Vacation is over, nooooo!

Alas, my vacation is over:( It was a great 10 days, but I guess it had to come to an end sometime. What's really great is I that I only had to take 4 vacation days to get 10 days off due to my strategic planning of using my days to encompass 2 weekends and the 2 days that we already get off for Christmas, wohoo!

First things first, I have to have surgery to repair a torn labrum in my right shoulder. I went to the doctor last Monday to discuss the MRI results from the previous week, and the result was that I have a SLAP tear (superior labrum from anterior to posterior, google it!). However, there was no rotator cuff damage and the tear was a clean one, so recovery should be good. According to the doc, I'll be swimming 6 weeks after surgery! I can get on a stationary bike immediately, and as soon as I get out of the sling (about 2 weeks) I can start running. This is great news because both of my brothers have had this surgery and their recovery times were a lot longer than this.

After a 1 month sabbatical from doing any sort of physical activity in order to rest my body, I finally started back running and biking. I rode with the Birmingham Bike Club last Saturday morning; we got in about 34 miles out in Mt. Brook and Irondale at a medium pace, with 5 mile higher intensity section thrown in there. I rode again on Monday with a friend and got in about 28 miles of hills in Hoover. On Friday, I met up with some Alabama folk- Meredith, J, and Alex- I took them on a hill fest around Hoover and out by Ross Bridge golf course, and then finished up on Smyer Road. We hammered all the hills and keep a decent pace for the rest, and I ended up with a total of around 44 miles, making almost 105 for the week. I started running again too, and was finally able to test out my new Garmin. 18.33 miles from 12/19 until today, all base runs. I'm so glad I can actually build some good base this year before the races start this year, becuase last year I was plagued with a tight IT band until mid-summer.

Hmm, anything else? Oh yea, Christmas. I got some stuff for my bike (water bottle cage, light) and a garmin gps, and that was pretty much it. I almost forgot, I did have a nice 3-day-marinated-beef tenderloin for Christmas lunch, it was awesome!

Hickory Knob Tri

This is only about 2 months late but whatever. My last race of 2008 was the Hickory Knob International Triathlon in McCormick, SC. The 2007 running of this race was my first triathlon ever, so it was fitting to end my first year of competing at a place that would really tell me how much I’ve improved over the last year.

Everything leading up to the race went very well. I was pretty rested from a 2 week taper, and I was full of energy all week; exactly how I wanted to feel. The swim was a wetsuit legal 1500 m trek. Although it was not really that cold, I opted to wear my Orca anyways. For some reason, I just wasn’t feeling it during the swim. I don’t know why, but I just wasn’t. It also felt really long, which I later found out that it was. Oh well. The run to T1 was up a brutal hill, so I was pretty winded as I headed out on the bike.

The 28 mile bike loop was also extremely brutal, filled with a bunch of steep grades near the start and some long rollers throughout the rest. I was riding a rented Zipp 606 wheelset, so I could tell it was definitely helping me out on the descents due to better aerodynamics and on the climbs due to shaving over a pound off the total weight of my bike. Overall, the bike went well and I came into T2 ready to get owned by the toughest 10k in the southeast.

The out and back run is by far the hardest 10k I’ve ever run. Right before the turnaround, there is a really steep grade that we climbed on the bike course, and the last .75 miles or so is a gradual ascent to the finish. Just in case you made it through the whole course without dying, they try and kill you off at the finish line. I was able to stick with some guys about my speed on the run, so that helped me out as far as pacing goes, and I was able to push it strong up the last hill without dying, so that was good too.

In the end, I could really tell how much I improved over the last year. My swim time was about the same as last year, which means I improved a decent amount due to the unintentional lengthening of the course this year. They added 6 miles on to the bike loop this year, and my average speed was still almost 2 mph higher than last year. For the run, I shaved off about 4 minutes over 10k from last year. I think my transitions were faster too, although I can‘t remember exactly. In the end, I was pleased with the results. Next on the agenda is to rest my legs and start building some base!

The Vision of the Left

Conservatives, as well as liberals, would undoubtedly be happier living in the kind of world envisioned by the left. Very few people have either a vested interest or an ideological preference for a world in which there are many inequalities. Even fewer would prefer a world in which vast sums of money have to be devoted to military defense, when so much benefit could be produced if those resources were directed into medical research instead.

It is hardly surprising that young people prefer the political left. The only reason for rejecting the left's vision is that the real world in which we live is very different from the world that the left perceives today or envisions for tomorrow. Most of us learn that from experience-- but experience is precisely what the young are lacking. "Experience" is often just a fancy word for the mistakes that we belatedly realized we were making, only after the realities of the world made us pay a painful price for being wrong.

Those who are insulated from that pain-- whether by being born into affluence or wealth, or shielded by the welfare state, or insulated by tenure in academia or in the federal judiciary-- can remain in a state of perpetual immaturity. Individuals can refuse to grow up, especially when surrounded in their work and in their social life by similarly situated and like-minded people. Even people born into normal lives, but who have been able through talent or luck to escape into a world of celebrity and wealth, can likewise find themselves in the enviable position of being able to choose whether to grow up or not.

Those of us who can recall what it was like to be an adolescent must know that growing up can be a painful transition from the sheltered world of childhood. No matter how much we may have wanted adult freedom, there was seldom the same enthusiasm for taking on the burdens of adult responsibilities and having to weigh painful trade-offs in a world that hemmed us in on all sides, long after we were liberated from parental restrictions.

Should we be surprised that the strongest supporters of the political left are found among the young, academics, limousine liberals with trust funds, media celebrities and federal judges? These are hardly Karl Marx's proletarians, who were supposed to bring on the revolution. The working class are in fact today among those most skeptical about the visions of the left.

Ordinary working class people did not lead the stampede to Barack Obama, even before his disdain for them slipped out in unguarded moments. The agenda of the left is fine for the world that they envision as existing today and the world they want to create tomorrow. That is a world not hemmed in on all sides by inherent constraints and the painful trade-offs that these constraints imply. Theirs is a world where there are attractive, win-win "solutions" in place of those ugly trade-offs in the world that the rest of us live in.

Theirs is a world where we can just talk to opposing nations and work things out, instead of having to pour tons of money into military equipment to keep them at bay. The left calls this "change" but in fact it is a set of notions that were tried out by the Western democracies in the 1930s-- and which led to the most catastrophic war in history. For those who bother to study history, it was precisely the opposite policies in the 1980s-- pouring tons of money into military equipment-- which brought the Cold War and its threat of nuclear annihilation to an end.

The left fought bitterly against that "arms race" which in fact lifted the burden of the Soviet threat, instead of leading to war as the elites claimed. Personally, I wish Ronald Reagan could have talked the Soviets into being nicer, instead of having to spend all that money. Only experience makes me skeptical about that "kinder and gentler" approach and the vision behind it.

-Thomas Sowell

Music City Tri

This past weekend, I headed up to Nashville, TN to race at the Music City Triathlon. I rode up there with 6 others from the Alabama Tri club, so that made the drive a little less boring. We got up there on Sunday in time to pick up packets and ride over the bike course to see what kind of terrain we'd be dealing with. It seemed fairly hilly with a few flat sections, but the one thing that I noticed is that there were a ton of turns. After riding over the course we headed back to the hotel and then met up with the Tennessee, Vandy, and Georgia teams for some dinner.

I woke up at 5 am on Sunday and downed my regular pre-race breakfast: 1 banana, 1 nature valley-yogurt bar, 1 blueberry muffin, and a pack of crackers. After loading the bikes, we made the 5 minute drive to the race course and began unloading our crap. The sky looked pretty cool when we got there....but we soon started feeling the wind from Hurricane Ike. The water was pretty rough and choppy, and after the first 6 of 13 waves had started, they canceled the swim. Once the buoys started floating away and kayaks starting flipping over, I think it was a pretty easy call. They turned it into a duathlon, with the first run being from the swim exit to T1, and then the normal 27.5 mile bike and 6 mile run. My wave consisted of all 29 and under males. I was second into transition, and first out on the bike. For the whole bike, there were 3 of us that were dueling it out. One of us would attack for a mile or 2, get reeled in, and then the next would go. At mile 22, I finally made an attack that stuck and held them off all the way to T2. It was so windy at some points that I did not even feel comfortable in my aero bars. Overall, I averaged slightly over 21.5 mph. My bike was second fastest in the age group, but I had a faster T1 so I was in the lead coming into T2. The run was a 2 x 3 mile lap with a decent hill at mile 2. As soon as I started the run, I began having trouble breathing, I think because I hammered the bike really hard. I finally caught my breath after a quarter of a mile or so and was good to go. Overall, the run was alright but I still think I can do better. I ran the first 3 in 23:50 and the last 3 in 23:17 for a total time of 47:09. It's about 2 or 3 minutes faster than my last olympic distance tri, so I guess that's good.

I finished in 3rd place overall, so I was pleased with that. The top 3 of us all had bikes within 30 seconds of each other, so obviously the race was decided by the run. I was 1:40 out of 2nd and 3:30 out of 1st, so a 43-44 min run would have put me in 1st place. I know I'm capable of running that, it's just a matter of getting some more base in and keeping my IT band uninjured. Here's me on the stand (on the left)!

To Do

Things to do this week:
1. buy a camera
2. get sized for a tux
3. rest up for the Music City Tri this weekend
4. shave my head
5. buy groceries
6. eat some healthy food
7. finish work projects by Friday without working too much over 40 hrs
8. practice transitions
9. clean my bike
10. listen to the new Hawthorne Heights cd that I just ordered!

Luggage Problems

For some reason, my transient models are running really slow at work today (hence, this post is being created).

I attended a compressor class in Houston last week, and it was pretty fun. Getting out there and back was kind of interesting. First, Continental airlines sent my suitcase with a week's worth of clothes to New Jersey. On the way back, I left my suitcase on the shuttle from the rental car return to the terminal. With only 30 minutes to check my bag before the flight, I somehow managed to track it down within 10 minutes. The business side of the trip as well as the food/leisure side was awesome, but my training got destroyed! I was only able to swim once, I got on a spinner once, and it rained every single day so my running was limited. However, I did manage to rack up a few miles on the run and then some more on the way back, so it wasn't too bad.

Moutain Lakes

Definitely my best race so far this summer. The swim went very well except for a small leak on my left side, but it didn't really bother me too much. I stood up to soon at the swim exit, but it wasn't a big deal. It took me a few miles to settle down on the bike, but once I did it was awesome. Some idiot tried to draft off me...I promptly called him a queer and told him to back off, and he followed orders...haha. The run, which is usually my weakest link, was awesome! I averaged 6:51/mi for the 3 mile run for a time of 20:31, which is like 2 minutes faster than my last sprint tri. Ridiculous.

Capitalism

A quote by a brilliant commentator:

"Capitalism is the greatest system ever created for alleviating general human misery, and yet it breeds ingratitude. People ask, 'Why is there poverty in the world?' It's a silly question. Poverty is the default human condition... The interesting question isn't 'Why is there poverty?' It's 'Why is there wealth?' Or: 'Why is there prosperity here but not there?' At the end of the day, the first answer is capitalism, rightly understood. That is to say: free markets, private property, the spirit of entrepreneurialism and the conviction that the fruits of your labors are your own... In large measure our wealth isn't the product of capitalism, it is capitalism. And yet we hate it. Leaving religion out of it, no idea has given more to humanity. The average working-class person today is richer, in real terms, than the average prince or potentate of 300 years ago. His food is better, his life longer, his health better, his menu of entertainments vastly more diverse, his toilette infinitely more civilized. And yet we constantly hear how cruel capitalism is while this collectivism or that is more loving because, unlike capitalism, collectivism is about the group, not the individual... Meanwhile, billions have ridden capitalism out of poverty. And yet the children of capitalism still whine."

-Jonah Goldberg

Heart O' Dixie

This is one week late, but better late than never. I traveled to Louisville, MS a week ago with a friend to race at the Heart O' Dixie triathlon. The race was a 0.5 mile swim, a 27.5 mile bike, and then a 7 mile run that started in Louisville and ended in Philadelphia, MS. I had heard that it was a well-ran race, so I decided to give it a try.
The swim went well because I actually got a chance to warm up in the water, which is huge for me. For some reason my arms always tighten up if I try to immediately start swimming at race pace. It was a 400 meter out-and-back following the right side of a line of buoys. On the way out there was some major congestion, as they only seeded the top 10 and started everyone else by how they signed up...which is retarded. On the way back, some idiot ran head on into me...yes, head on. My head rammed into his shoulder. I honestly don't know how I didn't hurt my neck. Overall, I averaged a 1:40/500m, which is about what I thought I would be able to do.
The bike was probably one of my top 5 best rides. It was largely a rolling hills course with a few that were slightly more than rolling. I hit a rhythm early on, as the first few miles were relatively flat. This rhythm helped out significantly when I got to the rollers; I was able to power up them and maintain my speed for the most part. I ended up with an average of 23.2 mph, which was tied for the fastest in the 20-24 age group!
I was determined to not break on the run like I did in Chattanooga. Even after hammering the bike, I still felt pretty good starting off. One thing that I've learned is that pre/during-race nutrition is super important. I think I'm close to figuring out exactly what food to eat pre-race that will give me the most energy and that will settle the easiest...and the same with during the race. It just so happened that a guy about the same exact speed as me exited T2 right in front of me, so I spend the first 3 miles drafting off of him. After 3 miles I picked up the pace a little bit and left him, and with 2 miles to go I picked it up a little bit more. My intention was to run out of gas right as I crossed the line, and I think I was pretty successful in that venture. Overall, my average pace was 7:41/mi, which is an 18 sec increase in speed from Chattanooga (even though this course was almost a mile longer!).
Overall, I finished in 2:20:34, good enough for 6th place out of 17 racers in the 20-24 age group. Whew.

Miraculously, the Rain Held Off

So far, this week has blown concerning prime cycling weather. Today was looking to be no exception. Every forecast I checked put Hoover/ Homewood at like 50%, and it even said to expect heavy rain. When I got off work, however, the skies were blue and it looked promising outside. The radar showed some crap coming towards us that I was pretty sure was going to hit us, but it still looked good outside.
As I was still pissed off from riding in the rain on Tuesday and spinning on Wednesday, I decided to chance it and go out...and it paid off! The weather was perfect and I enjoyed a 2 hour 15 minute 35 miler with absolutely no rain and blue skies. I checked the radar an hour or so after I got back...



Whatever, I'll take it. I don't know how it didn't hit, but I'm not asking questions.

Chattanooga

One week late, but better late than never. It was a pretty good race. Kendrick and I drove to his house in Guntersville on Friday night and his dad grilled out some monster steaks while his mom prepared some homemade-picked that morning-plum cobbler. We drove up to Chattanooga the next morning, got our motel, and met J on the race course and picked up packets, etc. There happened to be a cheap movie theater downtown, so that killed the rest of the afternoon.
The race started on Sunday morning at 7:30 am, so we got there at like 5:30 am or so to go through body marking, warm up, and put our bikes in transition. At about 7:10 am, a shuttle took our age group down to the swim start. Since the race was so big (1200 racers I think), they started in age reverse order, so the younger racers were at the end. About 20 minutes before our start, it started raining. Great. I hate racing in the rain. Actually, I hate cycling in the rain; it's just dangerous with some real slick race tires.
Anyways, the swim started off good. You could feel a little bit of a current, and I was trying to lengthen out my stroke in order to take advantage of it. The only downside of the swim was that there was no warm-up time, which sucks because it always takes me like 300 meters to get my arms loose. Oh well.
The bike started out crappy. I had the worst mount ever, haha. I just got some tri shoes and I had only practiced a few times, but apparently that wasn't enough. Not a big deal though, probably cost me 15 seconds or so. It had quit raining during the swim but it was still pretty wet, but nothing dangerous. However, after the turnaround on mile 14 or so, it started pouring! It continued to pour until about mile 24 or so.
Overall, the run went pretty well. I had previously been doing 7:30's off the bike for a 5k, so I was kind of hoping to hit around 8 min/mi average. I started off the first 5 miles hitting around 7:45 to 7:55's. However, with 1.2 to go, there was a nasty hill that slowed me down a little bit, which sucked. Oh well. I think I ended up with slightly under and 8 average .
My final time was 2:33 something, and I was 11th out of 31 in the 20-24 AG. This race was a special qualifying race for Age Group National Championships; the top 33% in each age group qualified...(do the math)...I barely missed out. They even round up, but 33% of 31 is 10.23, which is .27 away from rounding up to me, arrrghhh!

...

I really am enjoying this recovery week. However, I did get in a little bit of a hard effort at the Tuesday night ride that meets at the Botanical Gardens. As soon as we hit the slight incline towards the end of our trek on Highway 78 I started pushing the pace a little bit and quickly opened up a large gap on the group. After turning on Old Leeds, I still had a pretty good gap, but for some reason my bike was being gay and I was having trouble shifting into the big ring. I messed around with it for while as I slowed down substantially, and finally came to a stop and manually did it.
I sat in the line of about 5 of us all the way until the incline at the end of Old Leeds. About 1/4 of the way up, I attacked and opened up a gap. Two of the other riders bridged up to me, and when they did, I moved to the side to let them take a pull. They both refused, so I stayed up front. I pushed it a little more at the end and left them both.
A decent group headed down towards Lakeshore, and I was anxious to defend my sprint title from the past 2 weeks. With about half a mile to go, the guy on the recumbent made a move and I quickly hopped on his wheel. Because of the physics and whatever else, those recumbents can haul on the flats (they suck at hills though). I looked down and we were doing 33 right after we took off. As soon as I saw him start to fatigue, I hopped out and started my sprint and edged him by less than a bike length. Hurt like crap.

So far this week has been easy. Besides the 3 efforts on the Tuesday night ride and a moderately hard effort swim on Monday, the rest of the work has been low/recovery HR type stuff. I did buy some new shoes today. I was sick of using my cycling shoes in triathlons so I finally broke down and bought some tri shoes. I suppose I should practice some mounts/dismounts before the race on Sunday.

Busy Day

Today was my busiest day of work so far since I started in January. I barely got a chance to breathe before noon, because my boss's boss gave us a ton of stuff that he wanted done for a conference call at noon with the big boys from Houston. Seriously, who schedules a call at noon?
I did find time to schedule an eye doctor appointment, mail some stuff, run by the bike shop, go for a swim, buy groceries, and watch a little of the Tour de France.

Time to Recover

I have finished my third week of training while officially being coached. So far, I have notice a dramatic improvement in my swim, mainly due to an increase in volume and more of a structured workout. My run is improving, although my IT band is still not completely healed. I think 20 miles a week spread out is the most I can do without putting too much stress on it. My bike has also improved a good bit. Overall, I'm pretty optimistic about how the rest of the racing season is going to go. So far, I've taken 4th and 3rd in the 20-24 AG at Buster Britton and McMinnville, and I hope to continue with even better results. This weeks starts a recovery leading up to the Chattanooga Waterfront Tri next weekend. I've heard the bike is hilly, so that will definitely play to my advantage.
Anyways, here are the numbers so far:
Week 1: Swim: 9550 m Bike: 121.24 mi Run: 16.28 mi
Week 2: Swim: 8650 m Bike: 93.4 mi Run: 15.88 mi
Week 3: Swim: 11100 m Bike: 145.17 mi Run: 20.05 mi
Total: Swim: 29300 m Bike: 359.81 mi Run: 52.21 mi

Drenched

What looked like an excellent day for cycling in theory turned out to be a nightmare. I awoke at 6:50 a.m. to meet a group at the BBC for a long easy ride. We turned pedals at 8 a.m. and not 15 minutes later, the bottom dropped out. Pouring rain. So much for today's mileage.
I went home and waited for the thunder to pass so I could go make up a swim that I missed yesterday due to the Hoover Rec being closed on the 4th. The swim went well, 4K total, except for this idiot Asian man and a crap ton of kids were invading my lane. I was on my main set, 3 x 400 meters, and during the first 100 meters of my last set this dude decides to camp out in MY lane. I mean, what? I ran him over, stopped for a second, said something mean (I think) and then went on my way.
After I got home, I checked the radar to see if there was any chance I could get any more mileage in on the bike because it was actually sunny outside. There was a cell a little west of Tuscaloosa, and using my judgment (which is usually pretty good), I estimated that I had at least 2 hrs. Although I was supposed to do 3 hrs, I would settle for 2 given the circumstances. I headed out east towards Mountain Brook and Irondale, hopped on 78, and then started back in on Old Leeds Road. About halfway down Old Leeds, the sky almost immediately turned dark. Great. At this point, I just knew that I was going to get rained on again. I made it all the way back to Brookwood Mall before the bottom dropped out. It was ridiculous. I definitely got some weird looks form some cars driving around, probably saying "what is this idiot doing in the middle of a thunderstorm?" I just wanted to respond "riding my bike more in 1 day than you will in your life!" Haha.
Apparently, its supposed to rain for the next 7 days. Crap. Good thing next week is a recovery week for the upcoming tri in Chattanooga.

Happy 4th!

After another blogging sabbatical, I feel the need to start back again! Some things that have happened since the last posting
1. More projects at work
2. A few cycling races and triathlons
3. Road trip cross-country to Vegas
4. It's really hot in Alabama
5. We finally finished our study of Wild at Heart
In other news, I got on the stand in the 20-24 age group at last week's McMinville City Triathlon.

Total Alabama Triathletes domination! That's Kendrick in first, some dude who ran a 16 something 5K in second, and me in third. Next time I need to wear my Alabama stuff in order to represent though.

Health Care is Not a Right, it is a Privilege

According to our Founding Fathers, Americans are guaranteed the rights of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness...and only these. These are rights to action, not to rewards from other people. These rights require no obligation on any other person; rather, they guarantee you the chance to work for what you want. The right to life does not mean that others must feed you and nourish you. It means that you have the right to earn your food and your living, if necessary by a hard struggle, and no one can stop you or steal from you once you have earned these things.
You, as an American, should have the right to purchase health insurance as you see fit without government restrictions and you should not be under the impression that your neighbors have to buy it for you; because you know better than anybody else about you and your family's health needs. Also, we are a compassionate country. We have systems set up to help the poor and to help the elderly, charities that help, and churches, among other things.
The following is a quote that I found concerning this issue:
"In medicine, above all, the mind must be left free. Medical treatment involves countless variables and options that must be taken into account, weighed, and summed up by the doctor's mind and subconscious. Your life depends on the private, inner essence of the doctor's function: it depends on the input that enters his brain, and on the processing such input receives from him. What is being thrust now into the equation? It is not only objective medical facts any longer. Today, in one form or another, the following also has to enter that brain: 'The DRG administrator [in effect, the hospital or HMO man trying to control costs] will raise hell if I operate, but the malpractice attorney will have a field day if I don't -- and my rival down the street, who heads the local PRO [Peer Review Organization], favors a CAT scan in these cases, I can't afford to antagonize him, but the CON boys disagree and they won't authorize a CAT scanner for our hospital -- and besides the FDA prohibits the drug I should be prescribing, even though it is widely used in Europe, and the IRS might not allow the patient a tax deduction for it, anyhow, and I can't get a specialist's advice because the latest Medicare rules prohibit a consultation with this diagnosis, and maybe I shouldn't even take this patient, he's so sick -- after all, some doctors are manipulating their slate of patients, they accept only the healthiest ones, so their average costs are coming in lower than mine, and it looks bad for my staff privileges.' Would you like your case to be treated this way -- by a doctor who takes into account your objective medical needs and the contradictory, unintelligible demands of some ninety different state and Federal government agencies? If you were a doctor could you comply with all of it? Could you plan or work around or deal with the unknowable? But how could you not? Those agencies are real and they are rapidly gaining total power over you and your mind and your patients. In this kind of nightmare world, if and when it takes hold fully, thought is helpless; no one can decide by rational means what to do. A doctor either obeys the loudest authority -- or he tries to sneak by unnoticed, bootlegging some good health care occasionally or, as so many are doing now, he simply gives up and quits the field."

What Change Will Obama Bring?

What change will Obama bring to America?

1. Weaken the military: Obama pledged to make defense cuts in a time of war and to cut spending on national missile defense.
Whether you think that the war was a good or bad idea, none of that matters now. We are in Iraq...what do we do next? What will the consequences be if we decide to pull out? Will this make the U.S. more vulnerable? Since 9/11, there have been numerous thwarted attacks on our country... will there be more?

2. Pull the troops, lose the war: Obama promises to throw away gains made by troops by pulling out within 16 months. What kind of effects will this have? There will be consequences...
What will happen to the morale of the soldiers when they are brought home? Do you think they want to come home?

3. Pro gay-marriage: Obama opposes the defense of marriage act...and this is pretty sick...
Marriage is between a man and a woman...done deal. That is what the bible says.

4. Pro partial birth abortion: It is what it says.
Obama is a perfect pro-choice voter. I believe in the God given rights guaranteed by the constitution...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...mainly life.

5. Legalization of marijuana: Obama has always supported this...
Don't let his flip flops confuse you. Someone give me a good reason what this should happen? Seriously, I would like to know why? Maybe its just me...

6. Give more of our money to other countries: Obama's Global Poverty will give $845 billion more than we already give to other countries to combat global poverty (.7% of U.S. GNP!)
Do you think that the United States can end global poverty? Is this our job? Where is this money going to go, who's hands will it end up in, and where will it come from? Any amount of money in the wrong hands will do nothing for global poverty. Maybe since we are in a "recession" (market correction), we should just increase the tax rebate by .7% of GNP...

7. More spending by the government:
His programs include:
-10 year $150 billion to establish a green energy sector
-$60 billion for a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank
-$50 to $65 billion for Health care
I believe that I know how to spend my money more efficiently than the government. I believe that America knows better as a whole. I believe that empowering the citizens of this country by keeping more money in their hands and by creating incentives for them to succeed in business or whatever profession it is that they do, we can create not only a chepaer heathcare system, but one that that is more efficient and one that has a higher quality of care.

8. Amnesty for illegals: Obama wants to grant the following to illegals:
drivers licenses Medicare
Social Security Medicaid
Why should they have the rights of Americans? Should we be paying for them?

9. Opposes English as our national language: It is what is says.
Come on people...why not? This is America...speak English!

10. Pro gun control, anti-2nd Amendment: Here is the 2nd: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." I personally have never shot a gun in my life (besides a BB gun), but if the BOR says I can do it, why should the government take this right away?

11. Mandate flexible automobiles: Obama will mandate that all new vehicles will be able to run off biofuel blends by the end of his first term.
Is this possible? If it isn't, will manufacturers be fined? These fines would undoubtedly be passed down to the consumer. Who is funding the research? American tax dollars?

I'm sure there are more changes too...

Barack Hussein Obama - The most liberal Senator in the United States

What is wrong with Barack Obama. Personally, the better question for me would be what is right with Barack Obama...but now that I think about it, they are both 1 word answers: everything and nothing. But specifically, here are some things wrong with Obama...

1. the man he calls his mentor is a known communist
2. refused to hold his hand over his heart during the National Anthem
3. wants to pay $845 billion to the United Nations to help "relieve global poverty" (new taxes, anyone)
3. has a problem wearing a flag pin
5. association anti-war radicals
6. promises $850 billion in new spending
7. wants to rip upon Nafta because it has "cost 1 million jobs" (20 million new jobs have actually been created since Nafta passed)
8. accomplishments, anyone?

They can't get anything right...

So, The New York Times approval rating has fallen to a dismal 24%, haha! Thats even lower that George Bush's current 34%. And what's even funnier, the current congress approval rating is 22%. I can't wait until Barack Obama has to starting talking policy over platitudes...

Concatenate!

The other day, I made it my goal to use the CONCATENATE function in Excel at work for something meaningful...and today I did! I was running a bunch of queries in Access, and for the criteria for the queries I had to input anywhere between 20 and 70 six digit meter station numbers...about 7 different times. I had already ran a query to get these numbers and imported it into Excel, and then I used the concatenate function to put all of the desired meter numbers in a text string with an "OR" statement in between each one. It was awesome. Also, I have listed below another interesting formula that I used the other day in Excel.

=IF(ISERR(SEARCH("check",B2))=TRUE,"","YES")

I can't even remember what I used it for, but I remember thinking that it looked kind of crazy so I e-mailed it to myself, haha.
In other news, I think I aggravated my IT band so I don't think that I will be running for awhile.

The Battle is On

Chad vs. Winflow Natural Gas Pipeline Simulation Software
Monday: L
Tuesday: Draw
Wednesday: W
Thursday: W
Friday: L

Chad vs. The Nameplate on My Cubicle
January 14th - February 21st: L
February 22nd: W

I Like Chocolate Milk

Today's accomplishments:

1. 2000 meter swim, 5K run, 41 minutes on the trainer on the new bike
2. significant progress in modeling natural gas pipelines
3. continued to stay up to date on my Rush Limbaugh podcast
4. wished MiMi happy birthday
5. bought groceries (I was craving chocolate milk, so I bought a few cartons)

Today...

I have a new bike now. No, I'm not selling my other one.
Wendy's fries are dominant
I own shortcut keys.
The Office and 30 Rock are very good shows.
My alarm goes off in 6 hours.
I'm currently addicted to The Academy Is...

New Bike

I'm buying a TT bike, wohoo! I figured I needed to go ahead and get one so I can get used to riding in the aero bars before the triathlon season starts. Here it is:


I'm going to pick it up on Monday afternoon when I get off work. I think I may get a trainer too.

Things to Do

In the next 4 days...

1. get some sleep
2. shop for a new time trial bike
3. buy a new bike and a trainer
4. ride my new bike, on road and on new trainer
5. sweat
6. get paid
7. play with natural gas pipelines
8. use the CONCATENATE function in Excel for something meaningful
9. listen to another painful Obama speech
10. continue to realize that the United States is so desperately in need of conservatism

Top 10 reasons to oppose John McCain...

In no particular order...

1. Campaign finance reform
2. Immigration
3. Tax cuts
4. Gay marriage
5. Stem cell research
6. Global warming
7. Gang of 14
8. Kerry and the vice presidential thing
9. Works with democrats
10. Belligerence

Pretty funny.....

Frank Luntz to Democratic Focus Group: "Raise your hand if you think there is a difference between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton."

Focus Group: [no one raises hand]

Frank Luntz: "Wow! Now, can someone tell me one accomplishment of Barack Obama?"

Focus Group: [various responses]
"He's a senator."
"He has voted in the senate before."
"He's an African American senator."

Haha!

Mercedes Marathon

Team Williamson earned a 6th place out of 84 teams today in the Mixed Open division of the Mercedes Marathon Relay. Here's how it went down:
Eric-10K
Lisa- 5K
Keith- 10K
Alicia- 5K
Chad- 12K
Our total time for the 26.2 miles was 3:37:15, an average of 8:18 per mile. I'm very sore right now.

A sign that you are having a good day...

Last summer, I was preparing for my final semester at Alabama, and I realized that I was a little low on monetary funds. I decided to apply for a scholarship with the Society of Maintenance and Reliability to see if I could solve the problem. They were giving out several scholarships, so I figured I'd try it out. I turned in my application, and as the days went by after the deadline, I never heard anything from t hem.

So, fast forward approximately 6 months later...today...my Mom gave me an envelope labeled SMRP (Society of Maintenance and Reliability). I was very curious as to its contents, so I opened the envelope and to my surprise, a $1000 check was inside. Haha. Wow.

I think I'm going to buy a time trial bike. Soon.

Who is Obama?

Over the past week, I have realized that a boat load of people are major supporters of Barack Obama. Obviously, I am not, because he is a liberal, but I have been keeping up with politics and I honestly have not heard too much substance behind any of his speeches.

I would like to challenge any Obama-supporter to tell me exactly what it is that Barack Obama stands for, policy wise. What are his positions on the major and important issues that concern Americans, and what will he do for the country?

When doing this, do not use the words "hope" or "change," for they do not say anything concerning how he will run this country as President, if he somehow wins.

Erg Sprints

Final stats at the 2008 Tennessee Indoor Rowing Championships:

Collegiate Lightweight Men 2000 meters: 6:51.7, 3rd place
Collegiate Lightweight Men 500 meter dash: 1:29.7, 3rd place

Overall, I was happy with the way my collegiate rowing career ended. I logged about 450,000 meters in the 15 weeks leading up to the event, but it was actually only about 12 weeks because I missed one week for my hurt shoulder, one week for the ski trip, and one week for this really insane week last semester where I had like 4 tests and a project. About 40 miles running and 200 miles on the bike were logged as well.

Anyways...I think a 2K in the low 6:50's is about as fast as I can get while rowing only once a day...unless I had another month or two to train.

There were some other guys and girls from UA that did well too, so congrats to them.

Stuff

1. I started work on Monday, and its pretty sweet so far. They've got me jacking around with the pipeline simulation software, and it is extremely interesting. Props to Dan Fonseca for giving me the background needed for this line of work.

2. Currently, I am in an erging zone.

3. Next Monday is a holiday. Yay.

4. Funny and quite true quote by Rush Limbaugh:
"I know all I need to know about Barack Obama. Barack Obama would wreck the country. He's a liberal."

Why?

Can someone please tell me why Mike Huckabee should be selected to represent the conservative values of the GOP?

For Heather...

Happy 2008, especially to all my friends who are back at school...I am not jealous of your long and tiresome days of grinding out some engineering design project that the hosting company will never implement or some ridiculous paper for your hand-wringing far left liberal professor who thinks that the world will end in no more than 20 years due to a massive rise in sea levels.

I have been inspired by Ms. Heather Wiginton to concoct this post, as she has implicitly reminded me that part of my newly found and temporary free time should be allocated to the continuation of this blog.

I like lists.

Things that I have done since graduation:
1. Dominated almost every black diamond at Steamboat Springs
2. Moved into a condo
3. Visited the fine city of Houston
4. Ate at my first Brazilian Steakhouse
5. Downed a Breckenridge Avalanche
6. Budgeted my future funds
7. Became an official car owner
8. Survived a windy descent into Birmingham
9. Returned from my church league basketball sabbatical
10. Got 3 good night's sleep on a hard floor

Things to do in the next week or so:
1. Visit some good friends and some very good friends
2. Smoke a victory cigar
3. Successfully complete my first day of work
4. Buy some laundry detergent
5. Continue training
6. Eat some leftover steak
7. Use the George Foreman
8. Catch up on my Rush
9. Watch Fred win South Carolina
10. Listen to the newest Angels and Airwaves cd