out and hammer away on my bike for an hour to blow off some steam. It wasn't the worst Laker win I had seen (search "Lakers Kings 2002," "Lakers Spurs 2004," or "Blazers Lakers 2000" on youtube to witness those), but it would have been in the same class as those had the Suns not come back.

And I will admit, Nellyball: The Next Generation is growing on me. I think game 2 just wasn't a good game on their part. The series isn't over, but the Warriors are really disrupting the Mavs on the perimeter and getting easy points off of turnovers. If Diop doesn't pick up his 5th foul in the middle of the 4th quarter, the Mavs hold on to win, and this is a completely different series. The game did go well with the ribs I cooked (those filthy, delicious animals), so I was happy. Sports and grub always mix, after all.

Saturday 4/28/07: Rest
My knee was feeling kind of funny today. Not sure if that is bad. This morning, I went to the driving range and was hitting really well. I need to make this more of a habit. I also think I may need to break down and buy a golf glove. I've said in the past that I don't need anything aside from a set of clubs to play golf, the reasoning being that anything extra means I actually care about my score (which I never do). My left hand was a bit tender after swinging really well today, so I may need to protect that in the future. Fortunately, I can say the glove was purchased to protect my hand, not to improve my score. Also, another stinker of an offensive effort with Wake on the mound. I also watched the two Western Conference playoff games. That puts my sports total for the past 9 days at 7 baseball games and 12 basketball games. If I watched more than 2 (L)East games, that number would be higher.

Friday 4/27/07: Rest
Lifted again today, my knee still feels like it's out of sorts, but I'm making progress. Watched Dice-K beat the Yankees again. His only problem seems to be walking people (and then not pitching as well out of the stretch) -- he never seems to be hit hard, a lot of bloop singles and such. His willingness to throw any pitch on any count is what I like most about him. Keeps the hitters off balance by avoiding obvious fastball situations. With Schilling, Beckett, and Wakefield all pitching well, I can deal with Dice-K pitching the way he is right now (and hope that he cuts down on the free passes to first).

And what's with Dallas? The crowd made a HUGE difference tonight, but seeing them pick up a few frustration T's was really out of character. Can the Warriors keep up this shooting pace? They have to win game 4, and even if that happens I certainly remember the Suns rallying from a 3-1 hole (even if I did force myself to not watch). A few more 3's start going down for the Mavs, and that will make a big difference. With 3 likely sweeps on the way in the (L)East, I'm glad we have some interesting series going down in the West.

Thursday 4/26/07: Rest
Okay, calling for the brooms was slightly premature. But this game didn't infuriate me -- the Suns just seemed out of sorts. It was not one of those games (if you don't know what I'm talking about, just search "Lakers Kings 2002" on youtube). You might have noticed that D'Antoni took Nash out for his customary extended quarter break, which means that he didn't think they needed to win this game (and even still, they never seemed out of it). Amare getting in foul trouble was the big problem. That let Kwame Brown get some confidence without aggressive defense being played on him. I still say Suns in 5, the Lakers need to play another game like this and Phoenix needs to play another uninspiring 3 quarters on Sunday or the series is over.

Wednesday 4/25/07: Rest
Good lift this morning, and then a solid morning of emails with Aidan (along with getting some work done, I'm not a waste of space). More basketball this evening. I think it's really unfortunate that there are so many terrible teams in the NBA that the Warriors managed to make the playoffs playing pickup ball. They really do play like they are out on the playground, with their reckless drives to the basket and ill-advised shots launched from all over the floor. I mean, I think the new rules have opened up the lane and made offensive possesions more exciting, but watching the Warriors makes it clear to me that they have taken Nellyball too far, I think it's a bit out of control. I think Dallas is back on track now, and won't have a problem closing Golden State out (and then you won't hear anymore complaining from me).

Tuesday 4/24/07: Rest
Hehehehe. I haven't been this happy with the result of a basketball game in almost a year. I thoroughly and completely enjoyed the ass-whooping handed out by the Suns tonight. As the Chuckster said on Inside the NBA, "get out the brooms!" I don't see the Lakers winning a game in this series after that game. And when Leandro Barbosa catches fire, the Suns are just about impossible to beat. And when I say catch on fire, I really do mean he plays like he's on fire in NBA Jam. God, I loved that game back in the day.

Monday 4/23/07: Rest
Solid lift this morning. By my count, I think there are 9 more until I hope to give some running a shot (unless my knee still feels out of sorts). Otherwise, a quiet day at the office, followed by watching much of the Sox game and the Utah-Houston game. Also, another great edition of Inside The NBA, which is still among my favorite TV programs. It's right up there with Good Eats and the Daily Show/Colbert Report (the only non-sports programs I watch with any kind of regularity). Of course, I watch more than enough sports to make up for that, so it's not like I don't spend any time in front of the tube.

Week: Nothing. 2 lifts, and I will keep up with these for another three weeks. Otherwise, it a good time for watching sports, there's going to be a lot of basketball to be watched this upcoming week. Not quite the productivity killer that the first week of baseball playoff are (no day games), but I look forward to some good basketball games this week.

Sunday 4/22/07: Rest
Quite a busy sports day. I watched at least part of all 4 basketball games (and all of the Lakers-Suns game), and the Sox game. The baseball game of course featured 4 straight home runs, which prompted phone calls from both Aidan and my dad, though that's actually not the first time I've seen 4 straight home runs (last year I was watching when the Dodgers did it). And with both the Mavs and Spurs losing game 1, we may yet be in for some exciting first round playoff series. Also, I cleaned my room today, which is as rare a feat as 4 straight home runs. Now it's just a question of whether I can get myself to keep it clean.

Saturday 4/21/07: Rest
Got in another lift this morning. I was a bit sore from the last one, and I might still be sore tomorrow (I didn't back off on anything). Especially in my upper body and hamstrings. Those are of course two areas that have been weaker in the past, so maybe this knee problem is what finally gets me to do dilligent work on them. I mean, if my brother can go from being so skinny to being huge after swimming a bunch, why can't I do something similar in the weight room? (Okay, I'm not going to get huge doing the lifts I do, but I will get stronger, the kind that is good for runners. I think I made the joke about me "getting cut" the summer before senior year, so it's about time to recycle that.) Bottled my dubbel when I returned. Thankfully, I don't think I'm going to bottle another batch until late summer/early fall. I think it's worth the extra effort for some beers like Belgians, bigger beers, and ones I want bottled to give away. In the past year I've bottled only 4 batches, and I don't see myself doing it again until I brew my Christmas beer. Also, I watched some basketball and the Sox game, my usual sports rounds for the afternoon.

Friday 4/20/07: Rest
Raining this morning. Luckily, I had to work on my paper and would be doing so from home, so no trekking through the rain to school for me. I got the latest draft done by this afternoon, in time to pick up some strawberries to make some ice cream and get home for the Sox-Yankees game. A-Rod is totally on the juice (or at least he's acting like it), however we limited the rest of their lineup to 2 runs and Schilling gave us 7 innings, which was enough to mount a comeback on no less than the Sandman. I think Coco Crisp saved his Boston career with that triple. Anyways, a great game, and we managed to get A-Rod out when we really needed it.

The NBA playoffs start tomorrow, and I am really excited. I'm not optimistic that we'll have a run as good as last year's (or at least up to the finals when the referees took over), but at the very least there are some intriguing first round match ups (Vince and the Raptors I think more than any of the others). I don't think the Lakers will give me a heart attack this year (Amare and Kurt Thomas will negate the size advantage the Lakers had last time, and the Lakers are slumping into the playoffs instead of surging). As I postulated a while back, the Lakers did not right the ship on the road, and were under .500 overall after the all-star break. I don't see that series going more than 5 games.

Thursday 4/19/07: Rest
Rehab is finally back on track. My left calf is definitely not 100%, and the quad muscle on the inside of my left knee isn't as strong as the right. One of these problems has to be responsible for my knee pain. It just has to be. Walking around for the rest of the day, my right leg felt great, and the muscles in my left leg were kind of sore. 3.5 weeks of serious, no missing a single time, weight lifting every other day I hope will correct these weaknesses. That will leave 6+ weeks before the 4th of July to try and not embarass myself.

I wonder how terrible my fitness will be by then. This is all speculation at this point, of course, but I'm curious if there's any chance of me running under 20:00. That's like 6:20-30 pace, right? I think off of no training at all (like 2 weeks at the most), I ran 21:00 my first time in that race, so I'd hope that I can do better than that. 20 seconds per mile better, we'll have to see. Off 2 weeks of training in '04 I managed an 18:30, but I did run a bunch over the spring and got some sort of running legs back before letting it all go to crap over the last month before I returned to California. I guess we'll have to see. Missing this race will be unacceptable, though. I'll run it with a painful knee if I have to (screw the consequences).

Wednesday 4/18/07: Rest
Hmm, I guess I didn't get the memo last week that the weight room would be closed all day today. When I showed up this morning to get my rehab back on track (stupid scam of a hotel), the weight room was closed for A/C maintenance. So I guess I will have to push it back another day. I'm going to try and do every other day for 3-4 weeks starting tomorrow, and see if that doesn't help. Otherwise, got some work done today, many emails with Aidan were sent, and Sean, Jason, Morgan, and I played a windy game of bocce out in the quad in the afternoon.

Tuesday 4/17/07: Rest
Oh my, what a difference 10 hours of sleep makes. I actually was with it enough to get some work done today, trying to get the latest draft of my paper up to date. I walked over to the UCen after lunch, hoping to score a free ice cream cone, but apparently the Ben and Jerry's cart doesn't work there anymore (today is free cone day). Disappointed by that, I did some more work for the afternoon before going home to watch Dice-K lose a tough one to Gustavo Chacin (who owns the Sox), and grilling up some pork chops and flat bread. Mmmm, food that isn't ridiculously expensive!

Monday 4/16/07: Rest
We arrived at LAX right on schedule at 5:30 am. I was wide awake, having not slept too much on the red eye flight. We had 2 hours until our plane to Santa Barbara left, so I walked to our gate, put on some tunes, and waited for the plane to board. The flight to Santa Barbara was uneventful, we got our bags quickly, and Jason and Morgan were kind enough to give me a ride home. I had a bite to eat for breakfast, checked my email (hadn't checked it during the trip), and took a solid 2 hour nap. I was still wicked tired after that, and in no shape to get any work done, so most of the afternoon was spent laying around, dozing off, just trying to recover. I got my photos off my camera and onto my computer, got those posted on the web, and started catching up on my log posts for the week. Otherwise, not much to say.

Week: Nothing. 1 week of lifting done, I'm not sure if I'm on the right track, but I hope so. A week of conference/vacation in Hawaii coming up, then I hope only 2 more weeks before I can do a bit of running. We'll see.

Sunday 4/8/07: Rest
I didn't get a ton of sleep last night, as I had to make my brother's bed at 2 am when I got home. A gloomy, rainy Easter Sunday. Apparently the Easter Bunny left some eggs for me last night, though I didn't know that I still had an Easter Basket. After betting my dad that he couldn't stay awake during the sermon (and snickering when he was out cold halfway through), we headed to my granparents' house for a feast (and still left room for 1.5 pieces of pie) and the final round of the Masters. I also caught the Sox game for two awesome Big Papi home runs, 7 great innings from Schilling, and Papelbon steamrolling for a 5 out save (he was completely, totally unhittable). I was extremely tired from not getting enough sleep last night, and didn't think I could manage a 2 hour drive after the game, so I elected to spend the night.

Saturday 4/7/07: Rest
Hit the road at 8:30 for another weekend in Claremont. I filled a growler from the keg, loaded up my stuff, and was on my way. Traffic was fine until there was an accident on the other side of the 210 that slowed things a little (stupid rubberneckers). This wouldn't have been a big deal, except I really really had to pee. If traffic was any worse I might have needed to make a pit stop. I spent the afternoon helping my sister with her physics (so she won't bug me while I'm Hawaii), and in the little intervening time between questions I caught a bit of the Masters with my dad. The stuff today was about magnetism, which can be tricky to explain. My dad joked that any teaching jobs I apply for, my sister will be listed as a reference.

After cooking up some chops outside, I hung out with Jon, Matt, and Matt's lady friend Wendy (who happens to be blind). We drank a good amount of homebrew and played "Phase 10" with Wendy's cards with braille on them. The highlight of that was for sure when reading the rules, Jon learned that even though wild cards were printed with several different colors, they could serve as any color in play. He found this to be unacceptable, and immediately looked for the customer service number to complain. If Jonathan Johansen ever happens to read this log, you should definitely pass Jon's voicemail complaint to the appropriate people, because I was similarly confused.

Friday 4/6/07: Rest
I was on my way home from school today when I noticed that something wasn't right with my left pedal on my bike. At first, I thought I wasn't clipped into my pedal, but after sliding my foot around I found that to be just fine. I thought maybe my shoe was loose, but that didn't seem out of the ordinary. Then, all of a sudden my left foot fell away from the bike, a piece of the crank dropped onto the bike path, and I knew something bad had happened. I stopped, unclipped my crank arm from the bottom of my foot, retrieved up the piece that had dropped, and surveyed the damage. It looked like something hadn't been tightened correctly, because nothing was broken. Not having any tools with me, nor knowledge of how exactly to fix it properly, I changed into running shoes and walked the short distance to the bus stop and took the bus home. I probably won't be able to get this fixed until I get back from Hawaii, so I guess I'll have to go back to taking the bus for a few days.

Otherwise, today was really busy. I had to make some changes to my talk, do my taxes, rack my dubbel to the secondary fermenter for conditioning, cook dinner, and practice my talk some more. By the time I finished all of that, it was almost 10 pm. I was pretty tired, so I crashed fairly early.

Thursday 4/5/07: Rest
Finished up the plots this morning, ran through the talks with the other ICS people, then it was Dice-K time (MLB.TV may well get me kicked out of grad school as I can put on games right in my office). Like many other Red Sox fans, I was excited for Matsuzaka's debut, and he didn't disappoint. Had a few things to fix on my talk in the afternoon after the game, but it being Thursday (and with the Suns-Spurs on tonight) I made sure to finish in time for NBA on TNT.

Wednesday 4/4/07: Rest
Another lift today, that means we're counting down from 10. I hit everything that I wanted to, didn't trash my hamstrings (I was worried that I would, since they seemed kind of tender on my bike ride to school). There were a few talks to attend today, I watched much of the Sox game in the evening, then finished writing my talk for next week. I still have a few plots to fix, and I need to practice it to be sure that I'm not running over the time limit, but the bulk of the work is done.

Tuesday 4/3/07: Rest
I got a good amount of work done today, which is always nice (especially with a conference coming up). Also, I found out that my grant was funded again this year (2-2! whoo hoo!). I'm sure that I will be rejected at some point here, so it's nice to get my average high to start off with. With no Sox game I caught some of the Angels and Dodgers. (Who doesn't love Vin Scully? The only play-by-play guy that I know of without a color man, and when I was young I asked my dad why people brought radios to Dodger games if they were watching it in person. All that he said to me was "Vin Scully.") Ah, nothing like baseball season, even though I've probably said it each of the past 2 days. It will take me a few days to acclimate to having so much baseball to watch.

Monday 4/2/07: Rest
Let's see, today I visited the weight room for a brief biking warm up, then calves, lunges, quads, pullups, and dips. If I'm going to stick with the 4 weeks of this plan, that's 1 lift down, 11 to go. Fairly painless to get that out of the way this morning. After that, I made some good progress on my talk for next week, watched the Sox get dominated by the $55 million man Gil Meche (though George Brett cracks me up), and finally watched Florida cap another outstanding tournament run. When they are making their 3s, no one can beat them, and tOSU laying bricks like they did tonight didn't help. Joakim Noah had me in stitches after his postgame comments, it's clear that he and his teammates will be partying all night tonight, and probably for a solid week after that.

Week: 125 min bike. Okay, I'll be explicit here: I'm going to try and lift 3x a week during April, with some serious calf and lunges work, plus some other stuff. If my calf and knee feel better after that, I'm going to try running again at that point. That would ideally give me 2 months to avoid embarassing myself at the July 4th race. I guess that's my goal at the current point in time, I'll go to the gym MWF this week.

Sunday 4/1/07: Rest
I went to church for the first time in 2007 this morning (looking to get on God's good side again before Easter next week). This wasn't a big deal, except that I feel obligated to put on pants for church (and I did bring a pair in case). So I wore pants for the second time in 2007 today. I also had lunch with the same crew from last night, watched the Suns scorch the Mavs (They shot 65% from the field? My god!), plus the first half of the Cards and Mets. Ah, baseball season is back. I sprung for MLB.TV again this year, and look forward to watching lots of baseball this summer. Oh yeah, and now that April is here that means it's strawberry season, and mom made a pie tonight. I had 1/3 of the pie before heading home (and I was cruising, I could have done half the pie no problem if I wasn't about to drive home). I need to get healthy and running again so that I can make a pie every weekend this spring.

Saturday 3/31/07: 50 min bike
I took my brother to the airport in the early afternoon, then had about an hour to squeeze in a ride before the basketball games started. I of course forgot my watch, so I donned my mom's watch (most definitely not a watch designed for athletic use, but I just needed something that tells time to be sure I was home before tip-off). I rode up to the old fire station, down through the colleges, and back home. Probably 10 miles or so, it was warm out so I worked up a good sweat. I made it back just before tip-off for the final four games, only my sister was watching TV, so I unabashedly kicked her off (aren't I a sweet older brother?). Also, some TLG plus friends hanging out to drink some beer tonight, always enjoyable.

Friday 3/30/07: 75 min bike
After doing a bit of work in the morning, stopping by the shop to chat with Rob, and grabbing a burger from In-N-Out with my brother, Mikey and I decided to ride to Puddingstone and back. I didn't bring my bike, but we managed to get the mountain bike plus my dad's old clunker working. We headed out on a nice warm afternoon into a headwind. I was riding my old man's bike, which was built before indexed shifting existed and consequently I spent a good amount of time fiddling with the gears. It was a nice day out, and the wind wasn't too bad. I ended up kicking Mike's ass (he had been sick and was having some asthma trouble, though I find this a "convenient excuse"), mostly because I saw a slow guy on an expensive road bike wearing cycling clothes ahead that I felt obligated to walk down. (I always end up racing people, probably a sign that I need to get healthy and start racing some.) After a nice ride, showered and went out for Chinese food, mmmm.

Thursday 3/29/07: Rest
As I was heading home on this fantastic March day, I swung by Goleta Beach to notice some familiar faces at the big group picnic area. Yep, the Williams team was having a cookout on the beach, so I stopped by to chat with folks and see the talent show (a lot of inside jokes that Dusty didn't even get, so I was similarly puzzled). I did swipe some freshly caught fish thanks to Wild Bill that was tasty. After that, I realized that it was 6:30 already and I needed to head out for Claremont tonight. I sped home, had a bit more to eat, filled some bottles of beer from the kegs, packed the car, and headed out. Mikey is home right now, so I'm going to see him tomorrow and Saturday morning before he flies back to school.

Wendesday 3/28/07: Rest
Like clockwork, my hamstrings are killing me. Due to biking and hitting the weight room a little bit, I managed to hurt them like I've done dozens of times before. I was doing some lunges in the weight room at lunchtime, and as I was starting the third set I felt the familiar pain. I need to be consistent about a bit of lifting and cyclcing from here. I'm hoping to hit up some light lifting 3 times a week for some lunges, calves, pull ups, and dips, plus some things TBD. My left calf wasn't as strong as my right today, so maybe I'm headed in the right direction? We'll see, I'm going to be dilligent about this for the next month.

Tuesday 3/27/07: Rest
I picked the absolute worst time to ride home. There was supposed to be a bit of rain in the late afternoon, but things looked clear when I checked before heading out. Well, once I got past Patterson on the bike path, a little bit of rain started coming down. No big deal, I thought, and I kept riding. Then I felt something solid hit my helmet, and some hail started coming down. It wasn't coming down very hard, but it was hailing and that's never pleasant when you are on a bike. The wind was gusting, making matters worse. I ended up riding pretty hard once the weather turned, and made it home as the rain and hail was stopping. Way to go, champ.

As far as my knee goes, I'm convinced these days that my left calf is still not 100% (I may have said this before, and it's still true). For whatever reason, it just feels kind of tight, and has for what seems like forever (dating back to when I initially hurt it in summer '05 -- holy crap that was a long time ago). Until that it taken care of, I'm not going to try running, just biking. Fortunately for that, I think that my shoe issues are improving.

Monday 3/26/07: Rest
I took a 20 minute bike ride home where I was cranking fairly hard, but I wouldn't call this one extensive enough to qualify as a documented ride. It was overcast all day, kind of misty in the morning, so I wasn't really in the mood to do anything more. It's supposed to clear up later in the week, I hope to hit up the bike more extensively then. I'm also planning on making a trip to Claremont this weekend, and am debating bringing my bike instead of just riding the mountain bike I have been riding there. Also, a nice development in the foot saga: I changed out the insoles in my cycling shoes, and so far I'm much more comfortable. I noticed that the already stiff cycling shoes had insoles that weren't more than a thin, flexible piece of plastic with some fabric on one side. Basically zero insulation and cushioning, two things that I need (poor circulation and an extremely rigid foot). So I stuck in a pair of cushioned running insoles that I had. The shoe is a touch crowded, but my feet feel much better. After 20 minutes of riding today, my feet were starting to get slightly chilly, but otherwise I thought it was a big improvement. Tomorrow, I won't think twice about putting on my cycling shoes.

Week: 150 min bike. Well, I lied about riding every day. Weather permitting (i.e. if it's nice out) I will go riding, and if there aren't a bunch of basketball games to watch, if I'm not too tired from brewing, etc. So basically, I'm only going to ride if I feel like it. When telling Pete about my injury, and how I've seen 4 different people about it and no one can tell my what is wrong, he quipped, "then you should see a psychologist next." I guess after all these years, I'm not surprised Pete had something like that to say.

Sunday 3/25/07: Rest
It was kind of gloomy this morning, so I didn't really want to go for a bike ride. I watched basketball during the afternoon, took a quick shower, then headed to Montecito to meet with a group of the Williams distance runners at Adrian's parents' house. Pete invited me to join the team there, as I had been a teammate of Adrian's for 2 years. They have a really nice place, and as a grad student a free meal is always welcome. Nice to chill out with some of my former teammates, plus some of the folks in later years that have heard some of the legendary tales of my days at Williams.

Saturday 3/24/07: Rest
Brewed an Abbey Dubbel today, which was pretty straightforward until I started the boil. Dubbels traditionally use Belgian candy sugar for a portion of the fermentables, which lightens the body, boosts the alcohol, and provides some color (at least the caramelized version used in a dubbel). Homebrew shops sell this stuff for like $5 a pound, but it's really just an invert sugar that has been caramelized. I can buy sugar for like $3 for 5 pounds (or even cheaper if it is on sale). Therefore, I saw no reason to pony up for something I could make much cheaper myself. Not knowing how long it would take to do the entire process, I started soon after I began my boil. After 45 minutes of the beer's boil I didn't see any caramelization, so I was initially a little worried I would finish the boil and not have any sugar to put in. Fortuantely, I was ready to dump in some deep amber goodness with 5 minutes left in the boil, so my timing was perfect. Otherwise, no worries with this brew, all my numbers were within the style parameters (though that doesn't mean it will be like any other dubbel I've had). I watched basketball during the afternoon and evening, I was pretty tired from standing around all morning. I didn't get a chance to bike again today, we'll see about tomorrow, which appears to be fairly busy with 2 more games.

Friday 3/23/07: Rest
After getting some work done in the morning, I headed down to SBCC to see the Williams Track Team run in a meet. Got a chance to see Pete, Dusty, and some of the '07s. It was a beautiful day out and was nice to be outside and see some good races. After that, I grabbed a burrito and went back to the hotel with the team to watch some basketball. I was pretty wiped after spending all day in the sun, so I headed home after that to start some yeast for a brew day tomorrow, and hit the sack.

Thursday 3/22/07: 60 min bike
Headed out to the end of Hollister and back on Cathedral Oaks today. Similar situation with the shoes as yesterday (last 20 min or so of the ride), they felt okay when I was wearing them. Another nice day, kind of breezy, but I rode against the wind for the first half of the ride and the second half was consequently very nice. Made it home in time to see most of two so-so games in the West Regional, plus the sick block by Oden (I can't speak for the rest of that game as we had UCLA here). My hands are sore, as is my ass, I really need to figure out if I left my cycling clothes in Claremont (in which case I'll get it all next time I'm there), or it I just left them with Mikey (in which case I have to go shopping). I don't want to look like a total hack at Great Western again this year (last year riding a mountain bike in mostly running clothes was fine for just riding with the troop, but I may have other more serious people around this year).

Wednesday 3/21/07: 90 min bike
Sean and I are trying to get a Wednesday afternoon physics bike ride together during the spring/summer. It rained a little today, so I think it scared a few people off (as in everyone but me). It only rained for a little, and then the sun came out and dried up everything that wasn't in the shade, so I didn't think it was an issue at all. Standing around waiting for everyone my feet were already getting cold, so I took off my shoes and put on running shoes. I headed out like that to see how it would work, and while I wasn't a model of efficiency (I was also just wearing a sweatshirt and regular shorts), it wasn't too bad as far as my feet or riding goes. I rode out to Hope Ranch, up Las Positas, and back along Cathedral Oaks. I had to stop briefly on Las Positas because the indexing on my rear derailer wasn't quite right, but a quick adjustment had it back working right. I decided to put on my cycling shoes for the ride back once I was near Cathedral Oaks, and they felt okay for the duration. I may still have hope yet.

Anyways, a great day, a great ride (I was gone for 2 hours give or take, so I figure that's 90 min of riding give or take), and I'm optimistic. I will try to ride every afternoon, weather permitting, from here to work on getting myself into something resembling being in shape. I got back to watch most of the second half of Cavs-Mavs and was absolutely starving, so made up some dinner ASAP.

Tuesday 3/20/07: Rest
It rained a bit today, otherwise just an overcast, blustery day. Spent nearly an hour talking to my sister to try and help her with some electrostatics problems, which are already tough enough to explain in person. Over the phone, it is even more difficult. Of course, it also helps if the teacher had covered all of the material on the problems, I had to briefly explain to her what a dipole was. After that, caught some Inside The NBA (fortunately rescheduled to Tuesday as to not conflict with the NCAA Tournament, I'd hate to have to miss my favorite show).

Week: 45 min bike. A little biking, which I hope gets easier to do once I figure out how to deal with my toes. Not sure when I might hope to run again, since I'm still unclear what the problem with my knee is. All I know is that July 4th needs to happen, other than that sooner is better but if I can run pain free by then I'll be happy. Not much else to say about this week.

Sunday 3/18/07: 45 min bike
There's good news, and there's bad news. Good news: the first 15 minutes or so while I was out riding this afternoon were fantastic. Everything about my new bike was wonderful. After that 15 minutes, my feet started getting cold, and I remembered I hate my toes (cramps and the threat of cramps). I seem to remember in the past that after I get into some regular riding again my circulation improves, and the cramping isn't so bad. I hope that helps? Otherwise, maybe another pair of wool socks, some warmer weather, we'll see. I hope that it doesn't come to needing some regular pedals and toe clips, I paid good money for my shoes and pedals.

When my toes are really bothering me, it is absolutely crippling, as I was reminded of today. The stiff cycling shoes didn't help, as when I did get a cramp it was impossible to stretch out. I'm pretty sure that spending 6 hours or so with numb toes while doing some ice axe stuff back in 1998 exacerbated this all. Swimming is out of the question these days (haven't in 5 years, save a few hot tub sessions, which the temperature makes possible), but I am resolved to keep cycling as an activity I can do.

Saturday 3/17/07: Rest
Spent the morning watching a great game between Ohio St. and Xavier, plus the first half of Texas A&M and Louisville. Then I finally got around to my second round of bike shopping. Last week I went to Hazard's, which is attached to the local running shop. I rode a few bikes, which were okay, but I didn't feel like they were exactly the bike I wanted. The shop wasn't quite what I was looking for either. This week I went to Fastrack, which is run by a guy who rode in the Olympics, and was Lance's mechanic for his 2000 Tour, and he gave me the straight dope on the couple of bikes he though were right for me. I always like that, much like when I buy a pair of shoes from Rob, I know he's going to tell me exactly what he thinks from running in them. I also like that when trying on shoes, he didn't tell me the prices so that I'd pick my favorite, but I know from running shoes that it's worth it to spend the extra money if they are the right shoes. I took a Giant for a test ride, and knew that was the right one (and since I'm tall, there was a few of last year's model left over, so it was cheaper than any of the bikes I rode last week). It was good that it was less than I had thought of spending, because the only shoes that I had any chance of being comfortable in were $200, and pedals were $150. I ended up dropping $1400 when all was said and done with a $900 bike, plus shoes, pedals, and tax. I had originally thought $1200 after figuring my parents' contribution from Christmas/birthday presents, but I guess that I didn't think about shoes and pedals with that. I'm looking forward to taking everything for a spin tomorrow.

I realized after leaving the shop that I forgot to take my golf clubs out of my trunk. I thought that I might have to ride my bike home, and take the bus back to get my car. Turns out I was able to fit the bike in, and I didn't have to make an extra trip. I watched a little more basketball, realized I forgot my driver's license at the bike shop, and after picking that up went to a cookout to celebrate one of Ralph's students graduating. A busy day.

Friday 3/16/07: Rest
Today wasn't as nice to my bracket, though I've only lost 3 sweet 16 teams thus far which isn't too bad. I was 0-4 on the 8-9 games, which I always thought I was good at picking, but not this year. Got to watch more of the games today than yesterday (mostly because around 1 pm PDT, Aidan sent me an email to say he was going drinking, at which point I bolted for the UCen). The Pac-10 is 4-2 so far, thanks to a lackluster effort by 'Zona and a terrible matchup for Stanford. I'm having second thoughts on Oregon upsetting Florida to get to the Final Four, but you have to roll the dice sometimes.

I guess I should comment on the fact that I've decided that trying to run before I go to Hawaii isn't exactly a serious goal for me anymore. I've admitted to myself that all I really want to do on that trip is sit on the beach and drink beer (and give my talk, since I haven't forgotten the real reason I'm going). I finally went bike shopping last Saturday, and I plan on doing some more tomorrow. If the weather co-operates, I'm hoping to start riding a bit, and get myself exercising. The goal of running in the July 4th race is still on. Cycling will be done keeping that in mind -- I may not have much as far as leg speed goes then, but I do hope to avoid being in embarrassing cardiovascular shape.

Thursday 3/15/07: Rest
I only got to watch a bit of basketball today, with a group meeting and a science night (I volunteered for it without bothering to check the date, so I guess I get what I deserve). I caught a bit here and there, but with the exception of the Duke-VCU game and the Xavier-BYU games, nothing worthwhile. As I predicted, Stanford got crushed, but as the last team in I didn't expect this to be much other than some experience for the young guys. I hope that tomorrow's games are better, I have most of my upsets on tap then.

Wednesday 3/14/07: Rest
I missed the first 4 minutes of the Suns-Mavs game thanks to the bus running late (it's usually pretty good about being on time, but not today), which I was none too happy about. Then the Suns jumped out to a lead, the Mavs stormed back, it looked like the game was over, and then Steve Nash went to work. Dallas just let them hang around for too long, made some dumb fouls down the stretch, and let one get away. I'll admit that I thought of turning the game off with a minute to go, but I know better. Especially when the Suns are involved. Amare was unstoppable in OT, yet the Mavs managed to come back and send it to double OT. It wasn't the greatest game for most of regulation, but the great comeback, and two outstanding OT periods made up for it. Best NBA game so far this year.

I don't think Phoenix can steal the top seed from Dallas, but give Amare another 2 months, give Diaw a chance to get back into form (he was a total non-factor tonight, and foul trouble didn't help him either), and we could end up with an amazing conference finals. I know that San Antonio shouldn't be counted out, but I don't think they have the horses to keep up with the Suns over 7 games, even as well as they play defense. Oh, and I'm very excited for March Madness to kick off tomorrow.

Tuesday 3/13/07: Rest
Visit day for the prospective grad students. It seemed a little early this year, but I'm totally down for a free lunch anytime. First, they had a poster session with grad students (which I thought was far better than faculty talking about everyone's research, which tends to drag on and on), and I actually had a few interested people about earthquakes. No one except me goes to physics grad school to study earthquakes, but maybe I changed some minds. After lunch, I somehow had been roped into sitting around with condensed matter faculty to talk to students, which was pretty boring. I did enjoy Matthew Fisher talking about all sorts of stuff, he's an amusing guy. Paul Crittenden (Williams '04, but he was like Hodas and was a super senior so I didn't really think of him as being in my class) was there visiting, I talked to him about Santa Barbara, research, and the like. I'm not sure how serious he is about UCSB, but he's a cool guy so would be welcome here.

Monday 3/12/07: Rest
Another wonderful day. I wasn't tempted to run again, but it pains me to have days like this and staying off my knee. I did get a voicemail from one Pat Caenepeel, asking me a question about his garden. It's behind his house (10 feet high), and about half is in the shade. He correctly knew that the angle of the sun will increase through the solstice, and was curious how much. He called me as I'm the most mathematically inclined person he knows.

Week: 10 min. I'll give it another week, but I can't say that I'm particularly optimistic. If it were tightness, I don't think I would feel that knee cap doing what I felt on Sunday's run. If I give it more time and it doesn't improve, I'm not sure what else I can do having already stumped Joe and Rick and hearing nothing from an orthopedist. I guess we'll have to see.

Sunday 3/11/07: 10 min
Same old story. While I'm not sure if I should have expected anything to be different today, I'm kind of doubtful that the knee cap problem pointed out to me is what is going on. I heated up my knee before running (it was really nice outside and I couldn't resist), and it seemed really loose and there was a good range of motion when I set out. In fact, it seemed like that knee had too much play in the knee cap (it almost felt like it was flopping around while I was running, and I've kind of noticed that in the past as well). Same thing when I got back, which is really making me skeptical. No real muscle imbalance problems that I could identify (hips now are about the same, so that can certainly be ruled out now).

I've tried not to be too frustrated with this problem up until now. I'm a very patient person, and while I haven't investigated this as aggressively as I could have, 4 different people looking at my knee and zero answers isn't exactly a good batting average. It doesn't look like I'll be able to run with the Williams track team while they are in my hometown (incredibly disappointing), and I still have no idea what is wrong after nearly a year. My knee doesn't ever seem to feel right, be it running or just walking around. I have no idea why (and I can't describe it aside from my knee cap not feeling right), and no clue how to fix it. I see people running around town and feel extremely jealous, and I don't think that's a very healthy attitude. I hope that finally getting a road bike and riding regularly tempers this a little bit (even though biking will never scratch the itch), because I'm not sure how much more I can wait on this. I don't want to be too depressing here with what I'm writing, but there's only so much I can take.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, and I do apologize for being a bit negative, I'm very happy that Stanford squeaked into the NCAA tournament.

Saturday 3/10/07: Rest
Another month, another award winning beer. The foreign stout I brewed a month ago took second in the club competition. I liked the winner just as much as mine, and it was pretty close. A number of beers weren't really to style in my opinion, but that seems to be typical (some brewers seem to be fairly inconsistent in terms of hitting the style parameters). A fairly large flight of 10 beers, so finishing 2nd isn't too bad. Let's hope that I can keep it up for the rest of the year and make a run at homebrewer of the year. There is only 1 more lager this year, so there's no reason I can't keep racking up the points with my saison for next month and beyond.

Friday 3/9/07: Rest
I had the privilege of seeing Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble tonight. Jon and I scored some student discount tickets (the idiot at the student ticket office seemed to think that Angela counted for a student ticket, so we had to do some convincing when getting into the theater), and it was a wonderful concert. They played a great variety of Eastern music, including some of the Classical music of Azerbaijan. Yo-Yo wasn't featured in anything, but as the director of the group, you could say that the whole thing featured him. It was well worth the $21.50 for the ticket. It was also my first time at the Arlington Theatre, which has a rather interesting interior design (it is made to look like the courtyard on a Spanish-style building). All in all, a great evening.

Thursday 3/8/07: Rest
With Stanford losing their Pac-10 tournament game tonight against USC, it looks like they may have to sweat out Selection Sunday a little bit. I'm convinced that only a UW run to the tournament championship can keep them out, but maybe I'm biased (I think the ACC is wildly overrated, and if one of the lower ACC teams displaces Stanford I won't be happy). The game against USC was totally indicative of some of Stanford's weakenesses, mainly that all their best scorers are too streaky. They are also too young, especially their ball handlers who seem to turn the ball over a bit too much. When Hill and Goods are on, Stanford can play with any team in the Pac-10, but they seem to disappear for stretches. And when those guys go cold, teams double team Brook Lopez, and their opponents go on too many runs. The exact thing happened tonight against USC, letting a 12 point lead evaporate. A few missed free throws down the stretch, a great shot by Nick Young, a missed last second shot, and their best chance to win was gone. I think give these guys another year or two, and you are looking at a serious Pac-10 contender. Given the right first round matchup, we could win a first round tournament game, but I don't see a sweet 16 appearance with the team they have.

Wednesday 3/7/07: Rest
Now that I've gone through with this whole knee thing and determined that I don't have any structural problems, strength imbalances, or flexibility issues, I'm fairly confident that when I'm walking around and my knee doesn't feel right, it is for the same reason as the injury. At the very least, that means that I don't have to try running and be disappointed to determine if I'm still injured. It's been feeling off this week so far, but I am icing, stretching, and working my knee cap dilligently. If I ever notice it not bothering me when walking by the beach or something, then I'll know I may be onto something here.

Oh yeah, and props to Bill Russell for appearing on the Daily Show last night. They almost had me going that he was a crazy guy threatening to sue a city for something dumb like playing music. Well, I wouldn't say "almost," but I did find it amusing.

Tuesday 3/6/07: Rest
I don't think I've mentioned this here, so I figure I should say something without much else to mention for today. I turn 25 this summer, and as Aidan so thoughtfully said on his 25th birthday, the last vestige of our youth will be over. Now, I'm still going to be in grad school for at least another 2 years, so I don't forsee huge changes in my life. I'm not about to have an early-life crisis. But I do think I need to commemorate the occasion with some sort of youthful act.

Week: 10 min, 1 run. We'll see if this helps at all. After a week of working on my knee cap and icing dilligently, I'll see if things improve at all. If they do, then I'll keep it up and work my way up from there. If not, I'll relish the fact that I've stumped 4 people now. Hope that I can do a little bit of running by the time I get to Hawaii.

Sunday 3/4/07: Rest
A lazy Sunday (my favorite kind -- actually, I wager that there aren't any good adjectives for Sunday other than "lazy"). Watched a good bit of basketball, took a nap on the couch, talked to Aidan briefly, had some steaks with the fams for dinner and headed back home. The ideal way to spend a day like this, if you ask me.

Saturday 3/3/07: Rest
Interesting night last night with TLG. Jeff was flying in from Bezerkely for the weekend, so the plan was to pick him up at the airport and then head back to my house to drink beer and play Halo or something. Well, Jeff convinced Matt and Jon that we should go see Big Red at work at the Marriott (and get some free food and drinks in the process, score!), so right about when I expected those guys to show up at my house I got a call telling me to meet up with them. Katie (Big Red's fiancee) ended up being out there too, so the 5 of us had a grand old time (Big Red not included as he was working).

One of the topics of conversation included the bachelor/bachelorette parties for the aforementioned couple. This discussion made me realize that my vow to never go to a club again was slightly premature -- I will for sure make an exception if a good friend's bachelor party involves attending one (and heck, I might even dress up for the occasion). Other than that, I don't see any reason to go back to one, but it is worth mentioning that exception does exist. We finally did get to play Halo and drink beer today, I got my ass kicked per usual as I am terrible at that game.

Friday 3/2/07: 10 min
After doing work all morning, I put on my running stuff (knowing that I can't produce any pain unless I run) and headed to the hospital for my appointment. As usual, no problems until I stepped on the treadmill and ran for 10 minutes. Joe then looked at my knee again, watched me run to be sure there was nothing funny with my gait, and then said that I had stumped him. He got together with Rick, the other head honcho at physical therapy, and asked him what he thought (I thought it was like being in a late inning situation in a close playoff baseball game, where both the manager and the pitching coach come out to the mound to decide to put somebody on or pitch to them). Rick poked around at my knee, watched me run to check my gait, and then called another conference with Joe to compare the range of motion in my two knee caps.

Rick seemed to think that the difference could be responsible for my pain. I'm pretty tight to begin with, and so a subtle change in the available range could be significant. The theory is that my left knee cap can't slide far enough to the outside of my leg, and it is slightly catching on the place where I'm feeling the pain. It takes 10 mintues or so for me to notice any irritation due to this small difference. I'm now supposed to work hard on loosening up that knee cap, doing some other stretching, and icing. The hope is that with some work on this, I won't start noticing any pain for 15 minutes, then 20 minutes, then on and on until I outrun the problem.

So I'm hopeful again. And the fact that I didn't get a "take another 6 weeks off" death sentence (I should hopefully be able to notice a difference in a week or two) means I could meet my goal of running again before Hawaii. So I'm going to settle into a nightly routine of spending some time in front of the tube, stretching, working on that knee cap, and then icing. I think I'll give myself a week of this (or so) and see what happens.

Thursday 3/1/07: Rest
It looks like I'm headed to Claremont this weekend. I was able to make an appointment to see Joe tomorrow to see what he thinks about me knee, so I'll turn it into a weekend trip. I watched most of the Cavs-Mavs game, filled up some bottles from my kegged beer, and ate dinner before heading out around 8 pm. Uneventful drive, except for the mattress in the middle of the road that made for a very dangerous section of the 101. Made it home in time to watch Inside the NBA and some South Park before calling it a night.

Wednesday 2/28/07: Rest
I finally did something I should have done ages ago. Given my terrible flexibility, and that I'm sure that has had something to do with some of my injuries, I decided to get myself a foam roller. And I was right about a few things -- my IT band is wicked tight (on both sides), my left calf still isn't 100%, and my right hip flexor has problems too. None of this is too surprising. I've hurt both of those things in the past, the hip flexor was part of my back injury, and I had hurt my calf right before my knee started hurting.

So, while I'm not totally convinced that this will fix my knee trouble, I think it is worth pursuing. I'm doing this 3 times a day on the trouble spots. And I will note that while it might just be a coincidence, after I screwed up my hip flexor on the roller coaster in September 2003 my back didn't start hurting for 2 weeks. The first week, I was using a foam roller regularly (Engler left his at camp, I took it back to campus with me, and that dink was too lazy to come get it until he got someone to drive a team van to Tyler to get it before a meet). After that, I wasn't.

Tuesday 2/27/07: Rest
I'm sure this sounds totally random, but I wish I were coordinated enough to juggle. I first tried to learn back in 6th grade. We had "electives" on Friday afternoons, where there were several activites to choose from that weren't exactly academic. Magic and juggling was one of them, taught by my teacher Mr. Morrison, and I tried to learn to juggle then with little success. I didn't do much of it since then, until Santa left me a juggling book, accompanied by 3 beanbags to use to learn. I tried again then (which was probably in high school or something), and didn't fare much better. Well, I still have the book and the beanbags, and I've been trying to teach myself to juggle again. It seems that my lack of coordination hasn't gone away. I'm going to keep at it (I'm sure I've said that before), because I think that's something I should be able to do.

Monday 2/26/07: Rest
Is February almost over? Where did the winter go? It's been pretty windy here, I guess I remember it being windy during each of the last 2 winters. It's not like we get the Santa Anas here, but there have been some breezy days.

I just finished reading the book I picked up as part of the "UCSB Reads" program. It's being held in conjunction with Earth Day, a book describing some of the things scientists are noticing about global warming. I've been aware of some of the alarm over climate change, but it was neat to read some more specific observations that climate change scientists had noticed. Also, there's a Williams connection, as Elizabeth Kolbert, the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe, lives in Williamstown as her husband is on the Williams faculty, in the English Department I believe. The book isn't exceedingly technical (otherwise it couldn't be a campus-wide event), but it has me more interested in the specifics of the science. I'm looking forward to a KITP program on Climate Change in spring 2008 (Jean is one of the organizers, so I know it will be good), a good chance to hear some of the leading researchers give more specific, technical talks.

Week: 10 min, 1 run. Back to the drawing board. If I keep seeing enough people, I'll work my way through every possible leg problem that could be causing this. Hope to make it back to Claremont next weekend to work on this, but I'm not against making a mid-week trip if need be (as long as I'm not too busy). I do hope to be doing some running in a month or so, as there will be some Williams Track folks around here.

Sunday 2/25/07: Rest
Spent the day finishing a presentation for tomorrow. Surprisingly, I wasn't too tired this morning, considering I went to bed at 2:30 am on Friday and didn't fall asleep until well after 3. If I could ever sleep later than 8 am I wouldn't pumpkin so early, but I guess that's life.

I don't have much else to say for today. I guess my beer is fermenting nicely, though I wish it were a little bit warmer (the saison yeast likes warm temperatures), which is always good news.

Saturday 2/24/07: Rest
Finally, after 3 months off of brewing and nearly running out, I'm totally loaded again. Today I kegged the stout I brewed 2 weeks ago, and I brewed a saison (Belgian farmhouse ale, an awesome style if you ask me). That will put 2 full kegs on tap once I kick the keg of IPA, plus a full bottled batch, plus a few bottled odds and ends, plus all of the big commercial beers I'm still sitting on (though I haven't added to that stash since August with the Stone 10th Anniversary IPA, so it is being replenished very slowly). I'll slow down after this batch, though in another few weeks I'm brewing a Dubbel. I desperately need to get healthy so that I can run and I don't feel guilty with every beer I drink.

Friday 2/23/07: Rest
Note to self: don't go out with a group of people that plan on going to a "club," only if they are going to a "pub" is it worth my time and money. Why do I not particularly care for clubs? Let me count the ways.

1. Dress codes. I like to wear shorts and running shoes. If you aren't going to let me in because I'm not "dressed appropriately," even though there are some girls inside wearing next to nothing, well then I'm not really interested in going there. I was turned away from a place tonight because I was wearing shorts, and there were like 15 people total inside. Now, maybe you'll get more over the course of the evening, but I don't see how you are helping yourself turning people away from an empty club.

2. Music. "Have you heard of the Emancipation Proclaimation? I don't listen to hip-hop." Okay, South Park is funny, but the dance music they play at these places, you know, with the thumping bass, I don't particularly care for. Though, if "PUT YOUR ONES UP" had come on it would have made the whole night worth it. Give me a pub with a decent jukebox instead.

3. Noise. I like to be able to hear myself think. I also lose my voice easily, which means shouting over the music makes me hoarse the next morning. If I'm going to go hang out with some folks, what's the point of not being able to talk to them?

4. Names. I just find some of the names really stupid. "Tonic" and "Wildcat" (places we went to tonight) sound like you're trying too hard to be cool, if you ask me.

5. Cover Charges. This is my biggest peeve. Why on earth would I pay money to get in somewhere to deal with the aforementioned issues when I don't have to pay money somewhere else? I guess if there are idiots willing to pay money for this, then it makes financial sense from the standpoint of the club. Mark my words, I will never, ever pay a cover at a club.

Now, I'm sure that there are many, many people that enjoy going to clubs, and they should if they find it fun. I don't. Thus, there will be no further commentary from me on this, and I'll stick to going to pubs.

Thursday 2/22/07: Rest
A rainy day, not too cold, but it was raining pretty hard for much of the afternoon. It had mostly cleared by the time I was heading home. Even still, I revisited an old pastime from elementary school of having a nice cup of hot cocoa after a rainy school day. Back in the day, I'd get Nana to make me cocoa while I changed out of my wet clothes and warm up after a wet day. Of course, now I have to do it myself, but the cocoa is much, much better (props to my boy Alton Brown -- he taught me that if you want to make a great instant hot cocoa mix, you need to start with good cocoa powder).

I'll follow that with a mention of something that has alarmed a number of people here in grad school, that I don't drink coffee. I've gotten a number of funny looks from various grad students when I said that I don't drink coffee -- mostly, they ask what I do when I need to stay awake (my answer is that I go to bed). The caffeine just doesn't agree with me and I get a headache. It only seems to be troublesome with coffee; beverages like tea with significantly less caffeine seem to be okay if I only have a cup or two. And decaf never seems to be that good. Nope, I'll just stick to hot cocoa and tea, and good cider if I can get it (and I haven't had a good cup of cider since my New England days, unfortunately).

Wednesday 2/21/07: Rest
I'm kind of waffling on what to do now. I'm keeping up with the hip stuff, but don't have a definitive plan (and I think I should). I'm seriously thinking about a trip back to Claremont next weekend, and seeing Joe on Friday or Monday morning to see what he thinks. I'm still not 100% convinced that my calf is fully healed (I've done tons of stuff to work on it, and it just seems tight from time to time). So yeah, if I can swing the trip to Claremont I'm going to stay the course until then. If not, then I need to think about things and make some sort of a decision.

Week: ~4 mi hike. Well, I made it. I'm so excited. My knee felt good on the uphills hiking, kind of tight on the downhills, but no pain, so I'm optimistic. The plan for this week (oh, that feels so good to write): ideally, I'd like to run 3 times, 10-15 minutes each time. I need to keep up the exercises (there's still work to do there, but my hips are much better off now). I'm thinking M-Th-Sat right now. Here we go!

Sunday 2/18/07: Rest
Oooh, was I hurting this morning. I was tired and sore after a busy day yesterday. I noticed when hiking up the hill at a brisk pace that (1) my knee felt pretty good (knock on wood for tomorrow), and (2) I was completely winded by the time we reached the top. My fitness is horrendous right now. I know I was in pretty terrible shape a few other times (after my back injury in '03-'04, at the end of junior year, and at the end of high school), but I really think this time is the worst. Heck, even when I first started running I had been playing a lot of soccer and may have been in better shape than I am right now. (There's only one way to really know how bad I am right now, and that's to go out and run a 5k. I'm not about to do that.)

How long did it take to recover each time? At the end of high school, after not running at all for close to 2 months, it took most of the fall. Part of the problem was that I didn't start running much until we were past the mid-point of the summer (late July, so after 2 months off another month was spent running half-assed). I did end up running my first sub-5:00 mile in October, so I'd say that after 3 months I was in pretty good shape again. At the end of Junior Year, I wasn't in very good shape but the bigger problem was fatigue that had been going on for nearly a year. So maybe that isn't a good data point. After my back injury (5 months off), I really didn't get back into shape until the end of the summer. I had gotten partway back by the end of the school year (3 months of running), then spent a month partying in various locations and driving across the country, so I had to start over again. Another 2 months and I was back, so we'll say 4-5 months for that one.

How long will this one take? I'm not going to get ahead of myself and start naming specific dates, but once I do start running again I'm figuring on 6 months. I want to run Boston, I want to run a good half marathon, and I want to run a good 10k before I finish grad school, so those are the sort of things I'd be looking to do after those 6 months. But first things first, I need to make it through the first week.

Saturday 2/17/07: ~4 mi hike
Yesterday was a wonderful day, but today was even better. The weather wasn't any different (maybe a touch worse), but the fact that it was Saturday made a big difference. I figured I should try to go as many nice places as possible. I started by hitting golf balls for a bit in the morning, and I also putted for about a half hour. Then I headed to the Douglas Family Preserve, a wonderful open space by the ocean with a nice network of dirt paths.

I was on my way to grab some lunch, and had to stop to use the restroom at Shoreline Park. There were a lot of sailboats out (it was fairly windy around noon), so I got some pictures of all the boats out there:

I grabbed some lunch and ate it at the Jay Slowik Memorial Bird Lagoon (no sightings of the blue-crested tool bird, but there are some nice benches right up against the water that make for a nice lunch spot).

Finally, I headed to the mountains to meet up with some other folks to go hiking. Inspiration Point has some nice views of Santa Barbara, though a few clouds had moved in by the late afternoon. It was still around 80F for the afternoon, so I'm not complaining. For some reason, the sunscreen disappeared from the trunk of my car, and I got a little cooked, but all in all it was a nice hike.

When I got home, I took a long shower, watched Barkley beat Bavetta, and grilled up some gateway fish. I was wicked tired after a long day, so I ended up doing my exercises and falling asleep reading SI at around 10 pm. On Friday, on my way home Daniel Lavallee asked if I was going home to LA this weekend, and I told him that with weather like this there was no way I was going to leave Santa Barbara. I'm really glad that I stayed here.

Friday 2/16/07: Rest
My oh my, what a wonderful day. It got into the low 80's today, just a few wispy clouds, just spectacular. Seeing a foot of snow in Williamstown vs. the weather here, I think I know where I'd rather be. (Though hearing that Vanilla Ice is doing a concert at Williams for Winter Carnival was perhaps the funnier news from the Purple Valley.) Ate lunch out on the bluff overlooking the ocean, took a walk out to campus point after eating, and an extended stroll around the lagoon before heading home in the evening, there was a great sunset over the ocean. It's supposed to be nice again tomorrow, I'm definitely going to hit golf balls for a while. I'm very excited for the Chuckster to face off against Bavetta, too, so I have a lot of Inside the NBA to look forward to as well.

Thursday 2/15/07: Rest
Self-healing pulse-like ruptures are really neat and frustrating at the same time. While I won't go into gory details about this (for fear of being boring), trying to get my earthquakes to heal and continue to rupture as pulses (rather than cracks) is a rich problem, and one that I don't fully get. I guess that's why it's research. Spent the day learning some interesting things about that, watching part of an ugly game between the Mavs and the Rockets and most of a better game between the Cavs and the Lakers (I'm loving this recent 5 game skid, BTW). I also got to have lunch with the speaker from yesterday's geology talk, a neat guy that was a great pitcher for the baseball team here back in the 70's and might have had a shot at the Big Leagues had he not hurt his elbow.

Wednesday 2/14/07: Rest
I don't know a damn bit of geology, as I was reminded today at a talk. I know, I took a couple of classes in college, but that was so long ago that it's all evaporated. From looking at one of my old man's exams when at home, I think I've retained a good bit more chemistry than geology. But yeah, at the very least it was a good idea to see this talk today and be reminded that while the stuff that my computer spits out is interesting in its own right, there are real faults out there that I should be thinking about.

Tuesday 2/13/07: Rest
Not surprisingly, I was wicked tired this morning. No doubt the night before the night before strikes again. I'm trying to remember when I first heard that expression -- I know for sure that I heard Hannan say it sometime during my freshman year, but can't recall whether it was a high school thing or not. Of course, I know that it applied to several of my high school xc races. Junior year, homecoming was the weekend of the Southern Cal Invite, which meant I had a late night football game the night before that meet. And because that meet is down in San Diego, we had to leave really early (like 5 am) so that Ian or Grant (I can't remember who) could run in the #1 varsity race. I didn't get to bed until midnight, and was up at 4:30. I slept a little on the bus ride, but not much. I ended up running pretty well that day, and I'm pretty sure that sleeping well on Thursday night helped that. Then during senior year, when I was working my ass off at school, not sleeping enough, and getting sick every other week (this happened again in college before I realized that it's not a very good idea for me to do that), I stayed up really late on a Thursday night working on a paper for Ms. Purcell. Predictably, I put it off until the night before it was due, got 3 hours of sleep, skipped a bunch of classes the next day, and turned in a rather half assed paper on Friday afternoon. How did the race go on Saturday (I think it was the Staub invite)? Not well. I'd have to look up the specifics in Claremont (I still have all of Ede's comment sheets saved from back in the day), but I'm pretty sure I was our last guy in the varsity race, I was passed by a horde of people the second half of the race, and I felt like total ass the entire race. Now, I know better to do that from the standpoint of both running and working, so at least I learn from my mistakes.

Monday 2/12/07: Rest
Spent the day in LA for an earthquake rupture code workshop. In order to convince society/engineers/funding agencies that we know something about earthquake rupture, every so often SCEC organizes one of these workshops. A sample problem is posed, everyone runs it on their code, and we all get together to talk about what we found and any disagreements that came up. Right now these problems are still very basic (this meeting was to talk about what happens if the two fault blocks have different elastic properties), otherwise we could never get all these codes to agree and let us know we are actually correctly modeling the physics. I think the next go-around will start introducing some stuff into the friction law and I should play a more active role.

Of course, with the meeting at USC at 10 am, we had to leave pretty early from Santa Barbara to be sure we had enough time to deal with traffic. So I was up at 6 to leave by 7. I was driving for the group, and since my car is a stick I was worried that stop and go traffic to and from LA would be miserable. Fortunately traffic wasn't too bad (though "not too bad" still means it took us 2.5 hours each way), and we ended up spending more time at the workshop than we spent driving to and from LA (6.5 hours for the workshop, 5 hours of driving). Of course, my definition of "bad" traffic is if I wish I weren't driving a stick; others who aren't quite used to LA traffic might disagree with my assessment.

Also, I saw a number of signs for the upcoming LA marathon, which I am very disappointed to not be running. If I am indeed able to run next week, it will be too bad that I'm spending the week doing a couple of short runs struggling to maintain a pace that I would like to be dilligently ingraining in my mind in hopes of holding that pace for 26.2 mi. *Sigh*.

Week: Nothing. One more week. I'm already getting nervous and excited. I don't want to get too tied up talking about goals this week, especially since I'm not certain at all whether my knee is better. I'll just say that my goal for this week is to do 7 more days of good solid rehab, and next week I'll set out goals for the next week, and take this one week at a time until I'm confident that I'm on my way back. It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN (cue music, get GOB up on stage, and get ready for some magic)!

Sunday 2/11/07: Rest
A long brewday, I started around 8:30 after eating breakfast and cleaning up a bit and finished around 4 (partly because instead of starting my cleanup after pitching the yeast, Magid called and we talked for a little bit). As mentioned yesterday, this is a stout, a variation on the one that was just kicked. I'm trying to tweak it a bit to get a handle on a few things, all part of the fun of brewing.

Saturday 2/10/07: Rest
Racked my smoked porter out of the fermenter today. It's a little smoky, but next time I'd use another pound of smoked malt. I guess I should wait until it has conditioned, carbonated, and chilled before passing final judgement. It's still going to be a good beer, though. Otherwise, watched some Arrested Development episodes, had a cookout here and we finally kicked the leaky keg of the oatmeal stout. I'm going to see what's up with that keg. We're also running pretty low on IPA, so my 3 month brewing hiatus is finally catching up to me. I was thinking about bottling this smoked porter, but I may need to re-evaluate given my current supply of kegged beer. Or maybe I should bottle this as planned, keg the stout I brew tomorrow as planned, and brew up a quick pale ale or something. Or maybe I just need to be patient and live with the fact that I screwed myself by not brewing over Christmas.

Friday 2/9/07: Rest
10 days to go before I try running, and I'm starting to get a little excited/nervous. I'm not quite sure what I expect yet. I wouldn't be surprised if it feels great, and yet I've made so many attempts at running to have it hurt that part of me expects it to hurt. That's just really weird, if you ask me. Today I went to a physics circus show (which are always fun), did some research and work on the figures for my paper, read SI, and spent 20 minutes discussing if the Warriors will make the playoffs with a random drunk guy at a bar (I say there's no chance for them in the West unless Denver implodes, which is entirely possible but not likely if you ask me).

Thursday 2/8/07: Rest
Man, am I looking forward to the NBA All-Star game. It's not so much about the game as it is about Chuck's showdown with Dick Bavetta. Even David Stern is getting in on the trash talking, as the Commish said that he takes no responsibility if anything bad happens to Charles. And if I get to see footage of Kevin Harlan and Doug Collins wearing the jackets the Maloof brothers gave them tonight, well that's an added bonus. More interesting stuff out of my earthquake calculations today. I really wish each run didn't take 2+ hours to complete, because while I'm patient enough to do other stuff during the interim, "the waiting is the hardest part."

Wednesday 2/7/07: Rest
Ah, Duke-UNC. Zach and I watched this game a number of times back in the day (along with Paige and Dusty too), and seeing an overmatched Duke team hang tough for most of the game was certainly a change from those days when UNC was going through a rough patch with Matt Doherty at the helm. Dick Vitale was his usual self, but I thought seeing him mingling with a bunch of chicks in the stands at the Phog over the weekend for Kansas-Texas A&M was funnier than anything he did tonight. After that, I spent part of the evening fretting over my upcoming brewing schedule. I thought I had everything worked out that I was going to brew through the summer, and then they go and change the schedule on me. The changes are for the better, however. There were originally some rather ho-hum beers coming up (though types I have experience with, so I'm sure I would have done well), which are now new ones I hadn't brewed and are therefore more excited about. I'm starting to figure this whole brewing thing out (pint by pint, batch by batch), and am confident that my first stab at these will be good.

Tuesday 2/6/07: Rest
I spent the day cranking away at some earthquake calculations after noticing something interesting I hadn't noted before. I should be getting another draft of my paper going soon, too. I would have started working on my seminar for next week, except I'm going to have to delay it for a couple of weeks as there's a rupture code workshop on Monday at USC, and the following Monday is a holiday. I've already picked a topic (seismicity at Mt. St. Helens) and read the papers, and it's just a matter of sitting down and making the slides. Shouldn't be too big a deal to put it off.

Monday 2/5/07: Rest
Nice to see that the Wild, Wild West (aka the Pac-10) has 6 teams in the AP top 25 this week. I remember talking with my mom about the Pac-10 in football, and how while I thought the SEC was the best conference at the top (Florida, LSU, and Arkansas) I agreed with her that the Pac-10 was the best conference from top to bottom. Well, the Pac-10 is the best conference in basketball at the top and top to bottom. A team as good as 'Zona goes a rough patch and is consequently barely above .500 in conference play, that just doesn't happen in any other conferences. Of course, the NCAA tournament will be the end judge of how good all these teams really are, but it looks like UCLA picked up right where they left off last year, Aaron Brooks has been scoring like a madman, and if Lute can right the ship Arizona can still be very dangerous. But where the heck did Wazzu and USC come from? I'll save my Stanford commentary for another day (I've finally seen enough games to have a fair assessment of how good they are). But I'm glad to be back in CA where I get a steady stream of Pac-10 games on Fox Sports West after missing out during my 4 years in MA.

Week: Nothing. We'll see in only 2 more weeks. 28 days of exercises down, 14 more to go (well not exactly, I'll need to keep doing them, but you get the point). I hope that the weather is finally warming up -- it will surely rain more this winter, but it's the chilly weather that I'd like to avoid. That may be wishful thinking, but a little optimism never hurt anybody.

Sunday 2/4/07: Rest
Gorgeous outside today, so I went and hit golf balls for a bit in the morning (no, I haven't done it before now this year, and yes I'm aware that I wanted to practice my golf game more this year and haven't been doing so). As for the Super Bowl, I thought it was rather meh. It looked pretty miserable out there in the rain, and I was scratching my head as to why the NFL went from the Stones one year to Prince the next. At least it was slightly better than last year's game (you could attribute some of the sloppy play to the weather). Surprising stat: Rex Grossman was the most ineffective 20/28 that I've ever seen (most of those came late in the game against the Colts' soft prevent defense).

Saturday 2/3/07: Rest
It was nice out, so I went out to More Mesa for a walk. To ensure that every reader of this log is envious of where I live (this place is a short drive from my house), I brought my camera and snapped a few photos.

I thought my knee felt better, but it still was bothering me a little bit by the end. It feels like it is getting better, but I think I still need to keep working at it for 2 more weeks for sure. We'll have to wait and see, the leg lifts still induce quite a bit of fatigue on my left side.

Friday 2/2/07: Rest
I made sure to watch the Millrose Games, only to have them not show the mile. What the heck? Turns out that the mile will be broadcast on NBC tomorrow morning. So I guess I'll have to wait until then. Nothing particularly exciting to report today, so I'll keep this as a short entry.

Thursday 2/1/07: Rest
Is it February already? Time flies. After finishing up a figure for my paper, I had a few minutes to kill before I had to head to the bus stop. I ended up heading to YouTube and pulling up the video footage of "Going Home" from Alchemy. Now, fans of this log have no doubt heard that I hold that entire concert in rarefied regard. But that track holds an extra special place in my heart. What special place, dare you ask?

I associate specific music with many fond times in my past. Numerous ska songs are tied to specific high school memories, many other songs with times remembered from college. Those are all due to specific songs played at certain times, and I'm sure that readers can produce similar instances from their personal experience. But Going Home is the only song that I have indellibly tied to an era, an extended period of time. That time is my junior year of college.

I first really got into listening to Alchemy was the summer before junior year. Because my brother was carpooling with my mom to work, and he would sometimes come home for lunch when she didn't, I was driving the Honda because it's a stick and my brother couldn't drive stick (that car is now mine, and I couldn't be happier about it). My dad had left Alchemy in the CD player, and so I listened to it over and over during that summer. Going Home was just another amazing track at the time, and I really dig the simple melody, how it starts off quietly and just built to this thunderous finish with the theme played by Mark on the guitar and Mel Collins on the sax. It's a fantastic end to an amazing concert. Over the course of my junior year, as I struggled with health problems, tough times runningwise, and a difficult year of classes, I would often find myself frustrated. No, it wasn't a bad year by any means, I just had my fair share of bumps along the road and they took their toll. Well, this song never failed to put me in a good mood, which was especially helpful after a bad run or a long night of doing homework. It's a constant reminder that those were some good times, even if I wasn't always so sure about it at the time. And I think it's because it captured a range of emotions that I have come to universally associate it with my junior year. Hearing that song this evening right before leaving campus today was no different, bringing thoughts of Hopkins A42, working on tutorial problem sets with Sam and Mark, Aidan chugging a can of Coors Light in Bronfman after the organic final while Blanks made him laugh with his "your asshole is this big!" comment, going on runs in absolutely frigid conditions all winter, playing golf at the Bridges, CSM singing in the shower, being asked by security why Aidan and I were carrying so much beer back to our dorm ("we're being heart healthy!"), and the list goes on. It's all tied up in that song for me.

Wednesday 1/31/07: Rest
Holy crap, I can't believe it took me an hour to go to two banks this afternoon to deposit a few checks. First of all, the lights on Fairview on the north side of the freeway are atrocious. There is no reason it should take 10 minutes to get across the freeway to Calle Real, I'm starting to become convinced that I'm better off driving to Patterson and looping around in the late afternoon. Actually, riding my bike again is the optimal solution, but I still haven't gotten new wheels and brakes and am not sure when I'll get around to it. Then once I arrived at the credit union, there were 2 people ahead of me in line, and 2 windows open. Okay, this shouldn't take long, I thought. Wrong. One of the women talking to one of the tellers was going on and on about her credit card, bombarding this woman with questions, and I ended up getting through the other line before she finished. Of course, the young lady at the other window wasn't exactly setting any world records (though she did apologize to me about the long wait). After spending 20 minutes waiting there, I headed to the bank to deposit my stipend check. I figured the line at Wells Fargo would be long, and it was, but at least there were many tellers open. 15 minutes there, plus a few minutes driving between the two and 5 minutes to drive back home (you can avoid the light on your way back across Fairview if you are smart about it), and I had spent nearly an hour at these two places. Now, I'm a very patient person (just ask Aidan about Camille's wine and cheese party during senior year), but an hour to run 2 simple errands? I have better things to do with my time, like update my log.

Tuesday 1/30/07: Rest
More rain today. It's supposed to let up tomorrow, so I'm hopeful. With spring classes starting up at Williams this week, I thought about bugging my brother to take Geo 102 this year, but remembered that he's not doing it because of some math class he thinks he needs to take (and for once is right -- but he says he needs to take a lot more math classes than he really needs to). And while I won't press the issue this time, he won't hear the end of it if he doesn't do it next year. I can say for certain now that Geo 102 was the most important class I took at Williams, but it may not have been had I waited until my senior year to take it.

I remember spending the late summer of 2003 thinking about going to graduate school, and thinking about what the heck I was interested in studying. I signed on to do a thesis with DPA well before considering this, which had little if anything to do with the fact that he studied biophysics stuff (everyone told me to pick the professor, not the topic for a BA thesis). I knew for certain a lot of areas that I thought were as boring as watching paint dry: astrophysics, particle physics, gravity, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, and quantum condensed matter physics, which covers just about every major area of physics. I realized then that though I enjoyed being a physicist, I really didn't like physics. I needed to find something like the thesis I was working on that was interdisciplinary, something that I could talk about with all of my friends without getting a blank stare, something that I though was relevant to everyday life. At that point, it dawned on my that I had thoroughly enjoyed Geo 102, and that Bud had mentioned in passing after the last class that, "you know, Eric, we can always use smart physicists like you to help us study geologic problems." I'm not sure what I would have done had I not taken Geo 102 already. Who knows, maybe I would have embraced my roots and returned to chemistry, heck, I might have even gone to brewing school (which Aidan has maintained I should have done all along; I disagree, and that's probably a topic that deserves more discussion another day). The rest, however, is history. I've found some science that I'm very passionate about and owe a whole lot to what I thought would just be a fun, random break from physics when I signed up for it. I guess that's what makes a liberal arts education so worthwhile, the random little things you pick up along the way that end up making a huge difference down the road.

Monday 1/29/07: Rest
A busy day, with seminar this afternoon (meaning that I had to do the reading in the morning), needing to go pick up my stipend check for the quarter (since the idiots in the physics office neglected to tell me it was ready a month ago), and a physics circus demonstration for new participants. I did the air pressure demonstration, which has been much improved since last year. We now have an "air-zooka", which is a big hollow cylinder with a layer of plastic at the back attached with some elastic bands. You pull back on the plastic and let it go, and it sends a pressure wave through the air in the direction you point. I used it to blow out a candle from across the room, which was really cool. Also, I used a leaf blower to suspend a raquetball in the air. I'm sure the kids I do this demo for will think it's really cool, because, well, because science is cool.

Week: Nothing. Halfway there. I don't feel like things are much better, but I have been making good progress. I've also been noticing my back being rather sore when waking up in the morning. My abs and hip flexors have been an integral part of my back pain over the years, so I'm thinking these exercises have worn out those muscles and are making my back sore. Even if this doesn't fix my knee, if it helps my back I'll be happy. 3 more weeks, I'm going to be patient and we'll see how everything is feeling when the time comes.

Sunday 1/28/07: Rest
Another rainy day, I wasn't planning on doing much of anything anyways, I ended up going to bed way past my bedtime last night. Ah, I guess time spent with friends is time well spent. My beer was fermenting nicely, watched the Cavs keep things close with the Suns before Phoneix's superior firepower just took over. That's a good team -- you really need to shoot over 50% from the field to have a chance, otherwise they just run everyone out of the gym.

Saturday 1/27/07: Rest
I woke up to a rainy day, which is just fine by me. If I'm brewing, I'm stuck inside for the whole day anyways, so might as well get that rain out of the way. I was started relatively early (I had my water heating at 8:45), and had most of the cleanup done by 2:30. That means today was pretty efficient, and even gave me time to kick back a bit before heading over to Jonathan and Angela's for a nice dinner and night of board/card games.

Week: Nothing. 2 weeks down, 4 to go, and I haven't missed a day yet. I'm making good progress, but I think there's still a lot of strength gains to be made. If it warms up here, and I get my act together and look for a bike, I might be looking at doing some riding to get out and exercise. For now, though, more sitting on my ass.

Sunday 1/21/07: Rest
That, my friends, is why I love sports. Quite possibly the best conference championship game in my football lifetime (I can't say that I remember all the way back to Elway's big wins in the 80's). I'll give it some time before I pass judgement on its place in history, but that was just a fantastic football game. The Patriots starting out looking like a team that won 3 of the past 5 Super Bowls, then to see Manning storm back with 18 unanswered points, to have the Pats take the lead 3 more times before the winning score with 1:00 to play... damn! It wasn't quite hyped like the '06 Rose Bowl (a better game in my opinion), but the fact that Manning couldn't watch as Brady tried to drive the length of the field to win it pretty much tells you how tense this one was. Now, I will say that the Colts got a few calls to go their way, but that's them breaks. When my dad called after the end of the game, I made sure to ask him if he turned off the game at 21-3 (I'll never tire of giving him a hard time for turning off the '06 Rose Bowl when USC went up by 12 in the 4th quarter), but I think he learned his lesson.

Saturday 1/20/07: Rest
We've reached the midway point of the NBA season, and I'm guessing that everyone is wondering what I think of the Lakers. I watch their games whenever I get a chance, and with their record at 26-15 it's been rough for me. Not as bad as during the early years of the decade, but while at Williams I couldn't watch Laker games nearly as frequently as I do now, save for during the playoffs.

Obviously, Kobe is having a good season, and it seems that Phil has finally gotten through to him about involving his teammates. This drives me crazy. He can carry them at times but doesn't always have to, which is the big difference from last year. Losing Lamar Odom has hurt them, especially defensively -- against Dallas this week, Nowitzki had the easiest 27 points I had seen in a long time. But I really think that the success here is Phil Jackson's doing. I mean, in a league where a good 2/3 of the coaches are chumps (if you don't believe me, you haven't watched enough close games to see teams making moronic mistakes down the stretch that well coached teams NEVER make), having one of the few good coaches is easily worth 10 wins. And the Lakers are young, making a good coach worth much more than that.

The one thing that's a bit of a red flag to me, though, is their road record of 8-11. Everyone knows that the easiest way to get to 50 wins is to win slightly more than 2 of 3 at home and go .500 on the road. I think there is a big difference between just below .500 on the road and just above .500 on the road (especially if you have to go on the road to win a second round playoff series), and that will be more telling of how the Lakers will fare. You aren't going to win the West this year with a losing road record, that much I can guarantee you. Dallas and Phoenix are clearly the class of the league this year, and I can't see the Lakers matching up well with either team in a second round series. But I will say that the Lakers are surprising me this year, and are giving me a fit on a regular basis. We'll see how they fare on the road in the second half -- if they get to 21 road wins, they are for real.

Friday 1/19/07: Rest
Now, I should preface this with a disclaimer that Aaron Magid is one of my best friends. I know that he's good natured enough to take us making fun of him in stride. But the fact remains that he's said some pretty moronic things over the years. Aidan and I were recounting over email today the Aaron Magid Hall Of Fame, the things that he said that were just completely clueless. The top 5, in no particular order:

Freshman year, Magid asked Zach if he was Jewish twice. Was he curious if Zach had converted during the interim? Did he just forget asking him?

Freshman year, Magid asked Pete Farwell, "Pete, how long is the 5K?" Now, Aaron did try to clarify what to me after the fact what he intended to ask (and I completely understood what his real question was). Magid was curious if the course was actually longer than 5K, which would explain to him the fairly slow times that people ran on the course at the High School. Yet, somehow the defining Aaron Magid quote came out instead.

Yesterday, Magid sent Aidan an email, asking if Steve Finley (Haverford English Professor) knows Aaron's advisor's father, an English professor at some random Midwestern college. Aidan responded saying that "Yes, my father knows every single English Ph.D. in the country. Does your dad know every anesthesiologist in the country?"

When in Canada over senior dead week, Aidan, Colin, Magid, and I were in search of a place to eat breakfast. Aaron suggested that we look for an IHOP, because "they're international, and we are in Canada."

And my personal favorite. Senior fall, Aidan had been exchanging emails with the Missus/Exxus (which designation is appropriate for that time remains under debate). Aidan was interested in speaking directly over the phone with Rachel (who was in Sweden), so he consulted Magid as to the best way to comminicate across the pond. Aaron's girlfriend studied abroad in Britain the previous fall, thus he had experience as to the best way to make telephone calls to Europe. Aidan sent Aaron an email indicating his interest in obtaining a calling card to Europe (and little more), expecting a simple email response with the relevant information (Aidan wanted to keep this on the down-low). Well, Aaron didn't really get that part of it, and on our way back to Tyler House from breakfast one weekend morning, Aaron said to Aidan that the calling card to get depends on the country, oblivious to what Aidan's intentions were. I heard "calling card" and "Europe" and knew instantly what was afoot, much to Aidan's chagrin. I had to explain to Magid why Aidan wanted a calling card, and why he wanted to be discreet about it. I'm still not sure he understood until Aidan boarded a plane for Sweden a few weeks later.

Thursday 1/18/07: Rest
Last year, I brewed a lot of beer. However, I felt that a good portion of it was a little rushed. I would decide to brew a beer for the Barbeerian competitions, but decide to do it at the last possible minute (some things never change, eh?). If there's one thing I've learned about brewing beer over the past 1.5 years, it is that your patience will be rewarded. Beers that I planned out, put a lot of thought into the recipe, and brewed with plenty of time to ferment, condition, and carbonate, just turned out a lot better than those that I rushed. Thus, this year I am already thinking about the brewing schedule (what styles I am going to make, when I am going to brew them, if I will bottle or keg) to be sure that all my beers live up to their potential. Also, I haven't brewed since November, so it's about time I got back into it. I've ordered up stuff for my first two brews of the year: a Foreign Stout (for March competition, and probably for consumption at my grad seminar on brewing beer) and a Smoked Porter (something I've wanted to brew for a while). I put some good thought into the recipes, ordered the ingredients, and am already excited for next weekend to get my mash water heating. Other interesting beers planned for the year? More IPAs, some Belgians, a Weizen Bock, among other things. Should be fun.

Wednesday 1/17/07: Rest
Rainy season seems to have finally arrived. It rained last night, then was perfectly clear while I was going to school, then rained again in the afternoon. I was hoping that having some clouds would help warm things up here, but apparently that's not the case (it was pretty chilly at dusk when I was going home).

Oh, and I forgot to mention a humorous discussion Aidan and I had the other day. We were discussing Schottenheimer's failure to take a top seeded team to the Super Bowl yet again, and I cited the interception turned fumble on that key 4th down drive. Everyone knows that you knock down that pass instead of intercepting and send your offense on 15 yards further ahead. Aidan of course mentions that an NFL DB usually thinks he can take that interception yard and thus runs it back. So I say, "well I guess I don't have that cockiness to me, which is why I'm not an NFL defensive back." Aidan then points out that a lack of cockiness is not the reason that I'm not an NFL defensive back (he referred to "talent" and the fact that I'm a "slow white guy"). We had a good laugh, and yes, I'll admit that those factors play a role. Also, I'm sure that my desire to not have a torn ACL is preventing me from playing in the NFL.

Tuesday 1/16/07: Rest
For what seems like the first time in ages (I think since Thanksgiving weekend) I lit up a fire and threw some meat on the grill. Ah, it's great to be back. Some chicken thighs and grilled flatbread, two staples of my grilling repertoire. Okay, so I did use my parents' gas grill a few times over break, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's not the same. The lull while you wait for a fire to light with a beer in your hand, watching whatever sporting event is on (today it was Texas-Oklahoma State, a triple OT thriller that lasted far beyond the end of my meal), you never have that with a gas grill. Patiently fussing with the fire to get it just right, and thoroughly enjoying it because it's so freaking cold out that standing by a charcoal fire is the warmest place in town (at least today that was the case). These sort of simple pleasures are what make grilling so endearing to me, and their absence in a gas grill just takes all of the fun out in my mind. That, and the far less Romantic fact that charcoal just makes tastier food.

Monday 1/15/07: Rest
Enjoyed the day off from school to ... oh wait, I don't take classes any more! Every day is a day off from school! Actually, I have many things to do, so I went in to school to get some work done. I didn't stay too late, and watched the Heat make too many bad plays down the stretch in OT to lose to the Lakers. Fortunately for the Heat, the East is just terrible and getting Shaq back makes them a contender by default.

Even with the Lakers winning, NBA ball on TNT is one of the few things I try not to miss. They usually have a good game, and Marv Albert and Steve Kerr are an outstanding announcing team (Kevin Harlan and Doug Collins aren't bad either). And most importantly, "Inside the NBA" is the best sports analysis show on TV, period. Sir Charles and Kenny are among the best former player analysts in any sport, they tell it how it is, and Ernie "The Whitest Man in America" Johnson plays a perfect foil to those guys bickering and ribbing each other. Compare them to, say, any of the football foursomes that show up in my living room every Sunday morning from September to January, and it's not even close. The football players are too busy laughing obnoxiously loud at their own jokes, spouting meaningless cliches, and not showing me a damn thing about the game. (Though, the Daubfather and I are incredibly amused by "JACKED UP!" on Monday Night Countdown despite the fact that it is completely meaningless. It's just funny to hear those guys all shouting "JACKED UP!" with each big hit and then laughing and laughing.) And any show where Barkley says that he could still play in the league if he only played against the East, followed by Kenny and Reggie Miller egging him into running up and down the arena steps and completely winding him, well, that's a show that I can get behind.

Week: 10 min. Good to hear something new on my knee injury. One week down, 5 to go, and then we will see if any progress has been made. I've been good thus far about not missing a day (7 in a row), and hope to run that number up to 42. And I'm super glad to be not taking any classes this quarter, I was really getting burned out on that, so it should be good to get some research done.

Sunday 1/14/07: Rest
Some interesting football this weekend. As we learned in the AFC, turnovers can often be the difference. I thought that the Chargers and Ravens were the better teams, yet both coughed up the ball at some pretty critical points that ended up being the difference in both games. Fortunately, I don't care one bit who ends up hoisting the Lombardi Trophy (though I'm always one whiny article from The Sports Guy away from turning against the Patriots with all due respect to Neal, Chaffee, etc.). At least this year the Super Bowl is in Miami, which should limit the whambulance about being at the game itself. Highlight of the day for sure was getting a call from the Daubfather to point out that the score at the end of regulation in the NFC game was 24-24, and that Fox must have rigged everything to give them another excuse to pitch to the start of "24" tonight (speaking of which, yawn... I've got other things to do).

Saturday 1/13/07: Rest
I love More Mesa. This morning I headed out there to go for a little walk, though I ended up spending an hour there. It was a bit chilly, but perfectly clear with awesome views of the mountains and the ocean. It isn't quite big enough to do runs there much over 4 miles, but for walking it's the perfect size if you ask me. And it's never crowded like Ellwood can be, plus there's a nice path down to the beach. The walk didn't seem to bother my knee, but I still have a good ways to go as far as working on my knee pain is concerned. I've done the exercises every day, but there's still some very weak muscles.

Friday 1/12/07: Rest
A rather hilarious incident occurred at school today. Sean and I were sitting around the office, working and minding our own business, when a random guy walks in. Now, random folks in our office is not a new concept; the head TA shares the office with us and there are usually annoying people sticking their heads in to ask him questions. We figured this guy was looking for the head TA, except he asked which professors might be experts in quantum mechanics. Sean and I paused, looking at each other, and then Sean said that he would need to be more specific. Then the guy rambled on, "well, I'm reall interested if you have any labs connecting physics with spirituality, and the possibility of turning air into water." We can tell now that this guy is a bit wacko. So Sean (who has experience with these sorts of people from his undergrad days at Santa Cruz) sends him away, telling him that "the guy that you really want to talk to is named Feraz, he has an office down the other hall" (Feraz being another grad student). The guy leaves, and we have a good laugh after the fact.

The real fun came a bit later, when I was informed that I needed to see the chalkboards in the lounge. A few others were admiring this guy's handiwork on the chalkboards, which just seemed like rambling writings on the board (except his advice to not play leapfrog with unicorns, which is just common sense). Pretty funny. Other than that, it was a pretty typical Friday.

Thursday 1/11/07: Rest
Today, I did some more work on the paper, but far and away the important task for today was to submit my abstract for SSA. The conference isn't for 3 months, but I'm already counting the days. And why might that be? The meeting is on the Big Island in Hawaii. Yes, all my hard work as a seismologist will finally pay off in April. It's at a swank resort that looks absolutely gorgeous, I hope to be able to do a bit of running there, some putting (playing golf is hideously expensive), hiking, and relaxing on the beach. Oh yeah, and I need to give a talk at some point, but that's a fairly minor thing.

I fondly remember the band trip to Hawaii as one of the highlights of my high school days. That was in TLG's infancy (our initial performance as the Offbeats was done at a band performance prior to Hawaii), but Matt, Big Red, Jeff, Kris, and I hung out a lot that week. Of course, I wasn't in the same room as the rest of those guys thanks to Fat Mark, but sharing with Babs, Adam Wasserman, and Jonathan Cana worked out okay. Though, I thought that trip (and Oahu in general) was a bit too touristy for my liking, but I think when going with a big group like the band and drill team that's pretty inevitable. Things like the Luau, the dinner cruise, Fat Mark trying to bleach his hair with Clorox, and of course staying up late our last night and then my falling asleep in the sun with my shirt off, giving me a terrible sunburn for the next week, those are some fantastic memories.

(Note to self: share nostalgia more frequently on here, at least until I can start running again.)

Wednesday 1/10/07: Rest
Ah, back to the grind. The upcoming task is to get my research written up for publication. I started working on that today, but I'm guessing that's going to be a task over the next 2 weeks or so. I also need to get my committee together so that I can advance, but I don't need to really worry about that for a little while. Got some good work done today, sent a lot of emails back and forth with Aidan, and watched KU destroy Oklahoma State in a Big XII game.

Tuesday 1/9/07: Rest
I saw the orthopedist this morning, nothing really noteworthy compared to yesterday. Finished up there a bit before 10, and then hit the road for Santa Barbara. Besides an accident just outside of Santa Barbara that was finally being cleared as I passed, no real traffic. I even made it back in time for a group meeting to touch base with everyone.

I made sure to catch the Wisconsin-Ohio State game (hoping that Ohio State wouldn't stink it up like last night). A few comments: 1. I feel bad for Ohio State, I've watched 3 of their games this season, and they lost all of them (UNC, Florida, and now Wisconsin), all on the road against top 10 opponents. 2. Wisconsin is playing as well as anybody in the country right now, yet I feel they are totally off the radar compared to UNC, Florida, and UCLA. 3. Greg Oden will be a force by the end of the year once his wrist is completely healed. Right now, he's only a big factor at the defensive end, but when he can use both hands again, he'll do plenty of offensive damage. Ohio State may still be too young to win it all, but I'm fairly sure when I see them play with a healthy Oden down the road they won't disappoint. 4. Thad Matta was totally looking like bizzarro Norman Dale tonight. I kept expecting him to yell, "I want to see 4 passes before every shot!"

Monday 1/8/07: 10 min
Damn, why do I have to get kicked off my parents' insurance in 5 months when I turn 25? I need to be on that insurance to have Joe take a look at my injuries. After warming up on the bike for 15 minutes, he had me do some tests on a machine to see how strong my quads and hamstrings were, looking for muscle imbalances. Turns out my two sides are pretty even, which means that everything I was doing over the summer was completely useless. So at least I confirmed that I wasn't crazy to give up on that stuff. After that, he had me run for 10 minutes, until the pain started (thankfully I wore running stuff), then looked for any other imbalances that could be a problem. Sure enough, my left hip and glutes are much weaker than my right. That certainly could be the problem. So Joe thinks 6 weeks off and some dilligent work at some leg lifts is his "best guess" (and a hell of a lot better than any other guess I've heard thus far). Far and away, this is the happiest I ever could be after hearing that I need to take 6 weeks off.

So, let's look at the calendar. 6 weeks means 2/19/07, I hope to start doing a few easy runs a week around then. 42 days where I need to document doing the appropriate exercises (well, actually 41 now that I did them for today). Ah, my first training goal for 2007!

Week: 90 min bike. It seems like I can't do anything to exercise these days. At least my knee isn't totally screwed up (just mildly screwed up). I'll see what the story is from Joe on Monday, I have faith since he has fixed all of my bad wheels in the past.

Sunday 1/7/07: Rest
Wow, it was lunchtime, there was no food at my folks' house, and I had an In-N-Out gift card burning a hole in my pocket. I was debating going, and lo and behold Matt calls to ask if I wanted to go to In-N-Out. After that, we recorded my trumpet tracks for the new TLG song we're recording, before I went home to catch the second half of the Eagles-Giants game. Next week's divisional playoffs look to be really exciting.

Saturday 1/6/07: Rest
Ah, the NFL playoffs are here. I may not follow the regular season that closely compared to baseball or basketball, but I rarely like to miss playoff games. It's probably because football is usually concentrated on the weekends. I can catch a good baseball or basketball game any day of the week all year long when I'm in the mood. But if I'm not down with watching football on Sundays, and especially if the only games on are lame Raiders or 49ers game (which preempt others here in Santa Barbara), I'm apt to do other things. But the playoffs don't have crappy teams, and the games mean much more, so it's a whole different story. And if there's a chance that Tony Romo botches a hold on a game winning field goal attempt (and then a hi-larious post on Drew Bledsoe's blog), things are all the better.

Friday 1/5/07: Rest
I had to wake up early again today for an MRI on my knee. I got a little tired of sitting there for nearly an hour under the machine, but I made it through. Later in the afternoon, I heard from my mom that everything was normal, which is a huge relief to me. I was getting worried when my knee didn't get any better over several months that I'd eventually get some bad news. Of course I still don't know what's wrong, but I'd rather have doubts and not need surgery than the opposite. I guess the thing to do is to see if I can see Joe on Monday or Tuesday before I go back (Tuesday I'm supposed to go see the orthopedist again so I'm staying around here until then).

Thursday 1/4/07: Rest
I visited the dentist this morning, and for the first time ever they told me I had some stuff they were marginally concerned about. So I'm going to improve my flossing habits, and start using some special mints and toothpaste they gave me. I wasn't about to have any fillings, and as long as it doesn't get any worse I'll be fine, so this is rather preventative at this point.

After I got home, the Daubfather and I went to Ontario Mills to see "Casino Royale" as that's the only place it is still playing. This happened because I was flipping through channels one afternoon and came across one of the Roger Moore Bonds (not the most outrageous of them, but I felt that series had too many comical supervillians with designs of world domination) and my dad commented that the new Bond was supposed to be rather different, more true to Fleming's original character. So we decided that we should go see it while we still could, when I was home and could catch a matinee. I thought it was for certain the best Bond of my lifetime, and maybe the best ever according to my old man. Fairly dark, with a large body count, but much more my type of movie than any Bond, save perhaps "From Russia With Love" which I thought was the only other in its league. I know I'm way behind on this, but I certainly recommend it.

Wednesday 1/3/07: Rest
Took today off to have lunch with Anthony (who is entering his final semester of law school at Georgetown and would have been a classmate of Neal's had Hannan gone to Georgetown). We had Mexican, which I always love, I had some enchiladas that were delicious. Afterwards, we headed to the movies and saw "Night At The Museum." I didn't expect much, and it turned out to be decent, so at the very least I thought it was worth the matinee price. The theater was full of kids off of school for the week, but I guess I used to go to matinees when I was younger and off of school so that's not too unreasonable. Afterwards, talked to Magid a bit during the early part of the Sugar Bowl before LSU layed the smack down on ND.

Tuesday 1/2/07: 90 min bike
I decided to go exploring on my bike a bit today. I've recalled seeing a new bike path through Montclair and Upland, so decided to go find out where it is and where it goes. So I headed down through the colleges towards Montclair, and in my search I ended up riding past Oak Park Cemetary, so I figured I should pay my little brother a brief visit (I can't recall the last time I stopped by). It blows my mind to think that he'd be in college now, but not quite as much as the thought that my sister is going to be a frosh at Williams next year. Once I finished at the cemetary, I figured out where the bike path began at the Claremont-Montclair border, and headed out. Most of the street crossings had lights, which was nice, a few didn't and you had to detour to a traffic light. For the most part, it was nice to ride along. There's probably enough dirt alongside that I could do a nice run along there if I wanted too (when I'm back running). I rode out to the end (or what looked like the end, this thing in theory goes or will go out to Rialto), then turned back and had to ride into the wind. I ended up being gone for 90 min or so, and my knee was hurting a bit. So it looks like no more riding for a while here. A fun exploring ride, though.

Monday 1/1/07: Rest
Happy New Year! Watched a ton of football today. (Bosie State! What an ending! Not as good as 2006 Rose Bowl, but I may never see another game like either of them.) Because of the sheer volume of football on today, this is one of my favorite holidays of all time. On the other hand, this year was the first time in a while where I was unable to go out for a halftime run during the Rose Bowl (last year, I obviously couldn't because the Rose Bowl wasn't on New Year's Day). So that's disappointing.

But in any event, it's time to lay out some goals for 2007. No, these are not "resolutions" (my opinion on New Year's resolutions is similar to that featured often in "Calvin and Hobbes," where Calvin boldly proclaims that the rest of the world needs to change, not him), but goals for the upcoming year.

Obviously, it goes without saying that I want to start running again. It goes without saying that I want to stay uninjured. But as far as being more specific, I'm going to take a very long view of running this year. Once I'm able to get in some running pain-free, the build up will be very gradual. I'm going to be getting back into lifting to stay healthy, and try and do some good biking for cross training purposes (so that even when I'm not running much at first, I'm trying to get in plenty of training). So I obviously need to acquire a road bike, for which Santa Claus gave me some help. I'll have some more specifics on everything as I (a) learn more about this injury, (b) work on doing whatever needs to be done to fix it, and (c) start some running again.

As far as outside of running, I've come up with some interesting goals over the years at the start of the year. Like in 2003, where my goal was to watch Sportscenter once every day during Winter Study (I actually came pretty close to doing so). In 2004 it was go to the Forge at least once a week (that was pretty easy). This year, I want to be better at keeping my log up to date (ironically, I'm trying to catch up as I write this), as well as being more consistent in practicing my golf game. That means weekly trips to the driving range, putting and chipping, and playing more often than twice a year.

Oh yeah, and every year I tell myself I'm going to keep my room cleaner. And yeah, this year is going to be different...