22 December 2008
21 December 2008
at least a foot
Well,
here we are in portland, with about a foot of snow!!! no kidding. We've been skiing in the streets for 2 days and the temps in the 20s.
Imagine a foot of snow, and no snow plows, and that's what we have here. The roads where cars have driven are like huge birkie trails, hard packed, flat and wide. Interstate 84 is still closed between portland and hood river, and it's quite obvious that the snow's not going to melt in the next few days, because it's still 25 degrees with temps forecast to stay below 35 for the next few days.
here we are in portland, with about a foot of snow!!! no kidding. We've been skiing in the streets for 2 days and the temps in the 20s.
Imagine a foot of snow, and no snow plows, and that's what we have here. The roads where cars have driven are like huge birkie trails, hard packed, flat and wide. Interstate 84 is still closed between portland and hood river, and it's quite obvious that the snow's not going to melt in the next few days, because it's still 25 degrees with temps forecast to stay below 35 for the next few days.
15 December 2008
updatey
Here we are in Portland after a good dump of snow. Well in portland a good dump of snow is about 3 inches, and then sustained below freezing temps. This wouldn't have caused a traffic jam back in MN, but here they basically had I-5 shut down yesterday (unless you had chains on) and basically all of the portland schools are closed today. People don't even walk on the sidewalks. they walk on the grass part becuase they can't really balance on anything that doesn't resemble pavement or cement.
So anyway... all this means that there's finally snow in the mountains, for some skiing. hopefully we'll get up to the tracks within the next few weeks.
I finished finals last week, and it was a bitch, but it went reasonably well, and Now i'm one term closer to being done with school. The highlight of the upcoming term should be digital signal processing. Hope to post updates on the awesomeness of that class.
In other news, I jailbroke my iPhone. Basically that means I can now install any apps. Not just ones apple approves. So don't tell steve jobs, but my iPhone just got a whole lot cooler. Now we can stream live on the internets (via qik.com) Check it out!
It's pretty funny when I realize i was in fact, live on the internet (qik.com).
So anyway, we hope to have more and more wonderful content from the iphone. On the list of things to do for the break is to develop a real iphone application. I built one last September but it wasn't really functional, and then school started, and i had not time for that stuff! we'll see how that goes. I'm geeky like that, and a victim of consumerism in it's finest, i guess. maybe if my iPhone apps take off it will pay off!?!
So anyway... all this means that there's finally snow in the mountains, for some skiing. hopefully we'll get up to the tracks within the next few weeks.
I finished finals last week, and it was a bitch, but it went reasonably well, and Now i'm one term closer to being done with school. The highlight of the upcoming term should be digital signal processing. Hope to post updates on the awesomeness of that class.
In other news, I jailbroke my iPhone. Basically that means I can now install any apps. Not just ones apple approves. So don't tell steve jobs, but my iPhone just got a whole lot cooler. Now we can stream live on the internets (via qik.com) Check it out!
It's pretty funny when I realize i was in fact, live on the internet (qik.com).
So anyway, we hope to have more and more wonderful content from the iphone. On the list of things to do for the break is to develop a real iphone application. I built one last September but it wasn't really functional, and then school started, and i had not time for that stuff! we'll see how that goes. I'm geeky like that, and a victim of consumerism in it's finest, i guess. maybe if my iPhone apps take off it will pay off!?!
16 November 2008
Autumn Leaves 50k
Race prep usually includes resting and hydrating and eating pasta. Some people are different, do different things... but usually those three things are pretty common. Well in Minnesota, I had many a race (mostly xc ski races) on the morning after watching a hockey game, and well, why not try to replicate past routines! I attended the winterhawks game Friday night, with some friends from school, some of whom had never been to a hockey game, we had a good time. We heckled the cougars from Prince George, and they heckled me when I left w/ 5 minutes to go in the third, but I had to get home to rest! Running 50k tomorrow. Many of my non-running friends think I'm certifiably insane, no question about it. So anyway... I was not getting the rest that I wanted, but they always say it's the night before the night before that really matters right?
Alarm goes off at 5:30 and I hit snooze. Twice. So that basically made me behind my planned scheduled departure. I ate breakfast a little later than I wanted, and I usually forget things when I'm in a rush. I made it out the door, and was on my way.
I had plenty of time before the race to get my stuff to the right spot, and well wait for about 10 minutes. Today, my warm up was going to be during the race. We got going and a "Team Eugene" guy took off. Seriously fast and he didn't let up the whole race. I guess that's why he's on team Eugene (they are fast). So, I was running with my new friend Win, (that's his name), and basically, he was talking and I was wanted to say, shutup, or slow down, but i did neither and just ran next to him.
The first lap was 10k, and the next 5 are 5 miles, and we did the first 10k in about 41 minutes. That was faster than I wanted to, but hey, I was doing fine, so I stopped for some gu, and continued on. The race morning was awesome for running. at most 50 degrees, and sunshine, calm winds. So after that first lap, I took off one of my (3) layers. Now overall, the course was really good, with about 2/3 of the loop being paved trail, and the other 1/3 being real trail. The one gripe I had started during the second lap, when we hit the 1 mile out, 1 mile back section on the same path, so essentially we covered this 12 times over the course of the race. boooring. But you could see the competition which is good (if your 'on') or bad (if you're fading). At this point I couldn't really tell, but I knew I was in 3rd place after the 2nd lap, which I covered easily in about 34 minutes. So that was my planned pace (35 minute 5 mile loops).
This was my first time doing this run and the flyer says 'the loop can be considered very flat and very fast' I'd tend to agree with that. If you want to run a fast ultra this is one good chioce. They did add a small hill this year but it's really small, so it's not really a factor, unless you slip on wet leaves... So I didn't slip on the leaves, don't worry.
The third lap I considered the half way lap, which thinking about this, was really not half way until the 3rd lap is complete. but I needed to think it was half way for moral support. I was still feeling really good, and I think I was down to my sleeveless T at this point, because it was so nice out. It must have pepped me up, because I did the 3rd lap in about 33 minutes. Yea! ahead of pace. Maybe I could turn this into a sub 3 marathon!??! The end of lap 5 is the marathon split. But first I had to do lap 4. Each time going around the loop, I kept seeing the same people... So some were doing the 50 miler, some the 50k, and some even started at 6am... but on the return stretch I saw some of the same people. So I thought Hmmm, he must be chasing me. At this point I knew I was in second place (Win quit after lap 3), with the first place guy, way way out front. So anyway. Lap 4 was just under 35 minutes. I was slowing a bit, still running 7 minute miles. Good enough. still ahead of pace. Honestly my goal today was sub 4. I'd be happy with that. I also thought, it would be cool to run boston pace for a 50k (3:10 marathon pace). I also thought it might be awesome to run sub Meissner in 2006, when he did this same event in 3:40:18. AH HAA a challenge. We're pretty good rivals, at least from 2004-2007 in the bigfoot 10k in Bend, but he usually wastes me in the long stuff, but he's also got way more experience with them. And come to think of it, we only raced a 50k together once. Anyway, I hit the marathon in about 3:01. pretty sweet. Sean said if I hit the marathon in 3:00 I'd have no trouble going under his time. My pace however was slowing. I had 39 minutes to run the last 5 mile loop, after running 26.2 already. My split after the first 2 of the last 5 miles was 15:30, so I was beginning to think I could do it, sub 8 minute miles. We got to the out-n-back section and I saw Stan pacing his wife running (Stan who put together the pumpkin run in N. Bonneville a couple weeks ago) and I asked "would you tell anybody if I turned around now??, we got a laugh about it, but I knew, that 3rd place was not far behind me, and sure enough i got passed right before the turn around, oh well. I was still well ahead of planned pace having a good time (suffering).
The trail section was hard on this last lap. I wasn't running fast, but I was really fighting for it. I got to the line, and the clock said 3:39:59, and then 3:40, and I was like Shit Yea. I guess my 'official' time was 3:40:14, Pretty unbelievable. The ultra running crowd is second to none, it's sure a welcoming and friendly bunch.
So it was a really struggle, those last five miles, but it just goes to show you... keep on keepin on!
Also, I did this run with no ipod. I had planned to bring along the shuffle, only to figure out I left it in the car right when the guy said "1 minute 30 seconds to start", so, maybe that's just as well. Lots of solo time out there in these ultras compared to bike racing and other shorter events.
Anyway! Happy running!
Alarm goes off at 5:30 and I hit snooze. Twice. So that basically made me behind my planned scheduled departure. I ate breakfast a little later than I wanted, and I usually forget things when I'm in a rush. I made it out the door, and was on my way.
I had plenty of time before the race to get my stuff to the right spot, and well wait for about 10 minutes. Today, my warm up was going to be during the race. We got going and a "Team Eugene" guy took off. Seriously fast and he didn't let up the whole race. I guess that's why he's on team Eugene (they are fast). So, I was running with my new friend Win, (that's his name), and basically, he was talking and I was wanted to say, shutup, or slow down, but i did neither and just ran next to him.
The first lap was 10k, and the next 5 are 5 miles, and we did the first 10k in about 41 minutes. That was faster than I wanted to, but hey, I was doing fine, so I stopped for some gu, and continued on. The race morning was awesome for running. at most 50 degrees, and sunshine, calm winds. So after that first lap, I took off one of my (3) layers. Now overall, the course was really good, with about 2/3 of the loop being paved trail, and the other 1/3 being real trail. The one gripe I had started during the second lap, when we hit the 1 mile out, 1 mile back section on the same path, so essentially we covered this 12 times over the course of the race. boooring. But you could see the competition which is good (if your 'on') or bad (if you're fading). At this point I couldn't really tell, but I knew I was in 3rd place after the 2nd lap, which I covered easily in about 34 minutes. So that was my planned pace (35 minute 5 mile loops).
This was my first time doing this run and the flyer says 'the loop can be considered very flat and very fast' I'd tend to agree with that. If you want to run a fast ultra this is one good chioce. They did add a small hill this year but it's really small, so it's not really a factor, unless you slip on wet leaves... So I didn't slip on the leaves, don't worry.
The third lap I considered the half way lap, which thinking about this, was really not half way until the 3rd lap is complete. but I needed to think it was half way for moral support. I was still feeling really good, and I think I was down to my sleeveless T at this point, because it was so nice out. It must have pepped me up, because I did the 3rd lap in about 33 minutes. Yea! ahead of pace. Maybe I could turn this into a sub 3 marathon!??! The end of lap 5 is the marathon split. But first I had to do lap 4. Each time going around the loop, I kept seeing the same people... So some were doing the 50 miler, some the 50k, and some even started at 6am... but on the return stretch I saw some of the same people. So I thought Hmmm, he must be chasing me. At this point I knew I was in second place (Win quit after lap 3), with the first place guy, way way out front. So anyway. Lap 4 was just under 35 minutes. I was slowing a bit, still running 7 minute miles. Good enough. still ahead of pace. Honestly my goal today was sub 4. I'd be happy with that. I also thought, it would be cool to run boston pace for a 50k (3:10 marathon pace). I also thought it might be awesome to run sub Meissner in 2006, when he did this same event in 3:40:18. AH HAA a challenge. We're pretty good rivals, at least from 2004-2007 in the bigfoot 10k in Bend, but he usually wastes me in the long stuff, but he's also got way more experience with them. And come to think of it, we only raced a 50k together once. Anyway, I hit the marathon in about 3:01. pretty sweet. Sean said if I hit the marathon in 3:00 I'd have no trouble going under his time. My pace however was slowing. I had 39 minutes to run the last 5 mile loop, after running 26.2 already. My split after the first 2 of the last 5 miles was 15:30, so I was beginning to think I could do it, sub 8 minute miles. We got to the out-n-back section and I saw Stan pacing his wife running (Stan who put together the pumpkin run in N. Bonneville a couple weeks ago) and I asked "would you tell anybody if I turned around now??, we got a laugh about it, but I knew, that 3rd place was not far behind me, and sure enough i got passed right before the turn around, oh well. I was still well ahead of planned pace having a good time (suffering).
The trail section was hard on this last lap. I wasn't running fast, but I was really fighting for it. I got to the line, and the clock said 3:39:59, and then 3:40, and I was like Shit Yea. I guess my 'official' time was 3:40:14, Pretty unbelievable. The ultra running crowd is second to none, it's sure a welcoming and friendly bunch.
So it was a really struggle, those last five miles, but it just goes to show you... keep on keepin on!
Also, I did this run with no ipod. I had planned to bring along the shuffle, only to figure out I left it in the car right when the guy said "1 minute 30 seconds to start", so, maybe that's just as well. Lots of solo time out there in these ultras compared to bike racing and other shorter events.
Anyway! Happy running!
02 November 2008
I-84 EAST.
Well a tired Laurie made it to Thailand after a marathon flight plan that went from PDX to Tokyo (11 hrs), then from Tokyo to Bangkok (7 hrs), and then an 8 hour bus ride to Mae Sot, the site of the Op Smile mission. woah. Send her email she has limited access. Might not respond right away, but I she will get them.
In more local news, make sure and check out the photos from the bonneville dam tour we went to yesterday. It was pretty cool.
I went up early with James, with the intent of running the Pumpkin run 5 miler in North Bonneville, WA. We planned to leave a little early... but I ended up showing up about 5 minutes late, and then James wasn't at the pre-determined meeting place either. Since I was late, I didn't feel like calling him right away, and he showed up at about 4 minutes to 8 (planned departure was 7:45am) The race start was 9am (as indicated on the website of the Columbia Gorge Running Club). We still had enough time to get there. So as we rolled out, we pondered a little on whether or not to take the washington side (hwy 14) or the Oregon side (I-84). At the last moment, I decided to take the oregon side, thinking the time saved would be worth the $1 toll on the bridge of the gods. I exited off of I-205, onto I-84. Only problem was, it was I-84 west. not East, like we wanted. Never make this mistake, even if your not in a hurry. Because there are no exits for miles, and then when you finally get to an exit, you can't just go over to the other side and get back on the interstate going the other direction.
Where was the damn GPS when we needed it. The iPhone sucks for turn by turn directions, unless you want to get in an accident... So we weaved through some city streets, and basically got every red light, and finally, after at least 2 U-turns, found I205, and then got on the right path. We figured we were not going to make it to the run on time, so we figured we'd go anyway, and just run, since it was on trails, and we did have time before the Dam tour at 10am.
We finally made it to N. Bonneville, and what do you know... the race hadn't started yet! so we paid our 2 bucks, and tried to keep warm for a few mintues before it got started. It seemed like if they would have started any later, we would have been late for the dam tour.
The run was good... 4 pretty much flat miles on a very nice trail with views of the gorge and then an unexpected 5th mile that was 3/4 up hill. Not like the uphill at Mac 15k, but brutal still. I ended up 3rd, and got an awesome pumpkin pie, a free 6 inch at subway (in stevenson, WA), a $5 certificate for tha bahma coffe bar in stevenson, and a coffee giftcard for Jolindas in stevenson that doesn't say how much its worth. Pretty sweet for $2 bucks for the entry fee! If you're going through stevenson, i'll hook you up w/ lunch and coffee. Let me know!
Joe Dudemans race report here.
We got to the Dam tour at 10:10, and Lee Sheldon (our professor) wasn't there yet, so all was good on a day where we could have used the extra hour that we got today!!! Too bad there aren't more days when we fall back. Wouldn't it be sweet to set your watch back an hour more days of the year? After the tour we went to the infamous Char Burger (Lee's favorite hang out) for lunch and ate the pumpkin pie that I won earlier in the day.
Bonneville dam slideshow here. (click photo for caption)
Non-acedemic plans over the next few weeks:
Vancouver fall 5 mile
Champeog autum leaves run (which distance? hmm)
Hood River turkey trot
In more local news, make sure and check out the photos from the bonneville dam tour we went to yesterday. It was pretty cool.
I went up early with James, with the intent of running the Pumpkin run 5 miler in North Bonneville, WA. We planned to leave a little early... but I ended up showing up about 5 minutes late, and then James wasn't at the pre-determined meeting place either. Since I was late, I didn't feel like calling him right away, and he showed up at about 4 minutes to 8 (planned departure was 7:45am) The race start was 9am (as indicated on the website of the Columbia Gorge Running Club). We still had enough time to get there. So as we rolled out, we pondered a little on whether or not to take the washington side (hwy 14) or the Oregon side (I-84). At the last moment, I decided to take the oregon side, thinking the time saved would be worth the $1 toll on the bridge of the gods. I exited off of I-205, onto I-84. Only problem was, it was I-84 west. not East, like we wanted. Never make this mistake, even if your not in a hurry. Because there are no exits for miles, and then when you finally get to an exit, you can't just go over to the other side and get back on the interstate going the other direction.
Where was the damn GPS when we needed it. The iPhone sucks for turn by turn directions, unless you want to get in an accident... So we weaved through some city streets, and basically got every red light, and finally, after at least 2 U-turns, found I205, and then got on the right path. We figured we were not going to make it to the run on time, so we figured we'd go anyway, and just run, since it was on trails, and we did have time before the Dam tour at 10am.
We finally made it to N. Bonneville, and what do you know... the race hadn't started yet! so we paid our 2 bucks, and tried to keep warm for a few mintues before it got started. It seemed like if they would have started any later, we would have been late for the dam tour.
The run was good... 4 pretty much flat miles on a very nice trail with views of the gorge and then an unexpected 5th mile that was 3/4 up hill. Not like the uphill at Mac 15k, but brutal still. I ended up 3rd, and got an awesome pumpkin pie, a free 6 inch at subway (in stevenson, WA), a $5 certificate for tha bahma coffe bar in stevenson, and a coffee giftcard for Jolindas in stevenson that doesn't say how much its worth. Pretty sweet for $2 bucks for the entry fee! If you're going through stevenson, i'll hook you up w/ lunch and coffee. Let me know!
Joe Dudemans race report here.
We got to the Dam tour at 10:10, and Lee Sheldon (our professor) wasn't there yet, so all was good on a day where we could have used the extra hour that we got today!!! Too bad there aren't more days when we fall back. Wouldn't it be sweet to set your watch back an hour more days of the year? After the tour we went to the infamous Char Burger (Lee's favorite hang out) for lunch and ate the pumpkin pie that I won earlier in the day.
Bonneville dam slideshow here. (click photo for caption)
Non-acedemic plans over the next few weeks:
Vancouver fall 5 mile
Champeog autum leaves run (which distance? hmm)
Hood River turkey trot
31 October 2008
Happy Halloween
I will spare you the spam email, and simply ask you to click this link for a laugh.
http://tinyurl.com/56m8h3
Thanks Sean.
and, for what it's worth, i already voted by mail, because that's what they do in Oregon.
As for other comments on the whole election thingy, it's pretty interesting how it's playing out. The national media seems to bey way pro-obama, and all the polls say he's leading, but it's getting closer and closer as we approach the election... or is it...? They just want everyone and anyone to watch the TV on Nov 4th, because that's all they care about is ratings. The newspapers are all going bankrupt, so TV man, that's where its at for the media moguls.
We have had a president for the last 8 years that pretty much nobody likes, that won in 2000 by the slimest of margins... and could have easily have gone the other way, if not for a few idiots in Florida. GWB started a war, can't stop the endless campaign in iraq, and is now pretty unpopular, even with the repbulcans. you don't see him campaigning for Mccain, at all. And he's repbulican, it's pretty apparent that the voting public has shown it's disdain for the decisions of the president, and is taking it out on the party by putting alot of democrats in the senate and house. If Obama wins, we'll have a supermajority, whatever that is. Is that good? probably not, but I think its worth a try.
It seems that the country is more divided than ever. The people that don't like Mccain, really, really don't like him, and the people who don't like Obama really, really don't like him. That's not good. We have two types of people here as I see it. You've got the what I'll call, new-school versus old school thought train. I know that not everything is perfect with Obama, but you know, Mccain picked Palin for fricken sakes. What kind of judgement is that?
To me, it's mostly about inspiration. One of the candidates in this election inspires, and one does not so much.
Who inspires you?
http://tinyurl.com/56m8h3
Thanks Sean.
and, for what it's worth, i already voted by mail, because that's what they do in Oregon.
As for other comments on the whole election thingy, it's pretty interesting how it's playing out. The national media seems to bey way pro-obama, and all the polls say he's leading, but it's getting closer and closer as we approach the election... or is it...? They just want everyone and anyone to watch the TV on Nov 4th, because that's all they care about is ratings. The newspapers are all going bankrupt, so TV man, that's where its at for the media moguls.
We have had a president for the last 8 years that pretty much nobody likes, that won in 2000 by the slimest of margins... and could have easily have gone the other way, if not for a few idiots in Florida. GWB started a war, can't stop the endless campaign in iraq, and is now pretty unpopular, even with the repbulcans. you don't see him campaigning for Mccain, at all. And he's repbulican, it's pretty apparent that the voting public has shown it's disdain for the decisions of the president, and is taking it out on the party by putting alot of democrats in the senate and house. If Obama wins, we'll have a supermajority, whatever that is. Is that good? probably not, but I think its worth a try.
It seems that the country is more divided than ever. The people that don't like Mccain, really, really don't like him, and the people who don't like Obama really, really don't like him. That's not good. We have two types of people here as I see it. You've got the what I'll call, new-school versus old school thought train. I know that not everything is perfect with Obama, but you know, Mccain picked Palin for fricken sakes. What kind of judgement is that?
To me, it's mostly about inspiration. One of the candidates in this election inspires, and one does not so much.
Who inspires you?
19 October 2008
Finally
A blog post!
Well it's been a while since I updated, and I guess that's because not much exciting has been going on. It's been real nice fall here in Portland, the leaves are turned. It's been mostly rain free, except for a day here and there, and lets just say, that we'll take that as long as possible.
Last year I was cyclocrossing, but this year, I havn't really got race fever yet. It's been more popular than ever, and all the races up here are breaking records in terms of riders, which is great. I have gotten in some epic road rides around the northwest hills which is always fun. (Westwood st. up to council crest, west 57th, thompson to skyline, then up old germantown road. yea.) As far as the running goes, the ankle feels ok; I'm lacing them up for a 15k trail run near corvallis tomorrow. I won't break my records, but hopefully will show up on time this year. After that it's going to be cruise control until I turn on the mileage in January, to get ready for my second Hagg. That's the plan.
I've been coaching some workouts with the PDX nordic ski training group, sponsored by XC-Oregon. There's been an average of about 16-25 people per weekend, and that's alot for Portland. I've helped out last year, and there was an average of about 3 people per week, so the excitement is building you could say! I think the nicer fall weather has been a big plus too. As far as the coaching goes, we do a mix of strength, technique and intesity training in a 90 minute session. I'm not exactly yelling: Come-on dirtbags!!! get your asses up the hills, but today lets just say they were sweating.
Next week Laurie leaves to Thialand, for a few weeks of op smile medical mission, and travels... but I'll still be here. Our Hydro instructor is taking us on a tour of the Bonneville Dam next weekend; he knows pretty much everything about hydro-electric dams and pretty much invented the things, as far as he's concerned.
Well it's been a while since I updated, and I guess that's because not much exciting has been going on. It's been real nice fall here in Portland, the leaves are turned. It's been mostly rain free, except for a day here and there, and lets just say, that we'll take that as long as possible.
Last year I was cyclocrossing, but this year, I havn't really got race fever yet. It's been more popular than ever, and all the races up here are breaking records in terms of riders, which is great. I have gotten in some epic road rides around the northwest hills which is always fun. (Westwood st. up to council crest, west 57th, thompson to skyline, then up old germantown road. yea.) As far as the running goes, the ankle feels ok; I'm lacing them up for a 15k trail run near corvallis tomorrow. I won't break my records, but hopefully will show up on time this year. After that it's going to be cruise control until I turn on the mileage in January, to get ready for my second Hagg. That's the plan.
I've been coaching some workouts with the PDX nordic ski training group, sponsored by XC-Oregon. There's been an average of about 16-25 people per weekend, and that's alot for Portland. I've helped out last year, and there was an average of about 3 people per week, so the excitement is building you could say! I think the nicer fall weather has been a big plus too. As far as the coaching goes, we do a mix of strength, technique and intesity training in a 90 minute session. I'm not exactly yelling: Come-on dirtbags!!! get your asses up the hills, but today lets just say they were sweating.
Next week Laurie leaves to Thialand, for a few weeks of op smile medical mission, and travels... but I'll still be here. Our Hydro instructor is taking us on a tour of the Bonneville Dam next weekend; he knows pretty much everything about hydro-electric dams and pretty much invented the things, as far as he's concerned.
27 September 2008
the break in review
Six weeks off, well sorta. I still managed to work under 20 hours per week so it wasn't complete off time, if you know what I mean. The spirits are high and the future looks good, despite continued possible world financial melt down and eminent government bail out. The break started out...
with a day trip to the coast. It was one of those 100 degree days inland, where it's about 60 at the coast. Pretty special for the dogs who pretty much
The macbook just crashed a while ago (and the blogger autosaved the above, so I'm just leaving it), and now I'm on the PC. Sux for me. Hopefully the macbook comes back to life tomorrow, but it's not looking good right now.
Anyway, the dogs loved the beach. Then it was on to Minnesota for Labor day weekend! It was some great weather (in the 90s), and we got to spend some time at the lake with family. Too bad we couldn't stay longer, but we both left with a little bit of a chest cold.
Then I planned to do some 10ks and a half marathon (Laurie did the 1/2 marathon along w/ Kelli and Kyle above!), to get back into shape. I did the first 10k, and it was pretty good. On the Tuesday after the P2P 10k, I sprained my ankle ending all hope of running any other races during the break. Oh well. I've been getting some rides in at least, and the ankle is finally feeling better.
I got to go sailing w/ a friend from school in his catamaran and after several hours of fun sailing we were nearing the end of the day, and caught an unusually strong gust of wind and flipped the thing. I ended up sitting on the top cat up in the air, and he was in the drink with his son. So we did manage to get it upright, but it wasn't easy. All in all, it was fun.
Then last week, we went to Bend for the weekend, after not being there much at all for the last year (and then some). The whole weekend, we hardly went anywhere without running into someone we knew, which felt kinda good, (but admittedly was a little weird), but just reinforces the small town-ness of Bend (that we miss) and that we don't get much of here in Portland.
So school starts on Monday, so it will be good to get back in the mix with the other clowns /er students again, we have a pretty good group. I'm looking forward to new classes this term. It's like a chance at a new start. Also, Laurie is going to be in Thailand (w/ OpSmile) in November for 3 weeks so send care packages around halloween. :D
And I watched the debate the other night, and I found it real interesting how Mc-Cane (sic), basically ignored Obama when Obama said we have to restore America's reputation in the world, because the world view of the USA is basically pretty shitty. McCane (sic) is an old timer that has all this 'experience', but I'm saying that all that experience he's got, is just what got us into this mess (or all of these messes) and we need some new life running the show up there. holla if you hear me! WORD.
Now lets just hope the bail out works.
with a day trip to the coast. It was one of those 100 degree days inland, where it's about 60 at the coast. Pretty special for the dogs who pretty much
The macbook just crashed a while ago (and the blogger autosaved the above, so I'm just leaving it), and now I'm on the PC. Sux for me. Hopefully the macbook comes back to life tomorrow, but it's not looking good right now.
Anyway, the dogs loved the beach. Then it was on to Minnesota for Labor day weekend! It was some great weather (in the 90s), and we got to spend some time at the lake with family. Too bad we couldn't stay longer, but we both left with a little bit of a chest cold.
Then I planned to do some 10ks and a half marathon (Laurie did the 1/2 marathon along w/ Kelli and Kyle above!), to get back into shape. I did the first 10k, and it was pretty good. On the Tuesday after the P2P 10k, I sprained my ankle ending all hope of running any other races during the break. Oh well. I've been getting some rides in at least, and the ankle is finally feeling better.
I got to go sailing w/ a friend from school in his catamaran and after several hours of fun sailing we were nearing the end of the day, and caught an unusually strong gust of wind and flipped the thing. I ended up sitting on the top cat up in the air, and he was in the drink with his son. So we did manage to get it upright, but it wasn't easy. All in all, it was fun.
Then last week, we went to Bend for the weekend, after not being there much at all for the last year (and then some). The whole weekend, we hardly went anywhere without running into someone we knew, which felt kinda good, (but admittedly was a little weird), but just reinforces the small town-ness of Bend (that we miss) and that we don't get much of here in Portland.
So school starts on Monday, so it will be good to get back in the mix with the other clowns /er students again, we have a pretty good group. I'm looking forward to new classes this term. It's like a chance at a new start. Also, Laurie is going to be in Thailand (w/ OpSmile) in November for 3 weeks so send care packages around halloween. :D
And I watched the debate the other night, and I found it real interesting how Mc-Cane (sic), basically ignored Obama when Obama said we have to restore America's reputation in the world, because the world view of the USA is basically pretty shitty. McCane (sic) is an old timer that has all this 'experience', but I'm saying that all that experience he's got, is just what got us into this mess (or all of these messes) and we need some new life running the show up there. holla if you hear me! WORD.
Now lets just hope the bail out works.
08 September 2008
P2P
Battled through a strong chest cold for days, I didn't know how I would feel, but I felt good enough to run the pints to pasta 10k. The name implies there's pints at the start and pasta at the finish, but that's not quite accurate. Both are at the end of the race, but it goes from (near) the widmer brewery to the old spaghetti factory in portland. A more accurate name would be strips to pints and pasta, because the actual start is at the North American Adidas headquarters (Adidas = 3 stripes) and there's free beer and pasta at the end (at 9am!).
Since it was point to point, and I didn't want to ride the school bus to the start, I decided I needed another training run to prepare, so I ran to the start (a tradition at bigfoot 10k in bend). The race is downhill for the first mile and then mostly really flat after that. I took that as a free fast mile, just was going to pace it easy down the hill to 1M and then start to race. With that tactic, I essentailly turned the 6.2 mile race into a 5.2. mile race.
It was a really hot day, and I felt slow, but hit three miles in just under 18 minutes. I just tried to hold on, and amazingly the miles just clicked by, but I still felt slow. The final time: 37:34! 6:03 pace. woo hoo.
Race 1 of 3 is complete in my 'fall weekend footrace before school starts' season. Next up Timberline half marathon next sunday. Sean says I should run the marathon the day before, but it's filled up! So there that's my excuse. The next weekend is bend bigfoot 10k.
Since it was point to point, and I didn't want to ride the school bus to the start, I decided I needed another training run to prepare, so I ran to the start (a tradition at bigfoot 10k in bend). The race is downhill for the first mile and then mostly really flat after that. I took that as a free fast mile, just was going to pace it easy down the hill to 1M and then start to race. With that tactic, I essentailly turned the 6.2 mile race into a 5.2. mile race.
It was a really hot day, and I felt slow, but hit three miles in just under 18 minutes. I just tried to hold on, and amazingly the miles just clicked by, but I still felt slow. The final time: 37:34! 6:03 pace. woo hoo.
Race 1 of 3 is complete in my 'fall weekend footrace before school starts' season. Next up Timberline half marathon next sunday. Sean says I should run the marathon the day before, but it's filled up! So there that's my excuse. The next weekend is bend bigfoot 10k.
06 September 2008
27 August 2008
25 August 2008
iRyan
Well, it took about one week into summer-vacation, and gadget fever overcame me. Got an iPhone!!! What does that mean for the blog? More photos! woo hoo. I also got a new phone number: -5.0.3-7.0.3-3.5.4.7-
We're headed to MN this week, for the holiday weekend.
then it's back to business w/ 3 races in 3 weeks, and no school until Sept 29th! :D
We're headed to MN this week, for the holiday weekend.
then it's back to business w/ 3 races in 3 weeks, and no school until Sept 29th! :D
12 August 2008
Twilight Crit
In the midst of finals week, writing a race report:
8.8.08, portland twilight criterium sponsored by healthnet; cat 3, $3000 at stake.
It was a perfect example of an American criterium: short technical 800 meter loop, bumpy, L shape around downtown Portland city blocks.
The race started. 1st 4 corners were intense. Crowded road, sprint out of each corner, heavy breaking into the next. Speed increased. Eventually (1 lap) we were strung out all the way. I thought I was last rider. I glanced back, and there were people behind me. Good, I thought, at least I'm not last rider. Now move up. Course was too technical to pass very much. Then a dude crashed on the straight away after the start finish and slid on what looked like his cheek bone on the curb for 10 meters with his legs up in the air. Then more crashes. In the corners. Each time, the riders in front didn't even notice, kept going. Riders behind the crashes (like me) in back slam on the breaks to avoid the pile up and carnage, and then desperately sprint to try and catch back on. Found my self in a group of maybe 10, and I thought we weren't that far back, but they weren't going full gas. So I went full gas for about 2 laps, and then it was someone elses turn. But it wasn't enough and we were pulled just short of 1/2 way through. I complained to the officials and told them we should have all gotten a lap, because we were all held up by multiple crashes, but they still pulled us, then I apologized a few minutes later for complaining. I do have to say the the Oregon racing association (OBRA) is top notch and they put races on like none other.
Through the crashes and suspense, it was fun. Got the fever back so to say. More races on the horizon, after this week though.
8.8.08, portland twilight criterium sponsored by healthnet; cat 3, $3000 at stake.
It was a perfect example of an American criterium: short technical 800 meter loop, bumpy, L shape around downtown Portland city blocks.
The race started. 1st 4 corners were intense. Crowded road, sprint out of each corner, heavy breaking into the next. Speed increased. Eventually (1 lap) we were strung out all the way. I thought I was last rider. I glanced back, and there were people behind me. Good, I thought, at least I'm not last rider. Now move up. Course was too technical to pass very much. Then a dude crashed on the straight away after the start finish and slid on what looked like his cheek bone on the curb for 10 meters with his legs up in the air. Then more crashes. In the corners. Each time, the riders in front didn't even notice, kept going. Riders behind the crashes (like me) in back slam on the breaks to avoid the pile up and carnage, and then desperately sprint to try and catch back on. Found my self in a group of maybe 10, and I thought we weren't that far back, but they weren't going full gas. So I went full gas for about 2 laps, and then it was someone elses turn. But it wasn't enough and we were pulled just short of 1/2 way through. I complained to the officials and told them we should have all gotten a lap, because we were all held up by multiple crashes, but they still pulled us, then I apologized a few minutes later for complaining. I do have to say the the Oregon racing association (OBRA) is top notch and they put races on like none other.
Through the crashes and suspense, it was fun. Got the fever back so to say. More races on the horizon, after this week though.
06 August 2008
Big Day, plus news, etc. (long post)
Here I am, back in the blog-o-sphere, and taking a time out to update the world on everything going on out here. Today was all-in-all a decent day. Still have next week with 4 final exams, 2 presentations / demonstrations, but today was big progress.
This summer I'm taking a 'Fuel Cells' course. It basically consists of learning how fuel cells work, what they are good for and why we may need to put effort into learning and advancing this technology. Part of the course is a lab, and in that lab, my group's assignment is to build a real fuel cell. I'm talking hydrogen fuel cell here. Sounds pretty far out, and dare I say-futuristic or amazingly complicated? You may think it is complicated, but it's actually quite simple, and finally today, on week 7 out of 8, we connected our fuel cell to the H2 gas line.
Keith & Jeff and I were pretty much worried sick about the whole thing and even though we still probably would have done a good job in the eyes of Bob, the professor, if it didn't work, it would be a bit de-moralizing. The cell was pretty much finished on Monday, and we planned to do final assembly it and connect it to the gas today. The first step was assembling it. Keith and Jeff were basically chomping at the bit to get this thing together, and I was like, cool it boys, we don't have to rush this process here (because they were almost shaking they were so focused on getting this thing together). It got together, and we did a pressure test (w/ about 7 PSI) and it was not successful. One of our electrodes needed to be sealed up. We sealed it and re-connected the electrode. No problem, sealed ready to go. Then Keith got a little excited and as he was tightening one of the gas valves, broke the electrode off. Luckily, the screwed in part was still threaded in the plexi glass (only way to fix this, is to re-build this half of the cell (photos are coming soon, I promise). Luckily we could still measure the voltage using a needle tip multi-meter. So we were still OK to continue.
Next step: Connect gas. We are connecting pure oxygen to one end, and hydrated hydrogen in the other end. We were putting the hydrogen through a erlymeyer flask with warm/hot water, because the middle layer of the fuel cell requires hydration to work optimally. So we finally got everything connected, I put my goggles on (because we've had explosions in the lab before during this process), and turned on the gas. There was no explosion, but instead of injecting hydrated gas go into the fuel cell, the hydrator that we connected sent water at about 5psi into our fuel cell. We (I) hooked up the hydrator wrong. So that wasn't the best case, and we could have very well been ruined right there. In hindsight, this may have acutaly helped us, because it ensured that our nafion was really hydrated. (Nafion: the expensive part of the fuel cell)
When we finally got the hydrogen running through our fuel cell we measured a no load voltage of 997 mV (the perfect ideal voltage for a hydrogen fuel cell is 1.229 volts). We were pretty stoked and it pretty much made the term, so far. Alot went in to building this thing and even though the design is pretty simple, it is a pretty cool project. I will get photos up.
- The other summer school project is a pretty cool system we're building for Motors class. Someone (me) had the idea to attach some kind of contraption to a bike wheel to generate useful power. We attached magnets the rim, and those magnets pass by a couple of coils, which create a voltage that lights low voltage super high intesity LEDs. It works pretty well, and we are finalizing our design, and once I have the pics downloaded you'll see them here (or on my flickr site).
- Friday I'm bike racing. Finally. Unbelievably it's the first bike race of 2008 for me and it's none other than the Portland twilight criterium, cat 3, 6:30 pm. I might be off the back, but not without a fight. There's $3000 purse, so it might just be the Pacific northwest Cat 3 world championships. Should be fun...
- We've been stocking up on blueberry's every weekend, and our freezer is about full of them. If anyone has any suggestions on long term berry storage let me know, because I think they tend to ice up in the freezer. We already made about 8 cans of JAM, and a pretty awesome pie.
- The garden is doing really well. The highlight so far have been lots of green beens, and in a few weeks we are going to have WAY more tomatoes than we will know what to do with. We have 3 corn stalks, and the some of the sunflowers are about 9 feet tall.
- Going to MN over laborday weekend, but leaving out of seattle. We got tickets to the Mariners at Safeco field, and they play none-other-than, the Twins, so I'm super stoked about that, especailly since the twins continue to kick ass, even though they trade all their good players, like Johan Santana an Torii Hunter. I'll be the one w/ the Joe Mauer T-shirt on in section 139.
- Tonight the Statics teacher bought pizza for the class. Pretty nice dude, thanks Joey.
- Tonight, to celebrate the last statics lecture, went to the witchita pub w some classmates. I biked there, and the other 5 renewable energy students each drove seperately. (We are renewable energy students, not energy conservation students I guess).
- Bike commuting is in full effect: Get this: in July, Laurie and I didn't get gas in the car. We did in June, (and we did a huge road trip to Montana in June, so we got alot of gas in June), but during July, we didn't need to get gas once in either the subaru, or the rally car. Take that OPEC. I don't know when the last time that happened in this household but I think it was a long, long time ago, and maybe never.
- That's it. Now the schedule is: work then school on Thursday, work then bike race on Friday, homework / study on sat-sun, one final on Monday, two finals on Wed, one on Thur, then the two presentations / demos on Friday. Then no school till sept 29th. woo hoo!
This summer I'm taking a 'Fuel Cells' course. It basically consists of learning how fuel cells work, what they are good for and why we may need to put effort into learning and advancing this technology. Part of the course is a lab, and in that lab, my group's assignment is to build a real fuel cell. I'm talking hydrogen fuel cell here. Sounds pretty far out, and dare I say-futuristic or amazingly complicated? You may think it is complicated, but it's actually quite simple, and finally today, on week 7 out of 8, we connected our fuel cell to the H2 gas line.
Keith & Jeff and I were pretty much worried sick about the whole thing and even though we still probably would have done a good job in the eyes of Bob, the professor, if it didn't work, it would be a bit de-moralizing. The cell was pretty much finished on Monday, and we planned to do final assembly it and connect it to the gas today. The first step was assembling it. Keith and Jeff were basically chomping at the bit to get this thing together, and I was like, cool it boys, we don't have to rush this process here (because they were almost shaking they were so focused on getting this thing together). It got together, and we did a pressure test (w/ about 7 PSI) and it was not successful. One of our electrodes needed to be sealed up. We sealed it and re-connected the electrode. No problem, sealed ready to go. Then Keith got a little excited and as he was tightening one of the gas valves, broke the electrode off. Luckily, the screwed in part was still threaded in the plexi glass (only way to fix this, is to re-build this half of the cell (photos are coming soon, I promise). Luckily we could still measure the voltage using a needle tip multi-meter. So we were still OK to continue.
Next step: Connect gas. We are connecting pure oxygen to one end, and hydrated hydrogen in the other end. We were putting the hydrogen through a erlymeyer flask with warm/hot water, because the middle layer of the fuel cell requires hydration to work optimally. So we finally got everything connected, I put my goggles on (because we've had explosions in the lab before during this process), and turned on the gas. There was no explosion, but instead of injecting hydrated gas go into the fuel cell, the hydrator that we connected sent water at about 5psi into our fuel cell. We (I) hooked up the hydrator wrong. So that wasn't the best case, and we could have very well been ruined right there. In hindsight, this may have acutaly helped us, because it ensured that our nafion was really hydrated. (Nafion: the expensive part of the fuel cell)
When we finally got the hydrogen running through our fuel cell we measured a no load voltage of 997 mV (the perfect ideal voltage for a hydrogen fuel cell is 1.229 volts). We were pretty stoked and it pretty much made the term, so far. Alot went in to building this thing and even though the design is pretty simple, it is a pretty cool project. I will get photos up.
- The other summer school project is a pretty cool system we're building for Motors class. Someone (me) had the idea to attach some kind of contraption to a bike wheel to generate useful power. We attached magnets the rim, and those magnets pass by a couple of coils, which create a voltage that lights low voltage super high intesity LEDs. It works pretty well, and we are finalizing our design, and once I have the pics downloaded you'll see them here (or on my flickr site).
- Friday I'm bike racing. Finally. Unbelievably it's the first bike race of 2008 for me and it's none other than the Portland twilight criterium, cat 3, 6:30 pm. I might be off the back, but not without a fight. There's $3000 purse, so it might just be the Pacific northwest Cat 3 world championships. Should be fun...
- We've been stocking up on blueberry's every weekend, and our freezer is about full of them. If anyone has any suggestions on long term berry storage let me know, because I think they tend to ice up in the freezer. We already made about 8 cans of JAM, and a pretty awesome pie.
- The garden is doing really well. The highlight so far have been lots of green beens, and in a few weeks we are going to have WAY more tomatoes than we will know what to do with. We have 3 corn stalks, and the some of the sunflowers are about 9 feet tall.
- Going to MN over laborday weekend, but leaving out of seattle. We got tickets to the Mariners at Safeco field, and they play none-other-than, the Twins, so I'm super stoked about that, especailly since the twins continue to kick ass, even though they trade all their good players, like Johan Santana an Torii Hunter. I'll be the one w/ the Joe Mauer T-shirt on in section 139.
- Tonight the Statics teacher bought pizza for the class. Pretty nice dude, thanks Joey.
- Tonight, to celebrate the last statics lecture, went to the witchita pub w some classmates. I biked there, and the other 5 renewable energy students each drove seperately. (We are renewable energy students, not energy conservation students I guess).
- Bike commuting is in full effect: Get this: in July, Laurie and I didn't get gas in the car. We did in June, (and we did a huge road trip to Montana in June, so we got alot of gas in June), but during July, we didn't need to get gas once in either the subaru, or the rally car. Take that OPEC. I don't know when the last time that happened in this household but I think it was a long, long time ago, and maybe never.
- That's it. Now the schedule is: work then school on Thursday, work then bike race on Friday, homework / study on sat-sun, one final on Monday, two finals on Wed, one on Thur, then the two presentations / demos on Friday. Then no school till sept 29th. woo hoo!
30 July 2008
Breaking News...
This must be a record for new blog posts for me... What is this like 3 in a week? The news today was just too important not to pass on. I just saw on Velonews that old friend and current pro bike racer (in Europe) Kori Seehafer (was Kori Kelly) won a world cup event in Sweden. Click here for the link! I think she's trying to get selected for the olympics which would be totally awesome. Go KORI!
I went to college with Kori at NDSU and we were even house-mates for a summer. She started bike racing with the club at NDSU right around the time I did... now she's pro and kicking ass, and I'm back in college. go figure...
I went to college with Kori at NDSU and we were even house-mates for a summer. She started bike racing with the club at NDSU right around the time I did... now she's pro and kicking ass, and I'm back in college. go figure...
27 July 2008
Tour
Here's to the Bjarne Riis tour drama! As evel put it: Riis should have just come out of retirement and won the tour himself. In any case, Sastre seems like a nice guy, which is a hell of a lot more than you can say for Cadel (see multiple Youtube's below).
14 July 2008
Matt Simmons
Note the 'deer in headlights' look of the idiot anchor people, after some of the comments Simmons makes...
Get used to high oil, etc.
Get used to high oil, etc.
27 June 2008
Status Update
Went to Montana for a week during the break between spring and summer term. It was fun, check out the photos (see flickr feed). Saw a real live, wild black bear. It was exciting. Also spent some time in the beautiful Hamilton area in the bitteroot valley. Pretty awesome.
Back in school this week... Classes:
Fuel Cells - pretty interesting. we're building a hydrogen fuel cell, all we have is the PEM membrane (nafion) and the carbon electrodes. We have to design and build everything else. We will document that here on the blog for sure.
Electrical machines (motors) - might be pretty cool. One of the labs will be our choice. I'm considering building a generator that will mount on a bicycle trainer so I can generate power while riding bike.
Physics 3 - the standard 3rd term of physics. if there was one of these classes that was considered the easiest, this would be it.
I was going to take a third class, that meets tuesday and wednesday evening. But sitting in on a lecture from this instructor is like taking too many benedryl. (hopefully you know when that happens, you fall asleep). The guy is boring, and with physics meeting on thursday nights, I'm going to open up the tuesday and wednesday nights. Maybe I'll get sane again.
[Update: I didn't drop the third class (statics) yet. Will reconsider after a couple of weeks.]
I'm still working, until further notice I guess. The job is going to continue, for now anyway. Not all bad... but that sorta just means I have absolutley no time for anything except school, work and writing a blog post every 2.5 weeks. I will be able to control my hours a little better now though, so I will work less :D
supposed to be 97 degrees tomorrow. hippie ray! wait thats a little too hot.
levi and horner are riding the cascade this year. Damn I wish I was racing, but I think we'll go watch this year. Not too many chances to see the dude who was 3rd place in the tour de france racing (and the dude who was 11th for that matter).
Also in Eugene is the olympic trials. A huge deal down there. It would be totally awesome to be watching that too. I guess it's good for the sprinters that its suppsed to be 100 degrees, but the gal on the radio today ask the person she was interviewing if it would be a problem for the distance runners...
Well, that's all for this edition of the blog. Check back next time for more information for your enjoyment.
Back in school this week... Classes:
Fuel Cells - pretty interesting. we're building a hydrogen fuel cell, all we have is the PEM membrane (nafion) and the carbon electrodes. We have to design and build everything else. We will document that here on the blog for sure.
Electrical machines (motors) - might be pretty cool. One of the labs will be our choice. I'm considering building a generator that will mount on a bicycle trainer so I can generate power while riding bike.
Physics 3 - the standard 3rd term of physics. if there was one of these classes that was considered the easiest, this would be it.
I was going to take a third class, that meets tuesday and wednesday evening. But sitting in on a lecture from this instructor is like taking too many benedryl. (hopefully you know when that happens, you fall asleep). The guy is boring, and with physics meeting on thursday nights, I'm going to open up the tuesday and wednesday nights. Maybe I'll get sane again.
[Update: I didn't drop the third class (statics) yet. Will reconsider after a couple of weeks.]
I'm still working, until further notice I guess. The job is going to continue, for now anyway. Not all bad... but that sorta just means I have absolutley no time for anything except school, work and writing a blog post every 2.5 weeks. I will be able to control my hours a little better now though, so I will work less :D
supposed to be 97 degrees tomorrow. hippie ray! wait thats a little too hot.
levi and horner are riding the cascade this year. Damn I wish I was racing, but I think we'll go watch this year. Not too many chances to see the dude who was 3rd place in the tour de france racing (and the dude who was 11th for that matter).
Also in Eugene is the olympic trials. A huge deal down there. It would be totally awesome to be watching that too. I guess it's good for the sprinters that its suppsed to be 100 degrees, but the gal on the radio today ask the person she was interviewing if it would be a problem for the distance runners...
Well, that's all for this edition of the blog. Check back next time for more information for your enjoyment.
02 June 2008
Don't call it a comeback
Ran the 3rd event of the year last Saturday, 5k starlight run. It was pretty fun running along the parade route (right before the parade). Lots of people running & watching, but this race is more known for a quite substantial costume contest. It was quite a scene. For a race that expected 3000 runners (and had 3000 last year) I was not too impressed w/ the organization, but I think the costume contest was pretty organized, and that's what seemed to matter.
The big news though is more media coverage for OIT's renewable energy program. A couple weeks ago, the reporter for OPB (oregon public radio) was in da house. Unfortunately it just so happened that he was there the day after we blew up our electrolysis experiment and that was still the talk of the class, and well, I'll just have you listen for yourself.
Click Here. There's a text article and a link to listen to what went on the radio.
The media guy had to focus on the explosions, I guess it gets better ratings. We really didn't intend to portray the school as some sort of mad science lab. And, as for our experiment (the boring one), we were trying to get an over unity reaction (more hydrogen potential energy than energy put in as voltage). The best efficiency we managed was about 52%. Not quite over 100, which we were going for. The first student is graduating with the degree this spring, and the Oregonian newspaper was there today; I'll pass that along if I find it. Like many of the students this is not his first degree, he's got an electrical engineering degree and an MBA.
So that's going to be it for blogging until after the spring term is over. Finals next week. Then 1 week off, then summer term. Hopefully summer comes soon here. If you take out one weekend when it was 95 degrees, it's been pretty shitty weather since about last November. But this is why it's known to rain all the time in Portland. Summer is supposedly starting on July 4th.
The big news though is more media coverage for OIT's renewable energy program. A couple weeks ago, the reporter for OPB (oregon public radio) was in da house. Unfortunately it just so happened that he was there the day after we blew up our electrolysis experiment and that was still the talk of the class, and well, I'll just have you listen for yourself.
Click Here. There's a text article and a link to listen to what went on the radio.
The media guy had to focus on the explosions, I guess it gets better ratings. We really didn't intend to portray the school as some sort of mad science lab. And, as for our experiment (the boring one), we were trying to get an over unity reaction (more hydrogen potential energy than energy put in as voltage). The best efficiency we managed was about 52%. Not quite over 100, which we were going for. The first student is graduating with the degree this spring, and the Oregonian newspaper was there today; I'll pass that along if I find it. Like many of the students this is not his first degree, he's got an electrical engineering degree and an MBA.
So that's going to be it for blogging until after the spring term is over. Finals next week. Then 1 week off, then summer term. Hopefully summer comes soon here. If you take out one weekend when it was 95 degrees, it's been pretty shitty weather since about last November. But this is why it's known to rain all the time in Portland. Summer is supposedly starting on July 4th.
18 May 2008
Old river ramble
Well, I got back into the scene today with a 10k in West Linn called the old river ramble. I have not been racing much and certainly not training for any racing but when the race number gets pinned on, all bets are off. But expectations were low (but Sub 40 was a must ;). It was a pretty nice day, after 2 days in the 90s it was in the 70s with full sun. The course was along the willamette river in West Linn and Lake Oswego, and wound through Mary Young state park.
My only race strategy was to not start too fast and get passed by 5 people during mile 3, when I couldn't go any faster. I saw Wendy (a local all-star), and i decided to pace myself with her. It was a good plan, but I probably would have started a bit slower than the 5:39 that we ran. But it felt ok and I just went. The race sort of reminded me of a Nordic race in Bend, only you can replace XC-Oregon, with Team Red Lizard. I think all the people in front of me had red lizard shirts on, which is cool. They have a strong club up in here. So anyway... back to the race, it seemed to fly by all of a sudden we were going up hill and it was mile 5. I heard a guy breathing hard in back of me and I decided to drop that fool, and try and catch Wendy. I didn't quite catch her, but I turned in a solid 38:53. Not a PR, but hey, it's a course PR!
Next up is the starlight 5k at the end of the month. 3000+ people, along the rose festival parade route.
After the race, we biked downtown to see Barack Obama. Turns out, about 72,000 other Portlanders had the same idea. It was pretty cool, and you have to wonder if Hillary would have had the same kind of turnout. Here's the view we had. He started out the speech by saying wow like 10 times. It was a pretty massive crowd. (my first you-tube upload below).
My only race strategy was to not start too fast and get passed by 5 people during mile 3, when I couldn't go any faster. I saw Wendy (a local all-star), and i decided to pace myself with her. It was a good plan, but I probably would have started a bit slower than the 5:39 that we ran. But it felt ok and I just went. The race sort of reminded me of a Nordic race in Bend, only you can replace XC-Oregon, with Team Red Lizard. I think all the people in front of me had red lizard shirts on, which is cool. They have a strong club up in here. So anyway... back to the race, it seemed to fly by all of a sudden we were going up hill and it was mile 5. I heard a guy breathing hard in back of me and I decided to drop that fool, and try and catch Wendy. I didn't quite catch her, but I turned in a solid 38:53. Not a PR, but hey, it's a course PR!
Next up is the starlight 5k at the end of the month. 3000+ people, along the rose festival parade route.
After the race, we biked downtown to see Barack Obama. Turns out, about 72,000 other Portlanders had the same idea. It was pretty cool, and you have to wonder if Hillary would have had the same kind of turnout. Here's the view we had. He started out the speech by saying wow like 10 times. It was a pretty massive crowd. (my first you-tube upload below).
07 May 2008
Electrolysis
School is about it these days. Still have a job, and that tends to get in the way of academics, which seems to be the priority these days. Still running, but the race schedule is a bit up in the air right now. Some good experiments going on in electro-chemistry. If you've noticed the photos in the flickr side bar, we built a Cu-Zn daniels cell, that measured 1.05 volts. So it worked, but it really wasn't that exciting. Yesterday, things got a bit more exciting. We built an electrolyzer, to capture hydrogen, and see how much we could get out of some KOH (potassium hydroxide). Well, it was working really good with while pumping about 2.5 volts in there. We were getting way more bubbles than I thought we would, so I guess you could say the experiment was a success. Next week we'll take more precise measurements. Here's a rough diagram of our design:
So there you have it. But that's not the end of the story.
We asked Bob (professor) if there was a safe way we could 'light' the hydrogen. (Heck, it was already mixed with oxygen right there for us) He said "well, not really", in a sort of confused tone. Problem was, my lab partners were focused on this endeavor, to light the gas. (even though it was not part of our thesis for this experiment.) Somehow I think they must have thought it would burn like natural gas on the stove, you know gently. I thought more along the lines of the hindenburg. So, with goggles on, (lab partner 1), [aside: lab partner 1 has a few tatoos, and he has 1 behind each ear, on the left, is a whispering devil, and on the right is a whispering angel] borrows (lab partner 2) lighter, and proceeds to "burp" the hydrogen up (think like your farting in the bathtub). I was already back about 5 feet with my arms shielding my head, when all of a sudden this Super loud POP, and lab partner 1 drops the beaker (didn't break), but it did give us a good scare, and I think my life flashed before my eyes for a second. We apologized to Bob for being wildly inappropriate, and I think he might give future classes a brief lecture on safety (or maybe just common sense). No one got hurt, so we got a little bit of a laugh out of it.
Today we had the midterm in Circuits. It wasn't too bad. The final will be much harder according to Mateo (Mateo=professor, see link on right). A couple of weeks ago he showed us a computer program he wrote to predict the price of stocks. Today while we were taking our midterm, he filed a patent application for something that was related to platforms for collecting and analyzing biomedical research. He's also 27 years old, so I guess you could say he's pretty smart. Great guy to learn from here at OIT. He also assigned to us what he told us is about 15 hours worth of homework for next week (class meets once/week). Hmm. I have tomorrow and Friday set to work at my job, Saturday afternoon is Diff. Eq (yea saturday class what the hell is that?), Sunday i guess I know what I'll be doing. (NOT BLOGGING that's for sure.)
Next week is the MT HOOD CYCLING classic. Last year it was an awesome experience, racing with the cat 3s, and this year, well, the only riding I'm doing is bike commuting, so no racing next week for me. Laurie however is going to be volunteering with doping controls, to see if she can catch some of those doped up cyclists. And the first 2 stages are here in Portland this year!!!! Tuesday the prologue is going to be downtown, and it should be spectacular. I however, will be in class.
hosta la veesta.
So there you have it. But that's not the end of the story.We asked Bob (professor) if there was a safe way we could 'light' the hydrogen. (Heck, it was already mixed with oxygen right there for us) He said "well, not really", in a sort of confused tone. Problem was, my lab partners were focused on this endeavor, to light the gas. (even though it was not part of our thesis for this experiment.) Somehow I think they must have thought it would burn like natural gas on the stove, you know gently. I thought more along the lines of the hindenburg. So, with goggles on, (lab partner 1), [aside: lab partner 1 has a few tatoos, and he has 1 behind each ear, on the left, is a whispering devil, and on the right is a whispering angel] borrows (lab partner 2) lighter, and proceeds to "burp" the hydrogen up (think like your farting in the bathtub). I was already back about 5 feet with my arms shielding my head, when all of a sudden this Super loud POP, and lab partner 1 drops the beaker (didn't break), but it did give us a good scare, and I think my life flashed before my eyes for a second. We apologized to Bob for being wildly inappropriate, and I think he might give future classes a brief lecture on safety (or maybe just common sense). No one got hurt, so we got a little bit of a laugh out of it.
Today we had the midterm in Circuits. It wasn't too bad. The final will be much harder according to Mateo (Mateo=professor, see link on right). A couple of weeks ago he showed us a computer program he wrote to predict the price of stocks. Today while we were taking our midterm, he filed a patent application for something that was related to platforms for collecting and analyzing biomedical research. He's also 27 years old, so I guess you could say he's pretty smart. Great guy to learn from here at OIT. He also assigned to us what he told us is about 15 hours worth of homework for next week (class meets once/week). Hmm. I have tomorrow and Friday set to work at my job, Saturday afternoon is Diff. Eq (yea saturday class what the hell is that?), Sunday i guess I know what I'll be doing. (NOT BLOGGING that's for sure.)
Next week is the MT HOOD CYCLING classic. Last year it was an awesome experience, racing with the cat 3s, and this year, well, the only riding I'm doing is bike commuting, so no racing next week for me. Laurie however is going to be volunteering with doping controls, to see if she can catch some of those doped up cyclists. And the first 2 stages are here in Portland this year!!!! Tuesday the prologue is going to be downtown, and it should be spectacular. I however, will be in class.
hosta la veesta.
23 April 2008
Gas price
I know it's pretty high historically speaking, and everyone (radio, TV, sidewalk, etc) is talking about it, but I've been keeping track since sept. 2005, and here's the history at least here in Oregon, at least what we paid. I also have fuel mileage numbers, but that's another post.
The moving average is definitely on the up and up, but is 2.90 really that much different than 3.50? It might force a small shift to something other than business as usual (I use that term from an economists point of view), but if the economy goes south (like it is), the demand for gas will go down (and it actually has since last year), causing the price to go back down, and then we'll be back to where we started. The one factor that might cause problems with that theory is the simple fact that we can't pump oil any faster than we are right now. We'll need to have a shift in the model of our economy that needs infinite growth and is dependent on cheap oil (or should I say energy).
As for school, well, it's school, and I don't know what other engineering programs are like, but I may have picked the hardest one. Last year I was preparing for the PPP, and this year I'm doing lab reports in IEEE format. What would I rather be doing? hmm.
Shout out to my buddy Sean, who ran Boston Marathon! He was bummed that he didn't make his goal time, but he still kicked ass and beat my PR marathon time by 3 minutes! Good Job, and I wish I'd have been there!
The moving average is definitely on the up and up, but is 2.90 really that much different than 3.50? It might force a small shift to something other than business as usual (I use that term from an economists point of view), but if the economy goes south (like it is), the demand for gas will go down (and it actually has since last year), causing the price to go back down, and then we'll be back to where we started. The one factor that might cause problems with that theory is the simple fact that we can't pump oil any faster than we are right now. We'll need to have a shift in the model of our economy that needs infinite growth and is dependent on cheap oil (or should I say energy).
As for school, well, it's school, and I don't know what other engineering programs are like, but I may have picked the hardest one. Last year I was preparing for the PPP, and this year I'm doing lab reports in IEEE format. What would I rather be doing? hmm.
Shout out to my buddy Sean, who ran Boston Marathon! He was bummed that he didn't make his goal time, but he still kicked ass and beat my PR marathon time by 3 minutes! Good Job, and I wish I'd have been there!
08 April 2008
peak hockey
NHL Playoffs are here. It will be a while before they're over, and we'll wonder why the season is so long during the finals, but they start tomorrow and I have to get my predictions in.
Last year I predicted every series in round one, and I didn't get very many right. This year I'm only going to make a couple of predictions.
The east finals: Pittsburg vs Montreal. (MTL in 5)
They haven't been this excited in Quebec for along time! I really should be too excited about that prediction, because they are the 2 best teams in the east. But who cares, there you have it.
The west finals: san jose vs Minnesota. (MN wins in 7 games)
provided the Wild can avoid playing the Ducks.
I usually would not pick a team from California to make it this far, because most of my picks are based on geographic location rather than team skill.
Finals MN Wild over Canadiens in 6 games. Real original I know, especailly after my picks last year, but really how cool would it be to have that matchup?
Last year I predicted every series in round one, and I didn't get very many right. This year I'm only going to make a couple of predictions.
The east finals: Pittsburg vs Montreal. (MTL in 5)
They haven't been this excited in Quebec for along time! I really should be too excited about that prediction, because they are the 2 best teams in the east. But who cares, there you have it.
The west finals: san jose vs Minnesota. (MN wins in 7 games)
provided the Wild can avoid playing the Ducks.
I usually would not pick a team from California to make it this far, because most of my picks are based on geographic location rather than team skill.
Finals MN Wild over Canadiens in 6 games. Real original I know, especailly after my picks last year, but really how cool would it be to have that matchup?
31 March 2008
Presidential Encounter (sort of)
The place where I work had the former president [William 'Bill' Clinton] come by for a campaign speech. It [the speech] was at 9:30am, and I had to work from 7:30am-11am and since it was the first day back [at work] after being off all week, I couldn't really get away. Plus, I think the line was so long that if you weren't standing in it at 8am, there was no chance you were getting in.
So I'm riding [my bike] home, and I run into a road block [on the OHSU campus]. What the heck? Must be some sort of [medical] emergency, or some sort of [presidential] motorcade! So I took the long way around to get in position for a good view, and although the security guys were real nice they [because they were under the orders of Secret Service] made us move back too far to really get a good look and give BC a big high five or something. I could only manage this shot with my cheap phone:
When he walked around the bushes, I saw his face, and it was a face I'd only seen on TV screens and stuff, so when I saw him walking in a spot I walked on only 2 minutes earlier, i was a bit shocked. It was almost like my brain took a snapshot of that moment, and that image will be in there for ever.
So we had a good spring break [at Orcas Island]. More on that later. Spring term [at OIT Portland] started today; back at school today through mid June [when we get another whole week off. woo hoo.]. Here's a rundown of what's ahead for me [acedemically] this spring:
CHE260 - Electrochemistry (w/ batteries & fuel cells) w/ Lab
REE241 & REE242 - Electrical Power w/ Lab
EE225 - Electric Circuits III (Laplace transforms / applications) w/ Lab
MATH321 - Differential Equations
Just a whole lot of fun there. Even more if you take into account that the math class meets from 1 to 4pm on Saturday!? Nothing like ruining every weekend until June, huh?
NHL Playoffs begin in a couple of weeks and like last year, I'll be submitting my playoff predictions! Stay Tuned!
[I made some edits to this blog because it was quickly written btwn classes and when I re-read it, some things may not have made sense.]
So I'm riding [my bike] home, and I run into a road block [on the OHSU campus]. What the heck? Must be some sort of [medical] emergency, or some sort of [presidential] motorcade! So I took the long way around to get in position for a good view, and although the security guys were real nice they [because they were under the orders of Secret Service] made us move back too far to really get a good look and give BC a big high five or something. I could only manage this shot with my cheap phone:
When he walked around the bushes, I saw his face, and it was a face I'd only seen on TV screens and stuff, so when I saw him walking in a spot I walked on only 2 minutes earlier, i was a bit shocked. It was almost like my brain took a snapshot of that moment, and that image will be in there for ever.So we had a good spring break [at Orcas Island]. More on that later. Spring term [at OIT Portland] started today; back at school today through mid June [when we get another whole week off. woo hoo.]. Here's a rundown of what's ahead for me [acedemically] this spring:
CHE260 - Electrochemistry (w/ batteries & fuel cells) w/ Lab
REE241 & REE242 - Electrical Power w/ Lab
EE225 - Electric Circuits III (Laplace transforms / applications) w/ Lab
MATH321 - Differential Equations
Just a whole lot of fun there. Even more if you take into account that the math class meets from 1 to 4pm on Saturday!? Nothing like ruining every weekend until June, huh?
NHL Playoffs begin in a couple of weeks and like last year, I'll be submitting my playoff predictions! Stay Tuned!
[I made some edits to this blog because it was quickly written btwn classes and when I re-read it, some things may not have made sense.]
26 March 2008
18 March 2008
2 down 1.5 to go
Two finals done yesterday. 1 more Wednesday evening, but not before circuits II lab presentation at 1pm. We're not exactly making any new discoveries (yet anyway), but we did manage to build a mini transformer with an iron ring and some wire. It even worked. Pretty damn awesome. The presentation should be stellar. I wish I could say that about the circuits final. It was pretty hard. I have no chance at an A in circuits, but I do in Chemistry (the other monday final) and physics (the wednesday final) and WR327 (no final). We'll see how it ends up.
Spring break technically starts no more than 120 minutes after 5:30pm PDT, Wednesday.
We're going to this on Thursday. Should be awesome.
Then we're going here on Saturday.
Hopefully more exciting things to blog about than magnetomotive force and faraday's law.
Later
Spring break technically starts no more than 120 minutes after 5:30pm PDT, Wednesday.
We're going to this on Thursday. Should be awesome.
Then we're going here on Saturday.
Hopefully more exciting things to blog about than magnetomotive force and faraday's law.
Later
10 March 2008
Training science
I've been known to do athletic competition from time to time. Pretty much anything that includes running, bike riding, xc skiing, and is anywhere between 1kilometer and up. I used to do Triathlons, but I retired after Ironman Wisconsin 2003.
I recently shared some of my training science with my bike team (Therapeutic Associates, Inc). See post here. You'll see a nice graph of my power output on the 80 mile stage that happens on Saturday, the third day of a difficult 4 day stage race. While they're out racing around Hagg Lake on road bikes, I'm still sorta recovering from 2 stinkin laps around Hagg on foot, and baring down on finals week that is less than 7 days away.
But, before all that, I thought I'd give you a little race day graph (kinda like you get if you have an ipod nano, and nike shoes, only better.) I made my ultra running debut a few weeks ago at Hagg, where I managed to finish. I had really just barely completed my training program that I set out on, and I was able to finish the first 50k of my running career (10th overall too, not bad). Unlike last years bike race where I plotted Power over time, here I plot pain and pace over time, so you have a little bit of an idea of what it was like. It started out really slow (as you can see) because there was a really big uphill on the first 5k, and then we went down the hill, and I started going really fast, and then there was a general trend.
Too much to do right now, and not enough time to do it... so what am I doing? Writing blogs. Well I guess you could say I'm just practicing or studying for my WR327 advanced tech writing course. Maybe my instructor would give me some extra credit (come on Valerie!!!!).
I recently shared some of my training science with my bike team (Therapeutic Associates, Inc). See post here. You'll see a nice graph of my power output on the 80 mile stage that happens on Saturday, the third day of a difficult 4 day stage race. While they're out racing around Hagg Lake on road bikes, I'm still sorta recovering from 2 stinkin laps around Hagg on foot, and baring down on finals week that is less than 7 days away.
But, before all that, I thought I'd give you a little race day graph (kinda like you get if you have an ipod nano, and nike shoes, only better.) I made my ultra running debut a few weeks ago at Hagg, where I managed to finish. I had really just barely completed my training program that I set out on, and I was able to finish the first 50k of my running career (10th overall too, not bad). Unlike last years bike race where I plotted Power over time, here I plot pain and pace over time, so you have a little bit of an idea of what it was like. It started out really slow (as you can see) because there was a really big uphill on the first 5k, and then we went down the hill, and I started going really fast, and then there was a general trend.
Too much to do right now, and not enough time to do it... so what am I doing? Writing blogs. Well I guess you could say I'm just practicing or studying for my WR327 advanced tech writing course. Maybe my instructor would give me some extra credit (come on Valerie!!!!).
09 March 2008
stuff
A couple weeks ago I harped on mass transit in the northwest. Well, It turns out, I was stupidly mistaken. In my previous post, I referenced a video that profiled Bogota's mass transit system and how awesomely cool it was. It was like a light rail, only there were no tracks, just roads where only the buses drove. So, I ran into this blip.tv video done by 'YERT' and basically I feel now, like I should delete the post I made a couple of weeks ago because in fact, Portlands system does kick ass, and low and behold, there is a wonderful example of bogota's system RIGHT HERE in the northwest, just about 70 minute drive from Portland, in 'weirder than portland' Eugene. Surprisingly, since moving to Oregon in 2004, I have only been through Eugene a few times, and a couple years ago, when I was doing the Tour of Willamette bike race, I noticed this odd construction, looked like some sort of train route next to the road, but they were not building train tracks. I couldn't really figure it out, so I sorta just chalked it up to part of the weird-ness that is Eugene. So you have to go to about 1/2 way through this video to get to the Eugene stuff. I obviously hadn't done my homework, when it comes to trash talking the mass transit systems around here.
In addition to that sweet video... there's a guy in Idaho, who thinks the world can be powered by solar roads. I have some doubts, and one of them is studded tires. And the other is big trucks. I mean if you're going to use that many panels, why not just put them on the roofs of buildings. Or in the median.
In addition to that sweet video... there's a guy in Idaho, who thinks the world can be powered by solar roads. I have some doubts, and one of them is studded tires. And the other is big trucks. I mean if you're going to use that many panels, why not just put them on the roofs of buildings. Or in the median.
23 February 2008
Henry Hagg
I raced 50k today, via 2 laps around the muddy hagg lake. It wasn't the birkie but hey, It also wasn't 10 degrees! It was however on the same day. It was frosty at the start, but it really turned in to a perfect sunny day. I was warned, not to slip in the hagg mudd, which was slick at times, and I was also warned that I would really start to feel it at about 3 hours into it. And it did. Although I didn't collapse or break down and crawl, I was sluggish for the last hour. I really kept event on the down low. No worries, just finish. Training run. Well, pinning on the number and the gun went off... I was racing I guess.
The Start: 50k is called an ultra-marathon, and they start out really slow. Really slow. I've done long running races (road marathons) and I guess they start out slow too, but when you have to go 50k through trails and an unknown quantity of mudd, I guess it's OK, and probably smart to start slow. There was a pretty elite group there today, and I took it out with the defending champ and we ran in 6th and 7th until about 8k. Then he literally put the hammer down and was out of sight before I could look up. He went on to set the course record. He's doing western this year (the biggest 100 miler in america). So I knew I wasn't going to keep up with him and I knew I was probably running too fast at this point in the race, but I wasn't really sure what was going to happen, this was my first ultra trail run. Basically I just cruised along until my friend Sean caught me and we ran together and chatted for a while. Sean lives in Sisters and we ran together and raced against each other in shorter races and it was really good to be running with him here, in his element. (He's run alot, ok more than alot, of ultras, and has been in magazine ads for montrail shoes). We were chatting and then all of a sudden we got to the 2nd aid station. I'd seen aid stations at ultras before, and they have huge spreads of food and water and energy drink. I didn't really know if sean would stop for long, I kind of imagine stopping for a while having a snack and tell some jokes, and then get going again, but after sean got his bottle filled, he was gone, and I never caught him again. Went on to finish the first lap (plus the 5k out and back section) in 2:14.
The second lap: So I don't know if I've been watching the show lost too much or what, but I kept hearing footsteps behind me, the whole 2nd lap. There were 3 guys that passed me on the second lap, but it was strange, I basically though some one was right behind me the whole time. The second lap was pretty hard my legs were sore. I probably didn't have the milage required to actually race 50k (longest training run: 3 hours) 2:56 actually. But that's ultra running. Survival is the goal and making it to the finish line is what everyone wants (because they have hot dogs!) I walk the bigger uphills, and there were not really big hills on this course. I've always had alot of respect for guys like Jeff B, and Sean, who've run the big boy races at Big Horn, and that was before I'd done any ultras. And Big Horn - I'm telling you what, that is one helluva tough course. I ran the lowly 30k which was almost all down hill and suffered like a dog. But those guys did the 100 miler and 50 miler (and each won). And here I was at Hagg (where there are multiple pavement sections) (albeit short), but it was tough. These ultra runners are TOUGH.
The Mudd: It was muddy, but by hagg lake standards it was like running on tarmac. After the race this was talked about as the least muddy hagg ever. It hadn't rained in a couple weeks in town, and it was fairly cold (frost this morning), so it was prime conditions for a course record, which did happen. I ran about 40 minutes off the pace, but for my first ultra I'm totally stoked and it was super fun, even though I'm really sore now. I think I made the top ten, and my time was a respectable 4:24 (about). Not bad for the first 50k. I was thinking I might suffer so much during this that it might be my last 50k, but after finishing it... maybe I'll be back. I'll post pics if I can find some. Alot of folks were taking photos out there.
So back to the daily grind now. Tomorrow is sunday, day of rest, but I have alot of stuff to get done for school, but that doesn't require much movement.
UPDATE: Evelyn Dong (Lives in Bend, ski's for XC Oregon / Subaru factory team) won the American Birkebeiner today. Congratulations Evelyn. YOU ROCK!
The Start: 50k is called an ultra-marathon, and they start out really slow. Really slow. I've done long running races (road marathons) and I guess they start out slow too, but when you have to go 50k through trails and an unknown quantity of mudd, I guess it's OK, and probably smart to start slow. There was a pretty elite group there today, and I took it out with the defending champ and we ran in 6th and 7th until about 8k. Then he literally put the hammer down and was out of sight before I could look up. He went on to set the course record. He's doing western this year (the biggest 100 miler in america). So I knew I wasn't going to keep up with him and I knew I was probably running too fast at this point in the race, but I wasn't really sure what was going to happen, this was my first ultra trail run. Basically I just cruised along until my friend Sean caught me and we ran together and chatted for a while. Sean lives in Sisters and we ran together and raced against each other in shorter races and it was really good to be running with him here, in his element. (He's run alot, ok more than alot, of ultras, and has been in magazine ads for montrail shoes). We were chatting and then all of a sudden we got to the 2nd aid station. I'd seen aid stations at ultras before, and they have huge spreads of food and water and energy drink. I didn't really know if sean would stop for long, I kind of imagine stopping for a while having a snack and tell some jokes, and then get going again, but after sean got his bottle filled, he was gone, and I never caught him again. Went on to finish the first lap (plus the 5k out and back section) in 2:14.
The second lap: So I don't know if I've been watching the show lost too much or what, but I kept hearing footsteps behind me, the whole 2nd lap. There were 3 guys that passed me on the second lap, but it was strange, I basically though some one was right behind me the whole time. The second lap was pretty hard my legs were sore. I probably didn't have the milage required to actually race 50k (longest training run: 3 hours) 2:56 actually. But that's ultra running. Survival is the goal and making it to the finish line is what everyone wants (because they have hot dogs!) I walk the bigger uphills, and there were not really big hills on this course. I've always had alot of respect for guys like Jeff B, and Sean, who've run the big boy races at Big Horn, and that was before I'd done any ultras. And Big Horn - I'm telling you what, that is one helluva tough course. I ran the lowly 30k which was almost all down hill and suffered like a dog. But those guys did the 100 miler and 50 miler (and each won). And here I was at Hagg (where there are multiple pavement sections) (albeit short), but it was tough. These ultra runners are TOUGH.
The Mudd: It was muddy, but by hagg lake standards it was like running on tarmac. After the race this was talked about as the least muddy hagg ever. It hadn't rained in a couple weeks in town, and it was fairly cold (frost this morning), so it was prime conditions for a course record, which did happen. I ran about 40 minutes off the pace, but for my first ultra I'm totally stoked and it was super fun, even though I'm really sore now. I think I made the top ten, and my time was a respectable 4:24 (about). Not bad for the first 50k. I was thinking I might suffer so much during this that it might be my last 50k, but after finishing it... maybe I'll be back. I'll post pics if I can find some. Alot of folks were taking photos out there.
So back to the daily grind now. Tomorrow is sunday, day of rest, but I have alot of stuff to get done for school, but that doesn't require much movement.
UPDATE: Evelyn Dong (Lives in Bend, ski's for XC Oregon / Subaru factory team) won the American Birkebeiner today. Congratulations Evelyn. YOU ROCK!
14 February 2008
Spring
More and more, it's feeling like spring here. It's not so cold (like it is back in minny). 50s are forcast for this week! Get out the road bike!
I managed to get mt hood ski race revenge last weekend, beating one of the punks who sprinted by me when I face planted last time. I ended up 2nd, but that was good, because I didn't face plant, and I had managed a 3 hr run the day before. Midterm season ended last night, with the physics final. The other midterms were above average, and the other one was average. I think I understand the material better than my C grade in circuits reflected. And maybe it's because the teacher is allowing us a 3X5 notecard on the exam for anything we can write, but chemistry is going pretty well this term.
Laurie's going to Seattle on the train this weekend. I'm going to brush up on Chemistry, Circuits and other bogus bull crap, i'm supposed to be learning about renewable energy dammit! The only thing of noteable note that's pretty cool and interesting that our class has learned or whatever is, about a week ago, we had a guy show us (the guy came to OIT) his car that he converted into a hybrid. How? well, 1st, he put a big Pb acid battery in the back seat, that would power everything electrical in the car (everything like radio, heater, a/c, lights, you name it.) And then, he wired this big battery up to the alternator, and made it so the alternator would only run (ie charge the battery), when the sensor (installed by the wheel well) sensed that the car was going downhill, or deccelerating. That left the horsepower of the gas engine, to concentrate on power the wheels of the car, not having to worry about the alternator. He said he's got 47 mpgs, and this was like a circa 1998 chevy or chrysler sedan or something like that. His car did not self support itself (it needed to be trickle charged at night every 3-5 days) but he was going to put a small pv panel on the roof so it wouldn't need to be charged at all. If wise asses in portland can build shit like this on their own, why cant idiots in detriot? Let's just blame it on George Bush.
OK, now I'm supposed to be working, not blogging. later.
I managed to get mt hood ski race revenge last weekend, beating one of the punks who sprinted by me when I face planted last time. I ended up 2nd, but that was good, because I didn't face plant, and I had managed a 3 hr run the day before. Midterm season ended last night, with the physics final. The other midterms were above average, and the other one was average. I think I understand the material better than my C grade in circuits reflected. And maybe it's because the teacher is allowing us a 3X5 notecard on the exam for anything we can write, but chemistry is going pretty well this term.
Laurie's going to Seattle on the train this weekend. I'm going to brush up on Chemistry, Circuits and other bogus bull crap, i'm supposed to be learning about renewable energy dammit! The only thing of noteable note that's pretty cool and interesting that our class has learned or whatever is, about a week ago, we had a guy show us (the guy came to OIT) his car that he converted into a hybrid. How? well, 1st, he put a big Pb acid battery in the back seat, that would power everything electrical in the car (everything like radio, heater, a/c, lights, you name it.) And then, he wired this big battery up to the alternator, and made it so the alternator would only run (ie charge the battery), when the sensor (installed by the wheel well) sensed that the car was going downhill, or deccelerating. That left the horsepower of the gas engine, to concentrate on power the wheels of the car, not having to worry about the alternator. He said he's got 47 mpgs, and this was like a circa 1998 chevy or chrysler sedan or something like that. His car did not self support itself (it needed to be trickle charged at night every 3-5 days) but he was going to put a small pv panel on the roof so it wouldn't need to be charged at all. If wise asses in portland can build shit like this on their own, why cant idiots in detriot? Let's just blame it on George Bush.
OK, now I'm supposed to be working, not blogging. later.
09 February 2008
Some thoughts on transit.
I'm all about mass transportation. It's awesome. And you could say Portland has a pretty darn good system, with busses, and streetcars, and light rail. It even has an aerial tram for goodness sakes. If you take the tram out of the equation, I've ridden on portland's mass transit exactly zero times since we moved here. And for the first 6+ months that we lived here we only had one rally car, so you'd think (with all my trips to and from work and school) that at least once I'd have taken the bus. Nope. I rode my bike. So this isn't true for everyone (fitness wise), but I think I can get anywhere in this city, except for perhaps beaverton (there's a big hill) if I'm on my bike vs riding the bus or trains. It's slow!!! and the streetcar is even slower. I think the average speed is like 10mph. It's almost a joke. And the mass transit in this city has cost portland millions and millions. Wait no, billions. You'd think, since America is supposedly the smartest, richest, educated and most technically advanced civilization in the world that we'd think of the best way to get people from point a to point b, in an efficient, fast and low cost method. NOPE. but they are in Bogota, Columbia. Bogo-freaking-ta. You know in south america. Check it, it's 7 minutes.
While I'm at it... here's another you tube. Gotta love LOST.
While I'm at it... here's another you tube. Gotta love LOST.
07 February 2008
No news...
No news is good news I suppose. The rains continue. And alot. I was talking to one of my new friends at school yesterday (he's another pdx newcomer), and I told him... Geez, you know I think this winter is unusually cloudy and rainy in Portland, worse than average I said. And then our friend jeff turned around and said, 'I think this this winter is way sunnier than average', and he's lived here for seven years. So there you have it. Even during the worst of times, others are experiencing the best. A nice way to look at life I suppose. I mean it's not that bad. It could be a hell of a lot worse. I mean Fargo was worse... But wait... There was Nordic skiing in Fargo. No wait... Fargo had a 30F below wind chill, it was worse.
In any case, I'm keeping in shape, and it's quite possibly, better shape. I have not been doing many fitness tests (racing), but soon... holy crap three weeks and 2 days until I attempt the Hagg. That will be a challenge for sure, but not really a gauge of fitness because I've never done it before. It sure is a nice diversion from all the crappy weather.
If I can find a ride to the hood this Saturday I may just get revenge at the 3rd race in the series at mt hood meadows. Hopefully revenge for the spectacular crash I took in the last 50 meters of a nordic ski race. Not before a chemistry mid term tomorrow.
peace.
In any case, I'm keeping in shape, and it's quite possibly, better shape. I have not been doing many fitness tests (racing), but soon... holy crap three weeks and 2 days until I attempt the Hagg. That will be a challenge for sure, but not really a gauge of fitness because I've never done it before. It sure is a nice diversion from all the crappy weather.
If I can find a ride to the hood this Saturday I may just get revenge at the 3rd race in the series at mt hood meadows. Hopefully revenge for the spectacular crash I took in the last 50 meters of a nordic ski race. Not before a chemistry mid term tomorrow.
peace.
31 January 2008
lost
who's boat is it? (not penny's!?!?)
who is jacob?
ben is nuts.
jack is stupid.
Locke is Mad
yes we're addicted to a TV show.
season (4) premier episode tonight!!!!
28 January 2008
1. Spring? 2. Ski racing 3. Econ
Today, I went for a noon run btwn classes, and I could've swore it felt like spring out there. The clouds were breaking and sun was poking through, and we had melted off the half inch of snow from the night before. Things were looking good, at least for about an hour. It didn't take too long before heavy sleet was falling a couple hours later.
Last weekend we drove up to welches to stay overnight, and get some skiing in. They had a little 10k skate race at meadows nordic so I decided to give it a go. Why not make the first ski of the season a race? These things are not very heavily attended, but there were probably about 25 people all together. The race started out, at a pretty conservative pace, so I tried to dart off the front and get out of sight, to see exactly what I was dealing with here. Well, It was a good idea, because I got a lead, but I didn't get out of sight. I was in good form (technique wise), and not so good form (speed wise). Plan A was to ski hard and ignore my competitors about 30 yards back. Plan B was to fall back and rest, ski behind these guys, and then go for the sprint at the end. I was working hard, so I decided to stay out front. The race ended with one lap around the meadow, which would be the 3rd time through the meadow for the race. I made it to the end of the meadow where we turned around and came back to the finish and my lead was still about the same, or a little less. So I tried to punch it a little more. There was no looking back, I had the race. I was starting to experience the trill of victory, about 100 meters were left in the race. Something happened. I must have planted a pole in between my skis. I fumbled once, bounced on one foot, then bam my knees hit, and I was face first on the trail. My glasses came off my head. Should I pick them up? No you dumb ass, get up and go. But it was too late. I got passed by two old guys, and although I was still on the podium, I got a little agony of defeat. There was my wide world of sports weekend. It was awesome to be back on the snow, and it's definatly something that is worth it to make a little more time for this winter. Here's a pic of the wonderful drive home, and it was wonderful, depending at how you view winter weather.
I'm no economist, but I've read some books, and think I'm pretty reasonably educated. Today on the AM news, there was more bad news about the housing market. You'd have to assume that we would have another couple hundred point drop in the stock market, but in fact it was just the opposite. DOW was up 1.45% and S&P was up 1.76%. The screwballs on wall street think the fed will drop the rates another 1/2 point. I know I'm probably not the only one that's thought of this, but to me, this sounds like a coming mega economic disaster. How did we get into this housing 'crisis'? I might be wrong, but low borrowing rates sure didn't hurt. Why not lower rates even more, and make it even cheaper to borrow, so the whole thing starts back up again. Where do these idiots running things think this will go?
And the damn economic 'stimulous' package? How much less do the retards at the white house want the US dollar to be worth? Why not print up a few trillion dollars and give us even more money to spend. I have no solution to the mess, I guess we'll have to wait and see how things play out.
Last weekend we drove up to welches to stay overnight, and get some skiing in. They had a little 10k skate race at meadows nordic so I decided to give it a go. Why not make the first ski of the season a race? These things are not very heavily attended, but there were probably about 25 people all together. The race started out, at a pretty conservative pace, so I tried to dart off the front and get out of sight, to see exactly what I was dealing with here. Well, It was a good idea, because I got a lead, but I didn't get out of sight. I was in good form (technique wise), and not so good form (speed wise). Plan A was to ski hard and ignore my competitors about 30 yards back. Plan B was to fall back and rest, ski behind these guys, and then go for the sprint at the end. I was working hard, so I decided to stay out front. The race ended with one lap around the meadow, which would be the 3rd time through the meadow for the race. I made it to the end of the meadow where we turned around and came back to the finish and my lead was still about the same, or a little less. So I tried to punch it a little more. There was no looking back, I had the race. I was starting to experience the trill of victory, about 100 meters were left in the race. Something happened. I must have planted a pole in between my skis. I fumbled once, bounced on one foot, then bam my knees hit, and I was face first on the trail. My glasses came off my head. Should I pick them up? No you dumb ass, get up and go. But it was too late. I got passed by two old guys, and although I was still on the podium, I got a little agony of defeat. There was my wide world of sports weekend. It was awesome to be back on the snow, and it's definatly something that is worth it to make a little more time for this winter. Here's a pic of the wonderful drive home, and it was wonderful, depending at how you view winter weather.
I'm no economist, but I've read some books, and think I'm pretty reasonably educated. Today on the AM news, there was more bad news about the housing market. You'd have to assume that we would have another couple hundred point drop in the stock market, but in fact it was just the opposite. DOW was up 1.45% and S&P was up 1.76%. The screwballs on wall street think the fed will drop the rates another 1/2 point. I know I'm probably not the only one that's thought of this, but to me, this sounds like a coming mega economic disaster. How did we get into this housing 'crisis'? I might be wrong, but low borrowing rates sure didn't hurt. Why not lower rates even more, and make it even cheaper to borrow, so the whole thing starts back up again. Where do these idiots running things think this will go?
And the damn economic 'stimulous' package? How much less do the retards at the white house want the US dollar to be worth? Why not print up a few trillion dollars and give us even more money to spend. I have no solution to the mess, I guess we'll have to wait and see how things play out.
17 January 2008
Big News
The one car household is no more!!! That's right, we submitted to the pressure of the american way, and now Lgirl and I once again, each have our very own gas powered auto. We got a rally car!!! 1990 honda civic lx, with quarter million+ miles! It's not lowered but compared the the subaru, it's like a damn indy car. So far, it runs good (knock on hard wood), and the price was right. It even came with a sweet stereo and yakima rack and a seat pad that has a heater and vibrates, so who the hell could go wrong!? Bought it for less than my SAN JOSE for goodness sakes!!!
It should do the job to get me back and forth around town when conditions are not bike weather. One could argue that all weather is bike weather, especially here in Ptown, but the night classes in the winter that get done at 10pm, don't bode well to biking home.
If the motor dies in the next couple of years or so, I'm going to find an electric motor and some batteries and wire it up to be the electric car of the future. If someone wants to donate batteries and electric motor, I will expedite the EV conversion, and begin work next summer.
In other news (and the only other news besides the fact that I'm swamped in school and work)-
I'm running more these days. Maybe getting ready for this.
It should do the job to get me back and forth around town when conditions are not bike weather. One could argue that all weather is bike weather, especially here in Ptown, but the night classes in the winter that get done at 10pm, don't bode well to biking home.
If the motor dies in the next couple of years or so, I'm going to find an electric motor and some batteries and wire it up to be the electric car of the future. If someone wants to donate batteries and electric motor, I will expedite the EV conversion, and begin work next summer.
In other news (and the only other news besides the fact that I'm swamped in school and work)-
I'm running more these days. Maybe getting ready for this.
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