The Four Sins

So amazingly enough, my genetics book sold last night on amazon.com. That was my most expensive book last semester, and the cash from that sale alone will either buy me two books next semester or Chick fil A through the month of July ;)

This morning at the clinic I did a little physical examination of my own self. These are very important for everyone to do. The best way to go about it is to stand naked in front of a mirror and just look at yourself and think "Is this what I want to look like?". Needless to say that doing that while working at the clinic is a pretty rotten idea. I did take my blood pressure, weigh myself, look at my blood sugar levels, and stuff like that.

What I found was rather surprising. As a runner and a triathlete, I have always taken pride in my physical condition. For over four years now I have raced competitively and stayed in good shape. I have never eaten as healthily as I could have (more on that later), but I tend to burn it off.

So I am six feet two inches tall, 182 pounds, 19.5 years old. My blood pressure was 122/69. In all honesty, that isn't too bad. Could it be better?

Umm..most definitely. So, although you would look at me like I'm crazy for saying this, I am going to try to lose some weight. Not just "weight" mind you, but a specific kind of weight. I want to lose the extra belly fat (the kind that keeps me nice and warm in the winter...good thing it's summer!) without losing any of the muscle mass that does important things like launch my body through the air while running or propel my bike along roads and up hills.

So what are the specific goals of this diet? I'm not doing a fancy carbo-protein-weird diet, I just want to think about it a little more. There are some VERY obvious villains in my life

1- Chick Fil a

I eat here WAY too often. I made it there twice already this week, and I believe there will be a third time coming soon. This task will be nearly impossible because the spicy chicken sandwich is coming out in exactly 1.5 weeks. Eating things fried in peanut oil is certainly not good for my body, and this is a terrible habit of mine ;)

2- Those little mini chocolate donuts

I can't stop eating these things. If I see them sitting around, I will eat them for any meal, a snack, dessert, or just because they are there. I polished off a pack of them earlier today, in fact. The only way around this temptation is NOT TO BUY THEM AT ANY COST!!

3- Sweet Tea

While this is certainly not the most vile thing I could be drinking, it is the worst thing I do drink by far. Some tea is better than others. When we make tea around the house, it isn't as bad as the sugar bomb that is McDonald's sweet tea.

4- Chocolate Chip Cookies

I like these warm and gooey from the oven. I also like them frozen. I also like them a little crispy after they have been sitting out for a bit. I also like to eat these by the handful. I like the really fat cookies that are doughy, and the thin cookies that are crispier. I like eating the cookie dough raw, before it even goes in the oven. I'm basically (as in "not acidically") a cookie monster.

So this isn't so much of a "diet" as it is me trying to avoid junk food. This is going to be very difficult, because those four food groups (yes, they are food groups) compose almost 50% of my daily caloric intake.

Whew....that's enough for today. I think I need a cookie ;)

PS....not a single picture in today's post!

A Day in the Life

This is what it's doing outside again.

While I have never actually believed myself to be funny, I understand that people do occasionally laugh at me. I also sometimes unintentionally say things that make an incredible "that's what she said!" joke without realizing it, thereby creating unending humor for my friends.

But what is funny is the internet. I sit here and blog about my life. I know all of my readers (both of them) have better things to be doing than reading my blog. When I read other peoples blogs, I could probably be doing other things. But here we both are....me blogging, you reading.

Thankfully, some bloggers actually do cool things. If you follow the Fat Cyclist at all, he is getting ready to go ride in the team car at the Amgen Tour of California. He is also having a sweet fundraiser, so wander on over there.

Speaking of cycling, while preparing to ride the stationary bike for several hours tonight, I was looking for something on Hulu to watch. After meandering around the site, I discovered exactly what Hulu things about cycling:

What is this? Do people really only look up videos of people crashing their bikes on Hulu? Needless to say, I think I will pick a more "inspirational" 2-hour DVD from downstairs for tonight's ride. If you were wondering why I was riding the stationary tonight, here are three compelling reasons.
1) It's raining
2) It's dark
3) The above two reasons are occurring simultaneously.
3.5) I want to watch a movie while I ride

So there you have it. You may be wondering about what a "day in the life" is actually like. I have no idea why I made that my topic today. Of course, I could make it the topic every single day of my life and it would still apply perfectly.

So today in my life I:

1) Saw about three people go to the ER (SEVERE pneumonia, cardiac arrest, and high blood sugar (about 556 mg/dL) Yikes.

2) Drank about a liter of sweet tea from Chick Fil A. This also contributes to my bike riding desires tonight. Let's put it this way....I won't be sleeping for a while.

3) Stabbed people in the finger on purpose for 4 hours. Haha...it was just a diabetic clinic, so they are used to it. That's not some diablolical hobby of mine.

4) Enjoyed last semester's success. After checking my grades, I did indeed pull of a 4.0 GPA. That means I have a cumulative GPA of 3.95 (ironically, a B in PED100 is my only non-A) and a science GPA of 4.0, thank you very much.

SUBJECT CHANGING TO MOVIES!!!

I saw Robin Hood last night, and it was pretty great. Let me just get this out of the way right now. If you were wanting to see guys in tights living in the woods and cheerfully robbing rich evil people, prepare to be disappointed. This movie is more like "How Robin Hood came to be Robin Hood, cleverly disguised as Braveheart".

Not This:

This:


Yes, Ridley Scott directed both films. Yes, they feel very similar.

So why did I like this movie?
1) Historical Context- Tying Robin Hood into events like the Magna Carta, divine right of kings, etc was a nice twist. While obviously not historically accurate, it made the movie feel more realistic.

2) The French lose. (oh ya, spoiler alert. oops)

3) Good Action- The movie has sweet sword fights, castles being attacked, cavalry charges, awesome archers, and a great stunt team. Even better, the action scenes went along with the plot.

4) "Wow" Factor- the cinematography in this film was amazing. Battle scenes that would normally be cool became something entirely better. One shot shows the flight path of Robin's arrow from the arrow as it flies through the air then kills a guy. That is sweet (at least I thought so)

Why I Did Not Like This Movie
1) There were French people in it.

2) Royal Bipolar Disorder- King John had a major case of it. It annoyed me, but I guess since the plot needed it I can accept it.

3) The people behind me smelled really funny.

4) The tickets were nine bucks apiece. Ouch :(


Recommendation: If you like movies with action and have the slightest inkling of an imagination, go see this movie. If you liked The Last Song or were honestly considering seeing it, you probably won't enjoy Robin Hood.

Lastly, this is kind of a long shot, but I am selling some textbooks from last year. Genetics, chemistry, PLS, art history, AUTO-CAD, religion, Latin, computers, and writing books are all listed on Amazon.com, but if you mention that you saw it here I will most likely give you a huge discout. Yup :)

Adios

Summer Time

Yes, finals are over :)

Yes, I am back home for several months :)

Yes...life is so good!

It may be difficult to fully understand how much I like summer. Growing up in southern California fostered this deep deep love of sunshine and such in me, then moving to the midwest forced me to condense my enjoyment of warmth to about 4 months of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love watching the seasons change and enjoying each one as it comes, but summer will always have a special place in my heart.

It doesn't hurt that school doesn't happen during the summer, either :)



Anyways, after talking so much about summer and how I love it, today isn't looking so good. It's about 60 degrees and raining and windy. I got about 25 miles in on the bike this morning, just barely making it back to the garage before the heavens opened up and rain poured down. Since the weather has forced me inside, I figured I would take a chance to sit down and write for a bit here. I am going to talk about 2 things that may or may not be related to each other, and here they are.

1) My summer "jobs"
2) Movies


So here we go

1- This summer I will be working several "jobs". I use this term loosely because I will only be paid for one of them.

a) I will be volunteering 30 hours a week at a community clinic in town that gives healthcare to people without insurance. A majority of these people are homeless, unemployed, and needing help. This clinic is an awesome resource for people to get help, especially people who could not otherwise afford to even have their problems looked at. I will be working in the lab and doing triage, plus helping out at the front desk. I'm sure it will be quite exciting :)

b) Since I will not receive any money at all from this first "job", I am going to need to find a place that will pay me. I will most likely be going back to Cracker Barrel to serve tables, unless I can get hired at someplace like Outback Steakhouse or something. This will be a night job, and probably only about 15 hours per week.

c) Training. I basically need to ride my bike A LOT for the entire summer. I figure that with a half-Ironman triathlon coming up soon, it would behoove me (that means "to give me hooves, in case you were wondering) to get in shape as soon as I can. Looking at my training log, I haven't run for nearly two weeks at this point, so I will probably need to start doing that more often as well.

B) SUBJECT CHANGING TO MOVIES!!!
I saw two movies in these last several days. Since I don't watch movies that often (and because I am secretly a highly paid movie critic), I figured I would write a short review for these two movies (which don't go together at all)

IRONMAN 2:


I had very high expectations going into this movie. I am a huge Ironman fan, watching the first one multiple times and loving it more each time. Suffice it to say that this movie delivered. Sequels have this tendency to suck compared to the first one (ahem, Pirates of the Caribbean). Thankfully, Ironman 2 was just as good as the first one. The plot, while not complex, developed quickly enough to keep me engaged the entire time. The action scenes were sweet, Robert Downey Jr. supplied his usual amount of wisecracks, and things exploded all the time.

All in all, I highly recommend this movie:

Pros:

-Cool cars being driven really fast


Sweet action, stuff blowing up, etc etc
And War Machine makes his appearance


The Black Widow makes an appearance (kicks butt, takes names)
Cons:
I found the movie to be fairly predictable, but i really didn't mind that much.

The Last Song
I saw this movie with my girlfriend and her family last night. I can appropriately summarize this movie with this picture:


Miley Cyrus basically sneers her way through the first 75% of the movie. She is emotionally bipolar the entire time. The plot is also lacking (specifically, most of it happens in the first 30 minutes, then the last hour is very slow)

Pros:
-The guy who plays the dad is very cool, and her younger brother is the cutest kid ever.
-Somebody actually gets beat up, but it only lasts 30 seconds and no one gets excited about it.
-The movie has baby turtles in it. I think my girlfriend wants one for a pet now.


So I am out of time for today. I hope to begin posting more regularly now that school is done.

Adios

Reality Check

I'm sitting here in my dorm right now, and I am in a very strange mood. On the one hand, I am so anxious to go home and so anxious for summer to be here. On the other hand, I kind of enjoy life in college, and I am not totally sure I want to leave.

I am also icing my left knee. Even though my right knee has hurt almost all week, the left one went and protested after last night's race. So now that knee hurts in the exact same spot as the right one did on Monday. Nice.

Speaking of that race last night, I actually ended up taking second. I ran a 17:49*, so it was a respectable 5k time. I forgot how badly those hurt. In my head, I was picturing a nice easy 3 mile run (as opposed to my usual longer distances)

Anyways, I lost to a guy from St. Louis...and I am so proud of myself. See, about an hour before the race I went to my girlfriends art show, and they always have free candy. I took this opportunity to indulge in Reese's, M+Ms, Skittles, Dove chocolate, and all the other sweet goodness that I believe may be necessary for my life. I was feeling great until just a little before the race, when the buzz wore off a little and I wanted to sleep.

So sugar binge notwithstanding, I ran a pretty decent time. I just hope my knee(s) get(s) better soon so I can get back to running with a vengeance. Swimming back and forth in the pool is getting old.

Ok, you may be wondering about the title of this post (and if I am even capable of acknowledging "reality", but we'll deal with that later). What I wanted to talk about was the differences between what colleges say and what they mean. You see, everyone who comes on the little tour or looks at a college website is bombarded with images and slogans. Tour guides have buzzwords, admissions people know the right phrases, and as students we are continually subjected to these ideas.

But we know the truth. We live here. We go to class, eat the food, etc.

So here is a quick guide to what it actually means when colleges say:

1- "Diverse Academic Programs/ Wide Range of Academics/ Opportunities to Succeed/ Flexible Majors/"

While this may initially sound promising (we all want a range of classes), this usually means that they offer classes in absolutely everything, whether or not you actually need it. Astronomy? They have it. Basket weaving? Check. Racquetball? Yup...it even has a final. SCUBA diving? Of course.

2- "Public Affairs Mission"

This is all we hear at my school. What it actually means is that everything is very very very political, because that is where we get lots of our money. It also means we have to take really stupid classes to satisfy this "mission".

3- "Concerned Teachers/ Friendly Professors"

I am sure every university says this. It's true that each one has nice teachers, but you may very well never have a class with a good one. In fact, most teachers are just "normal" with a couple great ones and a couple awful ones thrown in to keep things "diverse". Personally, I think this is part of our public affairs "mission".

4- Low Tuition Rates

This could mean several things:

a) Tuition is actually kind of a good deal (unlikely)

b) Room, Board, and Student Fees are all outrageous (rather likely)

c) Low student amenities

d) Any combination thereof.

5- "Regional Student Center"

If your school tells you that many students come from close around, it also means that they have a ton of students go home every weekend. Have you ever seen Saturday night dinner in the cafeteria? Let's just say it's not really the place to be...

Anyways, the point to remember is this:

Colleges are businesses!

With some exceptions (Ivy League schools, etc), most colleges want you to come to their university. Getting in is not that difficult. They want your money. They will tell you what you want to hear.

To find out what a University is really like, ask a student.

DISCLAIMER: Not just any student, ask someone you trust. Sadly, lots of people have rotten attitudes and won't tell you the truth. My school is a pretty great place, but lots of people forget that and get caught up in "college world".

It's important every now and then to get away, go for a run, take a drive, see the rest of the world. It's important to spend time away from college and college students.

It's good to take some time for a little reality check.