Friday, March 27, 2009

Mathemagic

So the Undergraduate Symposium went well this morning. During the luncheon after the presentations, we had a guest speaker. This is Arthur Benjamin, a math teacher from some college I dont remember and is freaky fast at calculations. This guy is amazing. If you have 15 minutes to spare, watch this whole video. If you only have 5 minutes, fast forward to 10:30 and just watch the end. And if you can believe it, he was faster today than he is on this video.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Cycling Gods Hate Me

Well I finally got to 2 days where I actually have the time to ride...and now I'm sick and can't. Been working all week at my new job at Panera on N. University in Ann Arbor and it has been eating up all my free time. (33.5 hours this week) Outside of work, on the weekdays I literally have no free time, evident by my lack of posting, because I am in class or in the lab with Dr. McGregor getting ready for Friday's Undergraduate Symposium. This afternoon and tomorrow morning were the only times I had to get some riding time in, but alas I have a pretty bad cold. Hard coughing every minute or two combined with mucus and a headache, feeling really drained and wouldn't be able to do anything on the bike.

So yeah, the cycling gods hate me. I will eventually be back in form, but it might not be untill June, which means the May and STS races are going to hurt.



So whats been up? Alot. When I last left you, I was making a trip to Houghton, Michigan with my parents and Julie. It was a lot of fun. Julie and I spent all Saturday walking around Houghton looking at the ice sculptures and going in stores. Then we crossed the bridge to Hancock and did the same thing. That night we went down to the river and watched the fireworks for winter carnival, it was scarry at one point when a firework tipped over and ignited in the launch area, but everyone was ok. Sunday morning I woke up to my brother tossing me some clothes. He said we were going XC skiing, well thats a first for me. It was a lot of fun, it took me a minute to get going, but I eventually got the hang out of it and now I want my own set.



The final week of February was my spring break. The Friday I got out of class, my dad flew to California. He met up with my brothers Eric and John to watch the Solvang TT for the ToC....I was on spring break...So instead of going to watch my favorite riders race in the USA, I was doing morning rides around Jackson. One morning I had an encounter with black ice and banged up my knee pretty good, but its all better now. I did go to the DIA with Nick Michelle and Julie that Friday. It was interesting to see what was on display. Lots of random chess sets, some very...different and others very awesome.

It was then back to school and once we hit the weekend, I went up north with Liz, Kim, Coling and Liz's family to ski for two days. On the first run on the first day, Liz's brother's friend fell and broke her wrist. It was her first time breaking somehting, but once she got pass the initial shock, she was fine. The skiing wasn't too bad for being March. I spent Saturday in a sweatshirt. Sunday was cooler so the snow was harder which meant better skiing. Liz and I raced each other a few times, and I won each time.



As some of you know, the new team kits are in. I picked mine up from Scott last Sunday, then rode with the EMU gang for a few miles before meeting back up with Scott and rising to Northville to get the LS jerseys. On our way back, from Northville to Saltz Rd. in Canton, I don't think our speed dropped below 25mph. We were each doing pulls (obviously I got the better draft) and my pulls were in the 400-450W range. It was a good ride.



I have also located an apartment I believe I am going to lease. I would be leasing with two freinds from school. It is a spacious 3 bedroom/2 bathroom condo on Washtenaw and Oakwood. It is literally on the corner of campus. With utilities and rent between the 3 of us, we would be paying roughly $350/month/person.

I am no longer coached anymore. I talked to Darrell and we ended out athlete/coach relationship. Partially because I don't have much money right now and partially because I enjoy having a coach who can watch me race and be at my races. That would be kind of difficult for D to do while in AZ.

So yeah. That's what I got going on. Hope that was worth the wait. (I know it wasn't)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Coming Soon

I swear! I will update soon. There has been a lot going on and I have no free time right now. I have class untill noon, in the lab and analyzing data for my undergrad research untill 3 and work from 4-12. Then I wake up and repeat it all. Tomorrow I have a free 3-4 hour block that I will try to get a post and some pictures up, if it doesnt happen, my excuse is because i was out riding (which I havent done since....Sunday, and the last time before then was....Monday) Yeah I am WAY out of form and the spring campain is not going to favor me.