first ride

I went on my first outdoors training ride since surgery. I'm rather terrified of making the thing come back by going too hard too soon. I had been working on my trainer, but it's not nearly as intense. I felt good the whole way, but it's clear I'm not nearly strong enough to race well. So that is the problem, I want to be able to race soon, and I don't want to have to get more surgery by going too hard too soon. I think the remedy will be to be sure and ride alone to remove the temptation to go too hard, as clearly the latter concern trumps the former. I wish I would have found a doc as described on certian internet sites who would have said do whatever doesn't hurt too much, and been right in doing so. It seems like the repair my doc may have done was similar to the repair described, but it's impossible for me to say, and I feel I had better respect my doctor's instructions as I'm of a mind that she's quite sharp, and she didn't have to take time out of her schedule to do this repair.

so my boss came back. He spent all last semester in Korea. I wonder if things will be much different now that he's back. I suspect there will be much less goofing around.

something that wasn't that bad

I cooked something edible. I'm posting this so if I don't marry soon I can come back, look at this and do it again. here's how I did it:
1.cook 1/2 cups rice as directed on package
2. put small chopped onion, 1 package of aldi's frozen mixed vegtables, and 1/2 lbs frozen ground turkey into pan and saute
3. add some soy sauce, garlic powder, all purpose seasoning, 6 pepper blend
4. mix the two dishes.

anodizing

so my boss and I were talking about materials that were electrically insulating, didn't outgas in vacuum, and could be machined with typical high speed steel tools. The best solution we came up with was anodized aluminium. (Anodized aluminium is aluminium on which an oxide has been grown. Aluminium oxide is much harder than aluminium and also a much better insulator.)

I had wanted to learn to anodize so that I could manufacture aluminium bicycle parts, like aluminium axles. My boss thought it would take me a few days to learn to anodize, but I bet him all the change in our pockets-$1.50 each- I could do it before the end of the day. I did some reading, and got a trial going. Things seemed to be going well, but then I got impatient and really turned up the current. Not sure what happened, but the signs of well going eventually vanished (the voltage to current ratio eventually began decreasing). This part did not get anodized. I decided that either there was too much turbulence from the gasses being evolved, the cathode was not a good material to use, or the temperature was getting too high. As such I got a new cathode, and I turned the power down a bit, and things actually worked. Who knew. Next I'd like to master controlling the properties of the anodization coating that is form. I think I won the bet, but my boss was gone.
Perhaps someday I'll tell the story about how my boss bet I couldn't solder to aluminium.

It pays to return your library books on time

So in preparing to take the GRE (a test many graduate schools require for admission) I requested over interlibrary loan a bunch of GRE prep books, such as baron's, Princeton review, etc.

Unfortunately I have a history of returning books late, and one time I had checked out some interlibrary loan books and the librarian forgot to modify the due date in the computer, and since the umd system's loan length is 3-4 times as long as other libraries, I kept the ILL books many more months than the lender expected, despite many emails requesting their return since I was still using the books, and the "my account" page said I had no books due.

So I get the message that the books that I requested are in and go to the library. I'm thinking I'm lucky since the best looking librarian is working when I go in, and she always seems very friendly. So I approach and explain I have a few books on hold. She comes back with three books on how to prepare for the GRE, and one video, complete with spandex clad young women on the cover, titled something like "get the bottom you've always wanted." I looked at it and said I didn't want to check that out and added I didn't remember requesting it. She was really convinced.

I guess that was how the staff wanted to punish me for never returning anything on time. Nonetheless I think the librarian in question is still in love with me, just not as sure that she should be.

Chicks dig scars

pointless rambling post
So I was looking at my incision from a recent surgery and it made me think of what type of scar it will form. Then I started to look at some of the other scars I have. For instance, I have a few scars from my first collegiate bike race (I frequently race road bicycles, I'm even the mid-Atlantic region novice road race champ) where I slid out of a 180 degree turn at the bottom of a hill. Whenever I see the red blotches on my knee I always remember that race, and what a good time I had racing in the rain. I felt I showed some significant potential before the crash in a sport I had made some investment in (buying a bike) but was uncertain whether I would be talented enough to justify the expense. What's more I remember finishing in the top ten the very next day in a race most of my friends were unable to finish.

So I went looking for certain scars on my feet. I used to run 60-80 miles per week in high school, and nearly that much in grade school. At some point I began getting gnarly blisters on my feet, but I just kept running. As I continued to run the blisters eventually broke and left raw skin, and that skin just started wearing away into a bloody mess. For some reason I felt I had to get my miles in anyway. I had always got my best friends at the time running countless miles on end together. I guess I had goals and it seemed like a reasonable sacrifice to make for them. Anyway, I remember the mortification on the faces of the diners at this mcdonalds restaurant when I stopped in one during the middle of one of my runs, took of my shoes and socks, and used some of the free napkins to clean and dress the wounds. Needless to say, I had scars for quite a long time on my feet there. However, when I went looking for them today, I could hardly tell they were scars. It's too bad scars like that fade away. It was such a glorious time.

could be a new post
so, I always like showing scars because of the stories I can share afterwards. However I was thinking many of the girls I know don't like to see the scars. That made me question why people sometimes say, "chicks dig scars," particularly this girl on the cycling team. The best answer I can come up with is that they may find physical scars repulsive, but they LOVE (boys with at least) emotional scars. If a boy has some deep emotional scars, they can gush things like, "oh he's deep and moody and dark," or whatever. Consider another instance, the Seinfeld episode where Jerry gets engaged, decides to break it off, and then has difficulty convincing future dates his mutual breakup story is true. As such he decides to tell everyone his fiance died unexpectedly and suddenly finds himself having tons of beautiful women attracted to him who would otherwise not be so. "chicks dig emotional scars" might also be used to explain why certian girl stories are so popular...
Why should this be? Perhaps girls like emotional scars because it gives them a reason to feel sympathy without being grossed out. Or maybe lots of girls are nuts.

Begin blog

I'm beginning a blog today, as you can surmise. I hope to detail my many adventures here. Hopefully having graduated from college or the present cold weather won't mean I have no more adventures to detail.