Daily: September 2007 Archives

After learning on Sunday morning that someone else had lost a cell phone and iPod at the cross country relay, I was completely and utterly convinced that my iPhone had been stolen outright and that I'd never see it again. I bought a new phone on Sunday afternoon because, well, I needed a phone and I thought mine was long gone. Though it cost half as much as the first one, I still wasn't happy about it.

But on Monday morning I got an email from a runner who'd been at the event saying "I think I have your phone." Last night I met him and got it back. Long story short: kids "borrowed" it, and Dad found it the next day.

Now, absurdly enough, I have two iPhones. Thankfully, I believe I can still return the new one to the Apple store for a refund (minus a restocking fee since I opened it).

But I'm happy to get it back. All's well that ends well.

I have forgotten how to study.

I have a test tonight in my digital media class, and I wasn't too worried until last night. That's when I took out my notes and realized that yes, I've forgotten how to study.

Studying for engineering classes, something I did with regularity from 1996 until 2002, was a totally different concept. First, you are usually allowed to bring in a single sheet of paper that you can fill to your heart's content with equations and mental notes. Second, engineering exams are not about facts. Memorizing facts and dates does not work. Heck, there aren't even really any facts and dates to remember. Engineering exams are all about the process, so you study the process. You study the basics, and the problem solving process. You need to know your general equations and concepts, and know how to apply those to a variety of problems. It's all about the big picture.

My digital media class, on the other hand, is something I've not experienced since high school. I have to know dates, I have to know facts, I have to know acronyms. In short, the process of studying for this test is simply rote memorization. And apparently I don't remember how to remember.

It is a weird feeling.

This morning marked the fourth day in a row that my alarm has gone off no later than 6:00 a.m. I usually try to maintain one of the two weekend mornings for sleeping in, since it seems that lately I am getting up earlier on Saturday and Sunday than I do during the week. It is crazy. It is exhausting. Sim, run, bike, load checkout. Tomorrow I have no early mornings committments. Hurrah.

It was quite a weekend. I ran the Bay Area Fit 5-Miler on Saturday morning, a private race with bibs and timing and everything. I guess the point is to give those who are new to running a taste of the race experience. I had a good run -- so good that I came home and slept for another two hours! (Glorious, but not enough to make up for the total weekend sleep deficit.) I'm tired of running with 100+ people yet running alone, so when Cathy from the tri group ran up beside me after the first half mile, I decided to join her. She's in one of the half marathon groups and was doing a 5/1 run/walk, which sounded perfectly good to me. We pushed pretty hard on the running portions, and finished with an overall average of exactly 11:00 per mile. That's fast for me at this point, with all the humidity, so I was happy. I had to walk around for quite a while before I felt like I could stand still without getting dizzy. I felt a little sick all morning until I finally got some significant food in my stomach at lunchtime.

The 600 sq mi opening on Saturday night was a lot of fun. Jose and I arrived around 7:25 and found the gallery so packed that it was nearly impossible to even move! There were appetizers (I did not partake) and a free bar (I did partake; the sangria was yummy). The photos all looked awesome. I hadn't seen my photos since dropping them off to be framed, and suddenly they were there. On a gallery wall. As part of a real show. It was very cool.

After making our way slowly down the wall, it had gotten so warm and crowded that Jose and I considered taking off. But Becca and Nick were both on their way, so we stuck around until they each finally arrived so that I could show off my work. I know there were a lot of the other photographers there, but it was so crowded and loud that it seemed pointless to try to introduce myself and have any meaningful conversation. I will have to go to one of the Flickr meetups soon to meet in a quieter setting.

Yesterday I was up before the crack of dawn again to meet Buzz, Darrin and Amy for a bike ride. The planned 45 miles did not happen for reasons far too complicated to explain, but I did get in 34 miles at an average of 14.9 mph. Yes, I said 14.9 mph. Normally, this number would leave me feeling frustrated at how slow I am. And yet yesterday's bike ride was absolutely fabulous. We rode at a comfortable pace. We took two short breaks. The weather was sunny and humid, but little wind. It was just the bike ride I needed to remind me that I don't always hate biking.

Jose and I saw 3:10 to Yuma yesterday afternoon. It started a little slowly, but picked up speed quickly and the end was fantastic. Highly recommended.

Today I had an ascent sim. It was a good sim, but exhausting because we did so many runs. Then I had delicious sushi for lunch. Then I came back to work and realized that due to an oversight on my part (and thus my fault), I still had a couple things to do before our load checkout on Monday morning. Things that, to be fully complete, require the help of other people. So I had to ask for help at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, which made some people not happy with me. But it got done, and thus I was productive.

Does that mean I had a good day, since I got stuff done? Or a bad day, because I annoyed people in the process?

I'm not sure.

Whew. What a week. I do love four-day weeks, but this one seemed particularly busy. I have a lot to look forward to this weekend, including a 5-mile run tomorrow with Bay Area Fit, a long bike ride with Buzz on Sunday, and the 600 sq mi show opening tomorrow night!