Happy Ice Day!

February 17, 2015February 17, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Hi everyone! It’s me again, Steve still has swine flu so you’re getting a heavy dose of me this week 😉

Yesterday and today were pretty bah humbug. Our 6 in of snow forecast, which resulted in the university closing (Status 3) at 3pm on Monday, only ended up being 1 in of ice. Solid Ice. Which, had the university at Status 1 for all of today and tomorrow morning.

Status 3 is class cancellation. But Status 1 is the entire university shuts down.

So what did I do?

Like a typical grad student, I took advantage of awesome parking!! Yes. I went to work. Yes I drove on a sheet of ice to get there. Yes it was fine. Yes it was worth it.

The morning was entertaining as Indy, who loves the snow, was trying to figure out how to not fall into the creek as she ran/slid around …

After trying and flailing and failing to get up the driveway (I cheated and went on the grass this morning), Steve and I came in and did what all kiddos do when it get’s wintry out

Hot cocoa is the best!

The rest of the week is filled with questionable weather so we’ll see how school and training play out 🙂

Sunday Fluday

February 15, 2015February 15, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Hiya!

How ya been? Please tell me you’re not sick. Please. Cause there need to be people right now without the flu. Matt has fallen ill and I am the sole survivor of the Wench household in good health. Pretty sure my immune system is humming along to The Final Countdown…..we shall see just how strong it is!

This morning Steve and I made a quick trip to Urgent Care!

Note how alive and happy he looks ❤

Most of the rest of the day was pretty chill. Rode an hour on the trainer since there was a wind chill of ITSTOOFUCKINGCOLD and did a nice easy spin for 18 miles. Not so much for the workout, but more for getting my butt used to the saddle again.

Indy and I had some quality time outside today with some sticks.

She still hasn’t quite gotten the hang of fetch yet. She’ll grab the stick (if she didn’t lose it) and frantically run around with it in her mouth, and then get excited and drop it and come back to you wondering why you haven’t bothered to get the stick yet. It’s fun!

Tonight was homemade pizza night for me! Since Steve can’t/won’t eat anything other than soup. I re-discovered why he is always in charge of tossing the dough….

(

#pizzafail

I did eventually get it right and topped the crust-without-holes with chicken sausage, mushrooms, onion, and waaaay too much goat cheese.

It wasn’t as good as when Steve helps, but I wasn’t letting him help today since I’m not the biggest fan of acquiring swine flu.

What’s your best remedy for colds/feeling ill?

A Change of Plans…

February 14, 2015 / Amanda / 1 Comment

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hope you guys have some romance and fun plans for the day. We are gonna be living vicariously through everyone else this Valentine’s, since both Steven and Lisa (our lovely roomie) have the flu.

Matt and I are working overtime and chugging Emergen-C to ward off all the nastiness. Hopefully the number of those sick in this house will not increase (crosses fingers)

Steve and I had plans to see Billy Elliot the Musical tonight in Raleigh!

We’ll have to see if that still happens…..

In the meantime, I’m gonna wait for the day to warm up a bit and head out for a run!

What are your V-Day plans this year?

Lazy Mornings

February 13, 2015 / Amanda / Leave a comment

Good morning! I don’t know about you guys, but I did NOT want to get out of bed this morning. So I took full advantage of grad student life and slept in a bit.

Yesterday ended up being really busy and productive! I stayed at work pretty late since I wanted to head straight from the office to the pool for a swimming lesson. If you’re anything like me, it’s been since the YMCA swimming lessons when I was ….like 5? since I had a lesson. With training season approaching, there’s no better time than to get your form looked over by a pro.

Note: the pool was definitely not this empty. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen it this empty….

Anyways. Good news is that my form is actually not at the super beginner level I thought it was! Bad news is, I can’t blame my slowness on bad form anymore (sad trombone). Slowness is entirely due to laziness. Sooooo looks like there will be quite a few pool dates in the near future with some speed work.

We worked on a couple drills (Catch up, fingertip drag, pulls, kicks, etc) and I think the total yardage ended up around 600-800? Idk. Totally wasn’t counting.

Steve stopped by and picked me up and we went straight to a Hurricanes game. The Hurricanes are North Carolina’s pro hockey team, fyi. We were waaaaaay up in the nosebleeds this time, but it’s surprisingly easier to follow the game when you can see the puck.

I still have no idea what official hockey rules and regulations are but it sure is fun to watch! Especially when you go with a great group of friends 🙂 Sadly the ‘Canes lost 2-1, but it was still a great time.

Gotta love the photobomb in the back!

See you later!

Life as of Late

February 12, 2015 / Amanda / 1 Comment

Hi friends! How is your Thursday morning going?

Posts have been a little sparse this week since grad school has amped up. Right now I’m frantically trying to finish up 2 journal papers. One is bad enough, but two on completely different subjects is a whole ‘nother ball game! One paper is on some silver nanowire research (can you spot the nano?) and the other is on some thermoelectric and heat sink research (not very nano, but will be in the future).

A huge misconception about research is that we spend all day in lab coats/gas masks plotting to take over the world (MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

While this is a major bonus to research, we actually don’t spend as much time in the lab as you would think. I made this handy chart to show how a typical day breaks down…

A good portion of time is spent writing, reading, drinking coffee, or doing all three simultaneously. Obviously the drinking coffee and actual research parts are all the fun. As is playing on the spinny chairs in the lab (wheeeeeeeeee!)

In other news, I’ve starting increasing the amount I work out because…..my training for Ironman Raleigh 70.3 starts in less than 2 weeks! -insert freaking out- Here’s a pic of me and my mom (HI MOM) from right before the race last year.

It was an ok race. I finished in 6:47 which isn’t horrible for a first time, but I felt like I was capable of more. I made a few newbie mistakes which will probably be talked about later, and overall I felt like the course ‘beat’ me. SO I signed up again, found a training plan more suited to my totes cray schedule and am ready to take it on again!

Today is more writing, more research, swimming lessons, and a hockey game! Should be fun!

Have you ever had a race that ‘beat’ you?

PhDeviants

Misadventures in grad school, running, and life