Race day approacheth

April 9, 2015 / thievinsteven / Leave a comment

So the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon is on Sunday. This will once again be the longest I’ve ever run which is exciting and terrifying. At least during this run if I collapse then someone will be there to save me.

I’m actually feeling decent about the run except that my ankle has been hurting for a week or so after playing some basketball. I don’t even like basketball, there’s a reason I haven’t played in two decades. My first shot said a lot about how great I am at basketball and it turns out may have been foreshadowing how I’m going to get stuck a couple miles into the race.

Let’s hope I can keep moving and don’t need someone to come knock me loose with a water bottle like the poor basketball ended up needing.

I’m planning my fueling out a little better to avoid the delirious state I found myself in at the end of my ten mile run so hopefully I’ll be aware of where I am and what I’m doing toward the end of the race.

Truth be told I’m a little anxious, a little nervous, a little worried, a little yes I realize those are all just synonyms, and I’m a lot excited! I’ve been training for this for… I guess about 10 weeks. I’ve stuck to my training plan pretty well except for the swine flu week *shudders* and I didn’t do much of my taper because of my ankle hurting.

I just hope our neighborhood dentist mascot makes it out to cheer the racers on. He really brightened my day earlier this week and if I can be half as happy as him at the end of the race then I’ll be doing well 🙂

Actually I’m pretty sure he’s miserable inside there but putting on a smile for the rest of the world…. which come to think of it might be the case for me after 13.1 miles too. On a more positive note, if I pass out, fall and break my teeth out then he can fix me up 😀

Anyone else racing this weekend?

I’m A Visual Person or Why I Dislike MATLAB

April 8, 2015 / Amanda / 1 Comment

Hiiii! Happy Wednesday/Hump Day/Half-way Through The Week Day!

I’ve been a sub-par blogger as of late due to forgetting to take pictures of my days. Please don’t hate me 😉

At school I’ve been focusing more on actually attempting to do things a scientific way. Usually, I just order parts and assemble them and hope for the best. This isn’t exactly a scientific method and I have a hard time justifying why I choose specific parts. My bad. I just tend to follow my gut and ignore any maths that may be necessary.

BUT I am trying to change my ways and be a good little grad student for a change (it’s ok if this sounds hilarious because it totally is). I spent all day yesterday working on a mathematical model for a heat sink design. Rather than just draw something out and say it looks good, I want my design to have a purpose behind it!

So I dusted off my Mathcad skillz and started math-ing.

So pretty.

Anyways, not many people know about this software, so imma nerd out for a min and tell you about it. Most engineers/scientists use MATLAB. It looks a little something like this…

It’s a code-based tool that does just about anything you want it to. It’s super useful and awesome and everyone loves it. On the other hand, I don’t hate it. It’s not my favorite tool simply because my mind doesn’t work in a step-by-step computer fashion. So coding and I don’t usually get along too well. Luckily there is other software out there (Mathcad!) for people like me who are more visual/scattered thinkers.

Mathcad is more designed for engineering than it is for science and such, but it allows me to write out equations as I would on paper. It also keeps track of units, is a built in word processor, and you can put images in your files. While there is a certain ‘language’ that the software uses, it’s very intuitive and easy to keep track of. Here’s an old version of Mathcad that shows what I’m talking about.

This makes WAY more sense to me than this…….

Both are doing the same thing (the pictures aren’t but please ignore that I’m trying to make a point here) but one is a code-interface and the other is a graphical interface. My brain prefers the pretty pictures 🙂

Are you a visual thinker? How does it affect the way you work?

PS if you are interested in learning more about Mathcad, let me know! I may be able to write up some basic tutorials in later posts.

Hoppy Easter

April 5, 2015April 5, 2015 / thievinsteven / Leave a comment

Happy Easter everyone!

Just checking in quickly today. Amanda and I are up in Virginia today to see my 3 month old nephew Blake. He’s a very cute baby which is good because some babies look like lizards. We’re not sure why he’s so cute and if you had seen my older brother you would wonder too. Pretty sure he got all his looks from his mom although balancing coffee cups on his head is likely from his dad.

Before we went up, it was nice enough outside to get some ice cream so we took Indy along. She LOVES ice cream and hasn’t had any since last summer. She knew too, as soon as we came out with the ice cream she got very excited and reached up to sniff the bowl. We got her a peanut butter and vanilla bean combination, two of her favorites.

Indy’s reaction to the new nephew is pretty entertaining. She is a little scared of the tiny person but also seems very concerned when he cries and is constantly checking on him to see what’s wrong. Then when someone takes the baby elsewhere she sniffs the spot where he was to investigate. The jury’s still out but I think she’s ok with him.

That’s about all for now. Amanda is on a jelly bean craze. She ate all of them out of the Easter basket and has requested we stop for more on the way home so I guess I know what we’ll be snacking on 🙂

Just Keep Swimming

April 3, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

If you’re anything like me and quote movies (specifically Pixar and Disney) all the time, then this probably popped into your head.

Did you have a good week? This one was another bit of a struggle in grad school terms. Had to actually leave campus on Wednesday because the armband I spent 2.5 weeks building from scratch worked…..aaaaaaaand then magically after lunch, it didn’t. So pissed/upset/dejected that I skipped our social hour (I skipped beer I know) and went home early.

On the bright side, that was a pretty quick 10 miles I ran afterwards! Even with all the hills around the art museum I managed to keep an 8:40 min/mile pace and pulled a negative split.

Steve and I went to try a new-to-Steve restaurant called Humble Pie since we didn’t get hungry until around 9pm and it was open and looked good. They did have surprise live jazz music <–my fave! And we left in much better moods.

Yesterday though I was able to get back in the pool!

Swimming is definitely my weakest sport. Probably due to the whole breathing underwater thing. Since I kinda gave up on being super fast a while ago, I try to have fun with it! Sometimes it’s really nice to just check out and follow the black line back and forth for an hour. I love mindless activities like that.

Here is what I look like before I hop in! (I do try to color coordinate but sometimes I feel like being that obnoxious person)

And this is my sexy face….

I was the only bug-eyed alien in the pool for almost 30 min! At first it was weird and then I remembered that classes were canceled for ‘Spring Holiday’.

I always have super attractive raccoon eyes after the goggles are removed. This leads to some pretty weird looks from undergrads as I leave the gym.

Although, my swim-hat hair probably doesn’t help me much either…

Gotta keep it classy y’all.

What are your plans for the Easter holiday? (if you celebrate Easter that is)

A Day In The Life

March 31, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

What a day!! Wow. I don’t think I actually sat down until nearly 6pm!

Since I was more than a little hectic and was too busy sprinting from building to building to take any pictures of today, I’ll do a ‘day in the life of’ post for today. (everyone get excited)

Let’s start with what I had planned (since this usually drastically differs from what actually happens):

1 hr swim
50 min bike
Industry luncheon
Meeting with my advisor
Meeting with an industry member
Give armband to Jason to mail

Not bad right??

(if you are a grad student reading this and are giggling hysterically because you know what’s about to happen then know that I am ~~deliriously~~ laughing with you)

Now let’s move on to what I did today….this is in schedule form for my sanity

6:30am – wake up and decide that my “morning” swim can be done in the afternoon brilliant
8:30am – arrive at work and see that an email was sent out this morning about a seminar occurring in appox. 1.5 hrs. cool. still have time to kinda chill and wake up a bit. also see industry meeting for the afternoon was finalized to start at 2:30pm just like planned. awesome.
9:00am – go into lab to do some final testing on armband
10:00am – grab coffee and head over to the next building for the seminar. realize that you’ll have to leave the seminar early and there are no aisle seats. great.
10:23 am – seminar starts late. hope it’s not about something I need to know about
10:24 am – shit. the seminar is relevant to my interests and I still have to leave early
10:30 am – receive text from friend I haven’t seen in a while. wants to go out for dinner/drinks to celebrate his birthday. I come to the realization that one workout will probably not happen today.
10:55 am – sprint back to other building and grab notebook and armband to show advisor in meeting
11:00 am – advisor thinks armband looks great (YAY) wants more modifications done before shipping armband (WTF PANIC)
11:01 – 11:57 am – speed walk with advisor as we traverse the textiles building looking for supplies to complete armband modifications. don’t have all supplies. need to go to fabric store today.
11:57am – shit. need to be at industry luncheon in 3 min in other building
12:01 pm – arrive at industry luncheon slightly out of breath with no clue what’s going on
12:30 pm – be told that local news will be filming our research at 1:30 and that we’re expected to be there
1:17 pm – luncheon wraps up. find out that film crew arrived early. sprint back to textiles building to notify advisor and grab demos
1:30 pm – get volunteered by advisor to be interviewed (of all the days to not wear makeup and dress like a bum…ugh)
1:50 pm – realize that it’s a 25 min commute to industry meeting and the film crew shows no signs of wrapping up
1:55 pm – sprint to textiles building to grab purse
1:56 pm – sprint back to film crew to grab demos/armband
2:02 pm – get stopped on the way to the car and need to chat for a min about diversity in the center/when the armband will ship out
2:06 pm – grab a coke zero from the office fridge because good god I’m thirsty and am in desperate need of caffeine and the water bottles are out of reach
2:16 pm – start 25 min journey to meeting at 2:30. phone decides to not get signal and lose all forms of connectivity forcing me to restart it while driving so I can actually know where I’m going
2:25 pm – get stuck behind the ONE PERSON ON THE INTERSTATE GOING 45 MPH WHEN THE SPEED LIMIT IS 70 MPH with no time to pass him before the exit
2:26 pm – reach exit and send slow person silent curses
2:32 pm – pass gas station and realize that my car is basically out of gas
2:36 pm – arrive at industry meeting
4:00 pm – leave industry meeting (which was longer than expected but useful) and fill up my car
4:30 pm – arrive at fabric store
4:59 pm – back on campus
5:05 pm – decide I have enough time before dinner outing to make the necessary modifications to armband
5:28 pm – finish armband modifications. realize there is definitely no way I can get both workouts in. realize I’m going to be late to the dinner
6:00 pm – BEER YAAAAAAAYY BEER
7:00 pm – 2nd BEER YAAAAAAAAAAY 2nd BEER
8:30 pm – get home to let the dog out and feed her and change into bike gear for trainer workout
8:45 pm – begin 50 min bike trainer workout

Ok, I got tired just typing that, but that, unfortunately, is a fairly typical day in my life. Balls to the wall crazy. Last min meetings. Total chaos. Yep.

It’s now 11:30 at night and I’m going to bed. See ya tomorrow!

PhDeviants

Misadventures in grad school, running, and life