random thinks

41.5 miles, "One Helluva Ride"

Susan and I joined the  Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society a little while ago.  We have both been biking more, and it is something fun we enjoy doing together.  It could turn out to be a fun way to meet other cyclists, and the club discount does not hurt either.

The AABTS sponsors an annual ride that starts in Chelsea MI, and some of the routes take you through Hell, MI.  Thus the "One Helluva Ride" monniker.  We decided to go for it, and signed up for a 39 mile route, from Chelsea to Portage Lake and back to Chelsea via Grass Lake. 

Susan is an experienced tourer, veteran of two LA to San Francisco AIDS charity rides and a little while ago did a long biking trip in New Zealand.  Me, not so much.  The farthest I've been in one cycling trip as an adult was the 17.5 miles I did last week, trying to get ready.  Well, it was a beautiful day for a ride.

The ride was actually 41.5 miles by my odometer.  Mostly uphill it seemed, both ways.  I made it.  I crashed twice, once a true accident, and once stupidity: remaining clipped into my pedals too long upon stopping: see Kevin's blog post "Gravity 1, Kevin 0" for more details on how that feels.

The first crash was about 14.5 miles in, just a mile or so short of the "lunch stop".  The road had a bit of edge to it there and I got on the wrong side, overcorrected, and wound up flying into the middle of the road on my left side.  My shoulder and elbow took the worst of the blow, and I have some bumps and pain to show for it.  It truns out I might have damaged my foot too, it is nasty sore as well.

We made it to the break stop, and I wanted to keep going.  We finished the ride, and it was one of the hardes physical exertions I've done in quite some time.  It would seem that I have a propensity for thigh cramps that crop up at inopportune times.  Once I had to dismount in the middle of a hill to alleviate the pain.  I was pretty well hydrated, and I thought I had had enough electrolytes, but the small white salt crystals that were precipitating on my skin spoke otherwise.  I now have pain in areas of my body that I did not know existed.

You know what though?  I feel great.  I worked hard, finished what I set out to do, and challenged myself.  It was fun, and interesting to see all the riders in their various cycling jersey plumery.  Very colorful.  Lots of matching people.  Me, not so much.  Black riding shorts, and a grey Adidas t-shirt worked for me.  It did turn out that Susan and I almost matched though.  Her grey t-shirt was a University of Michigan one.  Maybe next year we'll do cute and wear completely matching togs.

Insomnia Blogging and Workout Music

My eyes popped wide open this morning at 3:15 AM. I tried going back to sleep, but no luck. Fortunately it is (relatively) decent outside, so I took the dogs for a walk and decided to hit the blogs.

I have been working out quite a bit lately and have added some time on the elliptical trainer to my weekly routine. I find that it is a good cardio workout with low impact on the knees and feet. I take my iPod shuffle to the gym and use it to drown out what my friend Mike calls the "Angry White Man/Black Man Music Mix" that the college students (mostly male athletes) play over the weight room system.

I've got a pretty eclectic taste in music, and am trying to get a good mix of high energy songs to listen to. I can shuffle through a lot of songs, but am trying to find a bunch of good stuff for this workout. I'll attach a shortened list of what I am listening to with the request that if you know of some good stuff that you forward the title info to me.

My short list:

Yes, I know it is a little out there. I am certain that there are some of these artists who'd hurl if they knew they were put on the same playlist. But I like it anyhow.

Any suggestions for soem good additions?

Need Your Help: Coca-Cola Basketball Ad

OK... Coke is running a new ad with a street basketball game and an older guy with a bag of groceries. The guy looks familiar as hell, but I simply cannot place the face. Any hoops fans out there that can help would be appreciated.

More Apropos of Nothing

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I really enjoy the way the artist Brian Basset draws this strip. The simple lines and kind of gentle humor he uses is a nice counterpoint to the high sarcasm and snarkiness of some other comics I enjoy. He truly understands the relationship between a boy (or a man) and his dog. He's been doing a great take on Valentines Day over the last few days. Catch more Red and Rover at comics.com.

Another Good Paul Graham Essay

I really like Paul Graham. His book: "Hackers and Painters" is available at amazon.com.

This new essay on his website is some advice that he was to give to High School students (at maybe a commencement address -- it is not clear) but that he never ended up actually giving.

Check it out, it is good for all ages: What You'll Wish You'd Known.

The only criticism I have is his negative view towards college admission's counselors. I know some of the people who do this work, and he paints with too broad a brush. My friends in this job are good folks.

Hat tip to Daryl for the heads-up.

Once More Into The Breach...

Kevin and I are off for a day of Christmas shopping. We both have full lists. Wish us luck. The hope is that we spend more on the people on our lists than we do on ourselves.

No Excuses

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There is no excuse for my absence from these pages for the last 8 days. It has been pretty good around here: some ups, some blahs, a handful of annoyances, some boredom, and a fair amount of fun.

I do need to post this pic of the wonderful birthday present Alicia from Twilight Cafe sent me and reiterate how pleased I was when it arrived. Beaker rocks! He is now ensconced in a nice frame and is hanging on the wall in my office, next to the Big Dogs clock with the wagging tongue. My students are going to love him.

I have been spending a fair amount of time in the office lately, getting back into the swing of things, and getting ready for the fall semester. My office is a pretty comfortable, and actually somewhat comforting place. I know that sounds strange, but I really like my job, and I've put my office together so that it is a great place to work. It is air conditioned, and since we are finally seeing summer weather, it is a great help to keep me in here getting my stuff composed. There is little boredom in my office, and I know that I can always head over there to either occupy my time getting things done, or idling.

Thoughts Accumulating...

It has been good to be away from home for the last few days. This conference has been good for me in a few ways:

- I am getting out of my own head, and the change in location is a big part of the reason. I'm not nuts, really! Just occasionally somewhat over-introspective.

- I am getting lots of good ideas for some of the classes and projects I will be working with on campus this fall. Nanotechnology, assessment, the magic of chemistry, writing, first year seminars, SETI, etc. My notepad is full of great jottings. The intellectual stimulation is wonderful.

- I am getting back into the prep for classes mode and away from the summer/sabbatical mode early enough to get things ready and still enjoy the bit of summer that I have left.

All good things.

We leave tomorrow morning to head back to Adrian. I hope that once I get home the sense of momentum I have continues...

We're Having a Heat Wave, a Tropical Heat Wave

Ames, IA. 1:10 PM. 88 degrees, 70% humidity, heat index of 95. Everyone here is rapidly moving between air-conditioned locations. I felt like I was swimming this morning on my walk. I got a bit of sunburn on my noggin (forgot the hat this AM, and was out enough to defeat the sunscreen). I keep forgetting that I regularly scrape off the protection of any hair I might still be able to grow.

Conference is still entertaining. Lots of good ideas. I must admit I am looking forward to coming back home.

Banquet and entertainment tonight.

And... I found WiFi to "borrow" to post without heading to Borders.

Borders (stream of consciousness) Blogging at the BCCE

OK, so Ames is not as bad of a place as I first thought. I have had some time to explore the campus and the city, and both are kind of growing on me. The whole lack of internet thing for conference visitors is still a sore point, but I can understand the issue with network security. The woman at the conference services desk told me that she could give me a free AOL disk and I could use it to dial up from my room. I passed.

I did find a Borders (I keep a T-Mobile account for just such emergencies) that is essentially empty. Very bizarre. It is in a strip mall right next to a Best Buy. I wonder who gets the bulk of the DVD sales?

Anyhow, this afternoon's conference sessions are a little dry, so I bailed and headed for some blogging time. Of course this means that tomorrow that there will be at least three concurrent sessions that I will want to attend. I am at the 18th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE), along with almost 1400 other chemistry geeks. I am doing the budget package and staying on campus (dorm room and cafeteria food...do I know how to have a good time or what?), but have been incredibly pleasantly surprised with the accomodations. A single, nicely appointed room, air conditioned (its a beautiful 87 degrees outside with low humidity, although T-storms are coming), and designed with private showers. The room is cleaner than any dorm room I have EVER experienced.

The campus is huge (IA State is a Big-12 school) and very nice. Lots of new construction. The town is pretty big, and there are at least three different downtown-like areas that I have found. Easily laid out for walking.

The conference has been good so far also. The opening plenary lecture was given by the Director of Solar System Exploration Programs, Dr. Firouz Naderi. This guy gave one of the best opening talks at any conference I've ever attended. He gave a behind the scenes look at the Mars Explorer Program, and was funny as hell as well as informative, excited, and smart. I am going to have to suggest to my college's Convocation Committee that we invite him to campus.

There was also a performance of a Chemical Magic Show by a group of students from Creighton U. I have some ideas (stole has such a bad ring to it) about how to improve the show my students do annually. Great stuff.

So overall, life is good. This distraction is just what I need. More later.