Double Rainbow, I mean, midterms

Having 2 full midterms on one day is no fun. Especially as the years wear on. It used to be that it wasn't all that bad and it would actually help me focus more. Now it just causes undue stress as the dreaded date approaches. I had a double midterm the other day, one from 10:30am till noon, and the other from 1:30pm till 3pm. And neither class was an easy 'fluff' class so it meant that they both called for serious mental capacity drainage. After the first one, I could literally feel my head needing sugar. Good thing I bring gatorade to my exams :)
So after the exam I went to a nearby cafeteria/eatery and got a salad, but this time with chicken. I also picked up a apple cinnamon parfait (for the extra quick sugar). The chicken was a bit of a surpriser. I didn't really didn't expect much from the chicken and have never gotten it with my meal before. It was actually tasty and wasn't bland and such, which was a very welcome change. It seemed like they had marinated it and all, which is pretty awesome.

Post double midterms, I am breathing a bit easier, and able to take some time off and enjoy the lack of homeworks and such.

Flavor of the day: Apple Pie ice cream, with caramel drizzle. Possibly with a sugar cookie. Take it for a spin.

90s music anyone?

So lately I've been listening to an album of the top songs from the 90s. Lots of memories, and also lots of songs I may have heard in the early days of my youth that I had since forgotten. They  sounded familiar but I couldn't quite match them up to anything in particular. Good stuff though, that 90s music. Not really songs to rock out to, but it is tolerable as study music.

I've been doing a bit of work lately in other parts of campus, from the new Hut to random places in the library and the benches around campus. Sometimes it's more productive that way since I don't spend all my time updating blogs like I do when I'm home and have  proper keyboard to type on.

Also, at some point my Mizuno Wave Universe's came, and boy are they light as a feather! 3oz, so basically nothing. They are far lighter than my sandals and flip-flops, and faster of course. The trouble is that they are flats, so I'm conflicted as to when I could wear them in competition. This is mainly because I don't know if the shoes will survive a cross-country 8k course. They seem rather delicate, regrettably.
Also have been restocked on gatorade and powerbars, which is fantastic.

More recently, a close friend of mine was telling me that I should do some soul searching to figure out what truly makes me happy, and to pursue that or at least find a way to be happy every day. Also to think about what motivates me and what drives me. I'm supposed to 'sit down with myself' and think about these things. I guess this is similar to what they mean regarding meditation and such. I think this will definitely help me understand myself and the world much better. Of course, I'll keep a pen and paper at hand to jot down any brilliant outcomes so I don't forget it too soon.

What classes should I take?

Ok so I can't decide on what classes to take. There are a set that I'm definitely taking, and then there are the many many that I sorta maybe want to take but don't want to make too much work for myself.

I am definitely doing Design Team leader, Robots Sensors & Actuators(RSA), and SBE3 (Systems Bioengineering 3). They are 4, 3, and 4 credits respectively.

Design Team Leader: I'm a dteam leader. It takes up time and energy. Yay.

RSA: Lab based course. 1 lab session, 1 prelab, 1 (3 hr) lecture, 1 lab report. Per week. Should learn a lot of practical hands-on knowledge and exp. Looking forward to it.

SBE3: Homeworks each week. Rumored to be easier than SBE1 and SBE2. Moderate amount of work.

The other classes I'm interested in are: Number Theory, Leading Change, Data Structures, Linear Dynamical Systems, Control Systems, and that's all.

Number Theory: can't understand what the professor's saying. Not taking that class.

Leading Change: No distribution credits, though he tells us it's a writing credit, not that I need it. A good bit of reading, researching and writing, and slightly project-y. Seminar-style, the prof is nice and there is a lot I could learn. But it may turn out to be more work that I bargained for.

Data Structures: intermediate level programming course. Taught in java. Good prof, but class is not needed for my major. Would also be a fair amount of work in terms of coding projects and such.

Linear Dynamical Systems: graduate level course (apparently) which is mostly advanced linear algebra and its meanings. Probably don't want to do this.

Control Systems: counts for my major, rather small class size though. A more detailed learning of some material I've already learned.

So I can do up to 2 more classes than the 3 that I'm definitely taking. So far it seems like it's going to be leading change and control systems, but leading change might turn into data structures or just get dropped. We'll see. Not terribly into the high credit count thing. If I do those 5 classes, I'll have 17, and if I drop leading change, it comes down to 14. Either way it works. Hopefully Control Systems is manageable. First homework is due next Thursday.

What should I do?

The conclusion of summer and the start of senior year

The years wash over us like rainstorms and waves, so live in the moment. I look back at my summer and my past 3 years in college and look forward to this coming school year.

Testing out the 'jump' feature. Read the rest after the break.

New Layout!

Yeah Blogger Templates for the win! This layout is gonna get changed at some point just for the pure reason that messing with it is so enjoyable. Short post due to 1500m race tomorrow at Towson. Coach wants me to run 72 second quarters. Haven't really done any 1500m speedwork yet, so I've got to grit it out.

Also, apparently it is funny that all satellites do is 'get a signal and send it down.'

So, would love to hear thoughts on the new templates and all the amazing choices that are there. Anyhow, bed.

My retainer is pink

And translucent. No, I did not pick the color. At least it fits, right? I haven't lost it yet, so I guess that's a good sign. I'm wearing my retainer (top and bottom) all the time for a month, and then only at night.

Home on spring break this week; lucky me my break perfectly misses nearly everyone else's spring break week...

Formatting notice: I'm going to put running specific stuff that will bore many to death in brackets so you won't have to be bored. Hooray!

[Training has been going well, even if I'm not sleeping at a decent hour. This week was similar to a typical week's setup; I'm trying to maintain the training rhythm as much as possible. So that means Tuesday track, Wednesday long, Thursday easy, Friday tempo.]

TNT: Tuesday Night Track

Okay so it's not really nighttime, but whatever. Went down to the high school to see my old track coach and the few folks that I still know. This year's high school seniors were freshman when I graduated. Oh how times have changed. They do grow up so fast. [Workout was 800-800-1200-1600-1200-800-800-800, at I pace (79), with +1min rest in between for each 400 run. Pulled this workout from earlier in the year; it was one that I had missed, so I figured it was a good chance to pick it up. The distance people were having their 1600 time trial (It's their 2nd week of training), so I planned to run my 1600 rep w/ them during their time trial. Unfortunately my timing was a bit off, which meant I ran my first 1200 during their mile. Which was fine, except these kids were really gunning it, and pulled me along. Ran too fast, left me hurtin during the 1600 and the following 1200. Was hardly able to hold even Threshold pace during those. Pulled things back together a bit for the last 3 800s. Overall, it felt alright, though my left knee was bothering me afterwards during my cool down. Also, the top 4 boys were just under 5min in the mile part of things.]

Regarding the changes in the high school since my departure: man these kids are different from when we were in HS. The boys are vulgar and rude, swearing off the cuff, out in the open in front of the coach. They treat the girls on the team with disdain and general meanness. They harass them like it's nothing. So no, they don't quite get along. I was running my last few 800s, as the rest of the team was winding down and leaving, and some of them were cooling down. One of the kids thought that I was racing the cooldown or something, and went with me coming down the home straight of my first 400. He ran even with me shouting remarks at me, and then leaned at the line, showboating and yelling, as a rolled onto the 2nd half of my 800. Respect for each other is all but gone, at a school whose student body used to be so much more well-mannered and caring.

Wednesday: Long run.

[Left the car w/ my dad at work, ran home. Covered 9.6 mi easy, 75min, with a bathroom break at the med center. Quite hard to move, much less run, at first. Ran around a 1.5mi path around Hershey's global corporate headquarters. Very nice. Didn't know it existed before. Access via State police academy hills. Double left at mid-mountain. Did a few hill bursts, felt better. Quite sore.]

That night was HS orchestra and band concert. It was also St. Patrick's day. They played some familiar pieces (to me, since I'd played a few of them in my day). Met up with orchestra people after, I know so few.... The band played a piece inspired by a set of poems called "I never saw another butterfly". It's a series of poems written by children who were in the concentration camps at Terizan. http://www.amazon.com/I-Never-Saw-Another-Butterfly/dp/0805210156

Very powerful stuff. Very serious music. And I quote the band director, referring to a particularly moving passage regarding the poems: "There were 15,000 children under the age of 15 who passed through the concentration camp. Fewer than 100 survived."

Thursday: Easy day.

[51min. Ran cemetary reverse with some additions and such. 6.65 miles. 4x100m strides after. Still feeling achy and painful in spots. Left knee still questionable. But getting better, slowly.]

My parents went swimming, and brought back....a coconut! I recommend this to be added to your list of things to do at some point. Open and eat a coconut from scratch. Crack it up, drink it up, eat it down. Could definitely be fun with a group of friends on a random night. Do try to get a good coconut though. The old ones have tough meat that isn't as tasty.

Freedom from Metal

I have had braces for over half my life. It's true. I had braces before I was 10. Apparently my teeth were abnormally bad. My orthodontist said I had up to 3 people's problems in one mouth. What nightmare. I've had 8 adult teeth pulled since. That's including 4 wisdom teeth though.

So what's life like without braces? Pretty much the same.

But I can eat caramel now. And I had my first stick of gum in a very long time. But I still cut up my apples and corn on the cob is removed with a knife. Yes, the returned use of my teeth as functional removers of food is going to be a slow process. I've been ingrained with grabbing a knife everytime I wash an apple (or pear), that I'm having trouble stopping myself.

Freedom from metal does not equal freedom from pavement.
I feel on my face during my run on Thursday, not even a quarter mile from where I started. Now would be a good time laugh.

Ok, now that that's over with, I'd like to say that falling is very much unpleasant if done incorrectly. Falling while playing frisbee or football? Acceptable. Falling due to your foot not lifting high enough to clear a 1 inch high piece of sidewalk? Shuffle-foot. My stride was apparently not so hot yesterday, and I went down surprisingly hard. So hard that I couldn't walk or run evenly for a good 7-8mins afterwards. Yeah I walked back to campus. 20min of pool running. Hard workout today, coming in about an hour. So hopefully these flesh wounds will hold up alright. Though I should mention that my left knee is surprisingly tender, internally. When I push on it, it really can send me some pain signals.

DMC game night tonight, not sure if I'll show; depends on just how crazy today's workout will be. And yes, it will be crazy.

Running stuff:
My right achilles is still stiff in the morning for about 5 min after I wake up. Gotta keep going with my achilles tendon exercises to keep that from tendonosis-ing again.

Less than 2 months from the end of outdoor track. This week is all but over. One more week, then spring break, then 4 more weeks. Plan is to ramp up mileage through spring break, utilizing 2-a-days next week and pool time, allowing for quality training over break. More threshold stuff.

Goals for outdoor: qualify for conferences in 5k and 10k. That means 5:08 pace for the 5k, and 5:49 pace for the 10k. Those are minimums. Should be able to hit the 10k one fairly easily if I maintain good volume, coming off of decent base. 5k will require more speed work to get used to the faster pace.