chad.williamson

Grindin'

2012-01-29T15:58:00.000-06:00

Jan 23 - Jan 29

S: 15,350 yds - 3hr 43min
B: 118.37 mi - 7hr 1min
R: 43.90 mi - 5hr 40min
Total: 16hr 24min

Whew. Slight increases in swim/run volume with an increase in intensity across the board. I'm finally getting into a routine here, which as anyone knows is key to getting quality work done. After not getting a lot of sleep lately, I felt as if I was digging myself a hole that I couldn't get out of, but after finally getting 8 hours of sleep the last 3 nights, I finally feel like I'm myself again. Running is feeling good...hopefully I can produce a decent time at Mercedes Half Marathon in 2 weeks. I haven't ran 13.1 miles in...errr...since this time last year...so hopefully I can handle it!

Jan 16 - Jan 22

2012-01-22T20:39:00.000-06:00

S: 15,200 yds - 3h 50min
B: 117.31 mi - 7h 2min
R: 41.06 mi - 5h 15min
Total: 16h 7min

Another week, another solid set of deposits into the bank. All 3 are going good, especially running. It really is amazing what the human body can adapt to on the fly and what you can handle as a base training load. It is also worth noting that necessary to adaptation is getting enough sleep to allow ample recovery time. So, due to LIFE getting in the way, I'm a bit more tired than I should be after this week; but that's ok, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Why?

2012-01-18T13:43:00.000-06:00

It’s the question that I have been asked a zillion times. Why do you train so much? Why do you wake up early so often? Are you crazy? Is that really fun? Why do you put yourself through that? Honestly, I’ve always had an answer to these questions, but after thinking about it some over the winter I realized that there are more reasons than I originally thought!

Why do you play the game? At least for me, the primary reason is competition, or to win. Whether it was playing church league basketball or little league baseball growing up, flag football or rowing in college, or road races and triathlons post college, the goal for me is and always has been to win. That is what I want to do. It is fun. Another thought is this: as much as it sucks to lose, if I know (emphasis on "know") I pushed myself to the limit and still lost, then I’m OK with that. Some people aren't. That doesn’t mean that I am happy by any means, but at some point you have to get over it and move on to the next task, using anything you can as a source of motivation. Over the years, I have came to realize that competition is necessary for me to do what I do and train how I train, but it is not sufficient. In other words, if you took the competition out of triathlon or any other endurance sport, it would have no interest to me. But having the competition is not enough in itself; if it quits being fun, then I would lose interest as well.

You may not think so, but the daily grind of training really is fun. It's really a lifestyle, not just a chore-list of workouts you have to do each day. I mean, no one likes chores, right? Now, this may be hard to understand, but it really is true. Why else would we do it? Why do 30 people show up on MWF at 5:10 am to swim with the Birmingham Swim League master's group? It's not because we have to...it's because we want to. It really is hard to describe the exhilarating feeling that you get on a bicycle while bombing down a hill going 50 mph. Or spontaneously slamming the pedals and taking off up that same hill and having an ad hoc race against your best friend. While you are bitter enemies during those few minutes, you get to the top and laugh between gasping breaths about how much fun it was. Or that rush you get in a race when, for a short period of time, you are running as hard as you can and there is no pain. Or the sense of accomplishment you get after completing an epic training ride or run or race or season. There is just something to be said about logging hours; just you and the open road, giving you time to think, ponder, listen to good music, sweat, and just get work done. It makes you feel alive.

Nothing really compares to the scenery that you encounter over the years on your bike or in your runners...like biking up a challenging mountain and then treating yourself to the amazing view at the top, or running some dirt road in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees, birds, and the occasional squirrel or deer. Or climbing up Smyer Road and riding across the bluff of Shades Mountain RIGHT at sunset…anyone that has lived in Birmingham for awhile knows how awesome this is! Romans 1:20 says, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” For me, it’s clear to look at all that I see and come to the conclusion that He made it all, that no one else could have done it except for Him. It’s almost like my own little worship session; being in awe of creation.

For obvious reasons, doing exercise is good for you…as opposed to sitting on the couch and eating potato chips all day. Now, we won’t get into the fact that you might twist your ankle while running, hurt your shoulder swimming, or wreck your bike…but those are inherent risks that are assumed and that are all around us anyways. Also, the social side of endurance sports is there just like anything else…you get to meet people, hang out, fellowship, do life…it’s like what anyone else does with their friends…it’s fun.

Now the old saying goes, “limits are made to be broken.” What is less boring: to be challenged and put out of your comfort zone, or to easily repeat the same task over and over again? This question could have many different mediums, whether it be school, work, sport, or life in general. Why do people challenge themselves? Why do people set New Year’s resolutions every year? Is it to challenge themselves to be a better person? Is it because testing and challenging one’s self is ingrained in the human nature? Do YOU know what you are capable of? Do you want to know? I still don't know what I'm capable of in the future, but I do know that what I'm capable of now dwarfs what I thought I was capable of 4 years ago. The only way to find out is to go for it. In triathlon, the athlete is very familiar with the words “test” and “challenge”. To race at the highest level, not only is the day to day routine challenging, but putting together an entire season is even more demanding. If it’s so demanding, then why do it? As with any trade-off analysis, the reason why anything is done is because the pros outweigh the cons, the good outweighs the bad. It’s hard to describe the feeling you get after winning a race. It’s also hard to describe the feeling you get after just barely finishing a race that you thought there was NO WAY you were going to be able to finish, but somehow, miraculously, you went blatantly beyond any “limit” that you thought you had. It’s a sense of accomplishment and a sense of knowing what you can actually do, because you actually did it.

So, in the end, it’s a number of reasons that lead me to do what I do, and I'm sure I left some out. These reasons are all related or intertwined in some way, and they each have their place. If it doesn’t make sense, then don’t worry about it.

0 12

2012-01-16T00:31:00.001-06:00

2012 brings a new year and a new approach to my triathlon adventure Pops always said, "you play how you practice", and it's no mystery on what it is that I need to do; become a fish, become a Kenyan, and keep on bikin'. 3 weeks in and some holidays and pretty good weather opened the door for some big hours compared to what I'm used to. I've never really touched much more than 30-35 miles/week running (or 17 hr weeks for that matter), and I've been a bit surprised at how I've handled it because I was definitely a little doubtful at first. I think the key here is using frequency to get in big hours without letting any one particular workout trash you for the next day or two, with the exception of yesterday's Birmingham Bike League 4 hour death march...I couldn't move for the next 4 hours! In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best thing to do because it pretty much trashed the rest of the day, but it was totally worth it! For me, having fun is and always will be a corequisite of racing. Sometimes it's worth pushing back that run until sunset!

Dec 26 - Jan 1
S: 10,800 yds - 2h 46min
B: 154.95 mi - 10h 1min
R: 33.52 mi - 4h 29 min
Total: 17h 16min

Jan 2 - Jan 8
S: 14,050 yds - 3h 23min
B: 152.22 mi - 9h 11min
R: 38.15 mi - 5h 0min
Total: 17h 34min

Jan 9 - Jan 15
S: 14,650 yds - 3h 41min
B: 152.22 mi - 8h 32min
R: 40.25 mi - 5h 10min
Total: 17h 24min

Best of the U.S. Amateur Championship Race Report

2011-09-12T22:13:00.000-05:00

This really is a good way to analyze learn from a race...re-hash it play by play...

Beach! I kind of decided to replace Age Group Nationals with Best of the U.S. after winning Buster this year because 1. I don't feel like traveling to Vermont and 2. beach trip, duh!! So with this reasoning in mind, I've been getting ready to race at the Best of the U.S. Amateur Triathlete Competition since around mid June. This race is farmed out each year to an existing race around the country, and this year it just so happened to be held at Team Magic's Alabama Coastal Triathlon in Gulf Shores, AL, which I have never raced before but have heard excellent things about. Race participants for BOUS were low this year (short course and 70.3 Worlds on the same weekend); there were only 15 males that were entered in to the race. Here's how it unfolded...

Pre-race
"get going"
Arise at 4:30am and...COFFEE! Seriously though, it's a legal performance enhancing drug. Starbucks Costa Rica grind, yes please. After a cup of the good stuff, a banana, and a bagel w/peanut butter and honey, I'm good to go. I conveniently stayed at a condo 0.5 miles away from the race site, so fellow BOUS competitor Colin Riley and I pumped up the tires and headed over to the race at around 5:45am. After racking my bike and organizing the transition area, I headed out for a warm-up run. Goals for the run include 1. get the legs moving 2. get the HR up a little bit 3. open up the hips/get loose and 4. get the feeling of leg speed. So, I ran a couple minutes easy, did some butt kicks/high knees/etc to get loose, jogged some more, then did a couple of 10s strides to get the HR up a little and then a little cool down...all in all around 10 minutes and I was feeling goooood.

Swim: 22:39
"time to become a fish this winter"
It is what it is. The 15 of us lined up about 50 feet from the ocean's edge, and at "go" we were off. The fishes quickly separated themselves from everyone after the first 150m or so. For the rest of the swim I was all alone, although I could see 2 guys up ahead of me by maybe 10 seconds or so. From there I just tried to focus on going hard, knowing that I'd need every second I could get. The only eventful thing that happened was a jellyfish sting with about 100m to go..what tha!!! I took a stroke with my right arm and STING! It didn't hurt to bad, more annoying than anything. I could see 2 guys running up the beach as I exited the water. I came out in 12th out of 15.

Bike: 58:06
"it's all about the watts"
Plan for the bike: 1. CONSTANT wattage 2. be aggressive but SMART 3. reap rewards and go fast
Well, I admittedly did not follow Coach K's plan. I've raced most Oly distance races this year around 260 watts...although most of these races were 90+ degrees and on tired legs. With temperatures in the low 70's and a full taper leading up to the race, I knew I wanted to/needed to be a little more aggressive on the bike. Of course you always have to balance the run, but you never want to leave anything on the table. K and I decided to try and nail it at 270-275 watts as a "rough" estimate of what to shoot for. That should usually give me right under 60 min. Off on the bike and I tried to settle in quick. After 10 minutes I was around 282 watts. It felt great. Definitely a good buffer under threshold. I seemed to be wanting to naturally settle in at around 280, so that is what I did. I normally don't concern myself with HR too much, but I usually have it on just because it is interesting to look at after the fact, but it can also be helpful sometimes...like, if I'm feeling "good" but my HR is in the 180's then maybe I really am cooking myself. But I quickly glanced at it and was steady around 170 bpm. Usually, something around 180 bpm +/- a little is when I seem to tip over to anaerobic. So...the rest of the bike was clockwork. Nail a wattage, let the winds take you where they will, and see what happens. I was 12th out of the water and passed 6 guys on the bike, so I came into T2 sitting 6th and feeling gooood.

Run: 39:19
"finally"
So this was kind of big...I've never actually run a 10k under 40 minutes. Of course I haven't run an open 10k in quite some time either, but this year I have usually ended up around 41-42' in the Olympic distance. Coming out of T2, all I was focused on was keeping my leg turnover high. Do that, and the speed will come. The first mile was kind of painful. I was trying to get in a rhythm, but it just wasn't working out to well. 6:39. Then it clicked. Miles 2-4 were 6:23 - 6:23 - 6:24. Fellow Alabamian Travis Grappo passed me slightly before mile 4. I eventually bridged up to him and tried to turn it up the last 2 miles. We ran stride for stride for the next ~2 miles, 6:18 and 6:11. With a little less than 0.5 miles to go, Grappo bolted. There was not a chance that I could go with him. I picked it up to 5:45ish pace but that was about all I had. All in all, it was a good effort.

Total: 2:02:13
9th out of 15
As much as it hurt, I had fun ALL DAY! Racing head to head with a mass start is just where it's at. TT starts leave something to be desired, like, "I really wanna know if I'm beating this guy right now or winning this race or barely losing this race." I was able to meet a couple of the guys too, and everyone was really cool, and of course, fast. Overall, it was a perfect way to end the season. Nothing left on the table. And most importantly, I know what I need to do to really start competing next year. All in all, this season has been full of highs and lows, good races and some mediocre races, and I've learned a lot. I've kind of decided that if I don't want to quit the sport at least 3 times during the summer, then I'm not training hard enough. Sometimes people ask me why I do it...the obvious answer is that I genuinely love the sports, but sometimes I even pose the question to myself of why I do the daily grind. It's days like today that answer the question; it's not just about going out and doing a race, but actually RACING it. Whether that makes sense or not doesn't really matter, because it makes perfect sense to me.

BACK

2009-04-05T22:05:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm offically back from my super-annoying shoulder injury. Last week consisted of a 5K time trial to establish some heart rate zones for this season, my first bike ride back on the road since late December, and my first stroke taken in a pool since sometime in November. Let me just say...it's good to be back!

With hopes of a dominant triathlon season this year, I was determined to make the best of my bum shoulder. I don't know if I will ever ride my trainer again, but I was able to log about 50-55 hours of base riding split between the trainer and stationary bike since my surgery. On the running side, I was able to get in about 12-13 hours up until now...I wasn't allowed to run until mid-February, and not long after that I started having foot problems...but it's all good now. As of now, I'm officially cleared by my surgeon to do anything I want, so hopefully my injuries will be done plaguing me.

My 5K TT on the track this past Tuesday went pretty good. I had done absolutely no speed work (and nothing above a 140 HR for that matter) in all of 2009, so I wasn't expecting too much. My goal was a 22:30, and I managed to run a 21:52, which I was happy with. On Thursday, I got on the Lemond for the first time since December and it was awesome! I met up with Paul at the SNG building and we climbed Smyer, rolled down Shades Crest Rd, descended Columbiana Rd (in which I raced a truck and hit 48 mph), climbed back up Columbiana and Berry Roads, headed towards Mr. P's, and then rolled back home. The weather was phenomanal and it felt great to get back outside and put those climbing legs to use! On Saturday, I ran in my church's annual High Country 5K, and it too went pretty good. I ended up running a 21:59, good enough for 3rd in my age goup. Again, I think I'm at a good starting point for the season, especially with no speed work or super big volume under my belt, so I'm very optimistic about improving my run alot this year. Later that afternoon, I met up with my parents and a few guys from church for a leisurely bike ride. Starting in Bluff Park, we rolled over towards Homewood and Mt. Brook and descended Columiana (hit 50 mph this time), hit the green way and Lakeshore towards Mt. Brook Village, and eventually made it to the BBC before heading back to climb Smyer and go home. It was a good solid 36 mile ride with a little over 4,000 ft of climibng, felt great!

Last week was fun, but I'm really looking forward to this week. I've been riding my road bike, but this week I'm going to get back on the brand-new-only-ridden-3-times-Cervelo P2C! I wanted to get a few rides in to let my shoulder get used to riding on the road again before I tried to get in the aero bars. Coming up this week, I've got some TT's on the bike to establish some heart rate zones for the season, as well as a bunch of other Z2 bikes and runs. I'm also going to be getting in the pool 3 X a week and progressing with my stroke. My shoulder is fine, it's just going to take some time to get my strength back. Anyways, this year is starting to look good! First race is in 2 weeks; the Magic City Duathlon in downtown, Birmingham...it's a 5K run, 12 mi bike, 1 mi run...what a hammerfest!

The Story of the SLAP Tear in my Right Shoulder

2009-03-16T17:47:00.006-05:00

SLAP stands for superior labrum anterior to posterior, which basically indicates the way in which the labrum tore.

The Cause
In January of 2008, I suffered an injury to my shoulder while playing in a church league basketball game. Shades Crest B team (my team) was up on Shades Crest A team by about 20 points. With 20 seconds left until halftime, I decided to pick up the point guard at half court and play some crazy defense for the last reamining seconds with hopes of getting a quick steal and a lay-up. In hindsight, this play-all-out-until-the-end-no-matter-what mindset would be my downfall, but hey, it was worth it. I slapped the ball away from the point guard and quickly raced to try and recover it. After diving for the ball with my right arm outstretched, a player on the opposing team also dove for the ball and landed on my right shoulder blade. You can picture how this ended up. At first, I thought it was a serious injury, but after a week of icing the pain had subsided. Nearly 10 months later, after my last triathlon of the year (and after swimming 10k a week for practically the whole summer/fall) I started lifting some weights and doing some push-ups and pull-ups. After starting this weight lifting routine, I felt as if I had aggravated my shoulder a little bit, but I couldn't really tell. It didn't really hurt; it just felt like something was not right.

The Verification
Around the start of December of 2008, my shoulder still felt jacked up so I decided to get it checked out. After getting checked out by a local and highly recommended sports medicine doctor, Dr. Kim Fagan, she determined that I most likely had torn my labrum. The labrum is a piece of cartilage that basically holds your shoulder in place. Since my shoulder was still in socket, I figured it couldn't be torn that bad, so at least I had that going for me. The only way to verify the tear it is to get an MRI, so that is what I did next. It's a pretty interesting process. They inject a dye into your shoulder cavity that shows up as a bright color on the MRI so that any tear can easily be seen. My next visit with Dr. Fagan was pretty quick: she came in, told me it was torn, I told her to schedule surgery asap, she said ok, and then I was gone. Hah. The next week I went to see Dr. Lyle Cain of The Andrews Group at St. Vincent's Hospital to get him to check me out. He verified that the labrum was indeed torn, and I scheduled a surgery for that Friday.

The Surgery
My surgery was on a Friday morning at 7:00 am. I had to get there at 5:30 am, so my parents showed up at my house at 4:30 am in order to drive me to St. Vincent's hospital. At about 6:15 am, they took me back to one of the pre-op rooms. After asking me 30 times what shoulder my surgery was supposed to be on (I thought about telling them the left one and then saying "haha just kidding" but I don't think they would have found that amusing), they stuck an IV in my left wrist and went over some basic procedural information. Next thing I knew, I was being wheeled down to the OR. Once in the OR, they hooked me up to some sort of IV and started to put the mask over my face to deliver the anesthesia. The anesthesiologist wasn't doing a very good job of holding the mask secure to my face, so when someone said "why isn't he falling asleep," I started laughing. Next thing I knew, another doctor started applying a little more pressure to the mask, and after a few deep breaths I was gone. When I woke up, I was in a recovery room.

The Rehab
The rehab for this surgery blows. That's about all there is to it. For the first 4 weeks, I had to wear a sling with an immobilizer pad. For the first 2 of those weeks, I couldn't even actively bend my arm. Of course, with my luck, the surgery was on my right shoulder. I considered myself to be fairlly decent with my left hand, but there are some things that are just flat out difficult to do with the opposite hand. Brushing teeth, for example, is one of those tasks that becomes extremely frustrating because most people (including myself) lack the fine muscle control required to brush with their opposite hand. I wasn't supposed to drive for the first 10 days, but I did anyways because work is 5 or 6 miles away and I'm not going to walk there. Taking a shower with your non-dominant arm only is pretty interesitng, as is pouring from a completely full gallon of milk, using a mouse and typing on the computer, and getting dressed. Another annoying thing is that you have to wear button down shirts for the first few weeks because the injured arm can hardly move. Besides the multide of tasks that were made extremely difficult and time consuming, daily rehab is required in order to get back to 100% strength and mobility. It's been about 3 months so far, and the rehab has probalby averaged about 30 to 45 min a day the entire time. The first 4 weeks consisted of exercises working mainly on flexibility, and now I'm working mainly on strength. At the 3 month mark, I'll be able to start doing some light swimming in the pool, as well as biking on the road. I've been knocking out a bunch of hours on the trainer indoors, but it is getting REALLY boring! In conclusion, I would not recommend tearing the labrum to anybody, especially if you enjoy swimming, biking, or running.

25 things

2009-02-02T21:45:00.009-06:00

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

1. I'm a triplet. We are not identical. Yes, that is possible. Our names are in alphabetical order according to birth.

2. I used to be scared of the dark and thunderstorms.

3. When I was younger, I had a habit of biting my fingernails; now, I have a habit of not clipping them.

4. I tried out for the school basketball team in 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade and NEVER made it.

5. Throughout my lifetime, I've been to 12 Major League Baseball Parks; Braves, Rangers, Rockies, Royals, Cubs, White Sox, Reds, Tigers, Indians, Orioles, Yankees, and Astros.

6. I can put down more food that you can possibly imagine in a very short amount of time. I get made fun of at work and by my friends for this talent.

7. I have 3 bikes whose cumulative monetary value is greater than that of my car.

8. I love to compete at any sport. In college it was rowing and now it is triathlon and cycling. I'll race my first half ironman in September 2009 (Augusta 70.3) and my first full Ironman will be in 2010, probably Ironman Florida!

9. I am saved by grace through faith, not because of my works.

10. I've seen every single John Wayne movie; my favorite is Rio Bravo.

11. When I was little, me and my bros had this ballin' 3 man stroller that we rode around in.

12. I'll be entering the market for a house sometime soon.

13. I believe in personal responsibility, hard work, earning everything, and striving to be great as a means of success. I think a lot of people don't realize how much harder other people work in order to succeed. Anyways, don't be a pansy and suck it up!

14. I have gotten into politics in the last few years; I love debating liberals on anything from "global warming" and economic policy to affirmative action and other social issues.

15. I drive a manual transmission. It helps pass the time on long drives, and I think it's kind of cool because a lot of people can't do it. No, I will not teach you how to drive in my car because you will tear up my clutch.

16. I enjoy reading...just no fiction. If it isn't true, why bother? Value-added stuff only!

17. I love music. I do not listen to rap or country or anything like that. I like almost all classic rock (Aerosmith, Journey, Foreigner, etc) and a lot of punk and hard rock (Taking Back Sunday, The Used, Underoath, Just Surrender, Hawthorne Heights, etc). Apparently, my taste in music is bad though because I recently got made fun of for wearing a Linkin Park shirt.

18. My job is exactly what I want to do with my engineering degree: lots of data pulling, intense analysis, and computer simulation in order to produce an optimal solution for a given problem.

19. I have only made 1 C in my life since they started assigning letter grades back in the day. It was in Calculus 1 my freshman year in college. I got so mad that I never even came close to a C for the next 4 years.

20. I use the same user name and password for pretty much everything, unless there's some stupid unreasonably high minimum character rule for the password. Dang, I hope no one ever guesses it because they could probably ruin my life, haha.

21. I've been in a car a lot during my life. Long drives include to Philadelphia 3 times, to Boston 3 times, to Colorado once, and to Las Vegas once, to name a few. For one of those Boston trips we made the whole drive without rest (24 hrs straight).

22. I just had surgery to repair a torn labrum in my right shoulder. If you don't know what the labrum is, then google it. My two brothers and I have all had this surgery in the past 4 years. I've been asked a million times if it's a genetic defect, so don't ask.

22. I want to be as active 40 years from now than I am right now. I hope to someday win the 80-84 age group in a triathlon.

23. I would, without a doubt, stimulate the economy if my income tax rate or the capital gains tax rate was cut.

24. I always set my alarm clock on an odd time (4:57 am, 6:37 am, etc).

25. I can't stand people that are not punctual. 10 minutes early is on time and on time is LATE!

Unity?

2009-01-20T18:33:00.006-06:00

Said best by a friend...

I'm stunned at the number of people who don’t know about the steps leading up to American independence and the convention in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was written, primarily by Thomas Jefferson; where it was argued over, and hammered out. What happened in that room, for all of those months, was a miracle. It was a miracle that it happened. Now, the reason I'm harping on this is because Norah O'Donnell is echoing one of the things that's part of the Obama campaign and is really something that the Democrats have been trying to bamboozle everybody with, and that is you can't solve problems unless you "unify."

Can I give you just a couple of examples of this? I know unification sounds great, and can't we all get along and have the same objectives. We do have the same objectives, most of us do. It's how you get there that we argue about, and those arguments are substantive because we all want prosperity. What is best way to do it: to earn it ourselves, or have the government hand it out to people? You won't have prosperity if the government is in charge of handing it out to people, but that's what liberals want. How can you achieve prosperity and independence and education when liberals who want to run the government, have contempt for the average person's ability to accomplish anything? So they want to be the ones to provide all these things for people, whereas we conservatives think it's much better if people provide these things for themselves for a whole host of reasons, not to mention their own psyche and their own self-esteem, since liberals are concerned about that. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan. Reagan had no Republicans to speak of in the House of Representatives. What was it, 130? I'll have to look this up; I keep guessing, but it was an insignificant number.

There was no way the Republicans were ever, ever going to be a majority in anything. I mean, they didn't have even half the number of seats in the House the Democrats had. Yet Reagan succeeded in reducing the top marginal tax rate from 90% to 28% over eight years. Now, do you think he did this unifying with the Democrats? Do you think he did this by virtue of unity with the Democrats in Congress? No! That is not how it happened. The Democrats didn't change their mind and all of a sudden think tax cuts were good, because if they had, we wouldn't be arguing about more tax cuts and we wouldn't be listening to Democrats continuing to talk about more tax increases. So they didn't change their mind about anything back in the eighties. They were just beaten, and the question is: how were they beaten? Well, they were beaten by virtue of the fact that Reagan won 49 states on the specific issue of tax cuts, rebuilding the military, and wiping out communism in the Soviet Union. He had the American people behind him, and the American people in this country get what they want.

Now, you might want to say that Reagan united the people, but he did it on the basis of policy. He did it on the basis of his personality. He did it on the basis of his patriotism. He changed people's minds, but he didn't change the minds of Democrats in Congress. They had no choice. They had to go along, and not on everything did they. You remember the Iran-Contra situation and the Boland amendment and everything they could do in the second term to undermine Ronald Reagan. They hated those tax cuts being passed, and they did everything they could to do to undermine him after that. Yet they got it done. It wasn't with "unity." It was by perseverance, the idea triumphing in the minds of as many people as possible, leading a movement, teaching and explaining. Leadership. It's what's absent today in both sides of this in the presidential race. We have no leadership from Hillary. Obama's not a leader. McCain's not a leader. These are politicians seeking a promotion, pure and simple. We don't have leadership. And that's why everybody's filled with angst. It's just sad, but it's the way it is. So we get all this talk about unity, and we can't get anything done without unity, and who is it that's saying this? Liberal Democrats.

Well, I'm sure they would love to us to unify with them, by giving up what we believe, by compromising on our principles. Sure! They love that kind of unity! John Adams. When things started out in 1770, the British were running this country, and there were a lot of people living in the 13 colonies who were all Englishmen. They had all emigrated; they were all Brits. It's why Margaret Thatcher loves them. I heard Margaret Thatcher one night at dinner speak so glowingly and so eloquently of our Founding Fathers. She loved 'em. She thought they were some of the most brilliant, marvelous individuals that have ever walked the earth. I thought, "No wonder she thinks that, they were Brits," and they were, and not all of them wanted independence. They were Englishmen. They didn't mind being under the crown of old King George. So the Brits had their army. The Redcoats were all over Boston and places, and to shorten the story -- they started shooting people. They basically started a war. It was fascinating to watch, and this was nonpolitical presentation. When we finally get to Philadelphia, to Convention Hall, and the representatives of the 13 colonies are there, John Adams was hell-bent on seeing to it that he had a unanimous vote for independence.

He wasn't going to settle for a 9-4 vote. He wasn't going to settle for just a simple majority. He needed it to be unanimous. But there were elements from Pennsylvania and New York and New Jersey who had no desire for independence. To listen to them speak, "No, this is the time for caution," while the Redcoats are firing and murdering innocent people. Essentially the war had already broken out in Boston, and these people from Pennsylvania -- not Ben Franklin, but Dickinson from Pennsylvania; a guy from New York, Howe -- they're all saying, "This is the time for caution. This is the time for restraint," and I'm watching the screen, and I'm just smiling. We've got those same kind of pansies today, and they wanted to send a proclamation to King George demanding that King George stop taxing their tea and stop taxing them exorbitantly on a number of things, to basically stop squishing them and squeezing them. So Adams says, "All right. If you want to do that, go ahead. I'm going to still try to convince you, but you do what you want to do. It's going to be months before we hear back, and I can tell you what we're going to hear back, but if it will make you feel better, go ahead and do it."

So they did it. All the while, Adams continues to try and arm-twist and persuade. Finally they get the answer from King George, and King George says, "How dare you ask me this! Now you guys are really in for it. We're going to kick your butts." So the moderates say, "Oh, further caution is required here," and then we got eloquent speeches about, "We don't need bloodshed and we don't need warfare, and this is not the way to go about this," because some of these people did not want independence. They were Englishmen. So Adams... This thing shows how difficult it was, how almost impossible it was. It's why it was a miracle, for John Adams to craft unanimity from 13 colonies who had 13 different special interests. These Founding Fathers as I said they were not all hell-bent for independence. They considered themselves Englishmen. It took a lot of time. It took a lot of persuasion. It took strategy. It took negotiation. It took compromise. It took manipulation to get the necessary unanimity. But how did he get it. His objective was independence, pure, 100% independence.

He got his unity not by watering down his version of independence, not by watering down his way of getting it, the timetable for getting it, the procedures. It was masterful to watch them portray this because it was amazingly historically accurate. It's based on David McCullough's book, by the way, on John Adams. One of the things that Adams did to get unanimity, the biggest opponent to this independence was Dickinson in Pennsylvania. He was the dove. He was the anti-war hawk. He couldn't abide any of this. But he was very persuasive, and these were very reasonable talks that they had, and Adams was very reasonable and understanding, too -- although they had knock-down, drag-outs about it. But they talked privately after a session one day. It was decided then Dickinson just wouldn't show up the next day for the vote and that New York would abstain rather than vote "no." This was done so that Dickinson would not have to compromise his principles of anti-war and so forth, but he knew the jig was up because he knew what the votes were.

They had finally persuaded Virginia and Maryland. Of course, the interesting thing here about Virginia -- the reason why it took a lot of time and persuasion and strategy, negotiation, compromise, manipulation, all of this to get unanimity -- is the wealthiest and most influential state or colony at the time was Virginia, and Virginia was a slave state. Virginia stood to lose a lot of wealth and a number of other things here, especially being a slave state. It's ironic, by the way, how this plays against the reality of Barack Obama. The point is, these 13 people got -- well, there were more than one per state, but these people got together. John Hancock was chairing the whole thing, and they got together, and Adams finally got his unanimity. But he achieved it with one abstention from New York and the Pennsylvania guy being out of the room so he wouldn't have to vote. But it took him months to persuade.

He never compromised what he wanted at all, and they ended up with unification, unanimity. You could call it unity, but he did it in a way that was not at all weakening of his desire and passion -- and, of course, George Washington is portrayed here, too. Colonel Washington becomes General Washington. Now, the next episodes of this are going to be bloody because that's what the fight for independence began. This is just the Declaration that they went through. But, gosh, it sent tingles up my spine to watch how this country actually came together. It's why I think what happened there is a miracle. In fact, Catherine Drinker Bowen has written a book called The Miracle at Philadelphia. It really, really was a miracle -- and we didn't take a little bit of the people that didn't want independence and shove it into the pro-independence side. The people that didn't want independence lost.

They were given something for it, but not at the expense of those who wanted independence. So be very, very careful when you hear Obama or any of these other liberals start talking unity and that we can't get anything done until we have unity. We got this country done without unity. It happened without unity. New York abstained, and, of course, Mr. Dickinson from Philadelphia was not even there on the day of the final vote. Now you might say, " it sounds like there was unanimity. You keep using the word." Yeah, there was, just like there was close to unanimity in Congress, as close as you can get on Reagan's tax cuts. But it's because one side maintained and fought for its principles and didn't cave.

2008

2009-01-03T16:27:00.003-06:00

Overall, 2008 was an excellent year. I started a new job, went on some cool road trips, met some cool people, and did a bunch of triathlons and other races. Mostly, however, my time was taken up by work and training. Here is 2008 by the numbers:

races for the year
triathlons- 9
crits/road races- 5
road races (running): 3

total distances for the year
swim: 112 miles
bike: 3,215 miles
run: 430 miles
rowing: 84 miles
total training: around 350 hrs

The majority of swimming, biking, and running took place during the months of March through mid-October. After my last triathlon of the year in October, I took 6 weeks completely off and then started to ease back into things, only to find out that I need shoulder surgery. It's not a major surgery, so it should not hold me back too much. I'm going to crank out a lot of Z2 work on the trainer to minimize my losses so it's all good. As for 2009, I'm pretty pumped about the upcoming races. Compared to this time last year, I'm in exponentially better shape, and I possess a lot more knowledge about how to train and race strategy. Plus, I got my brand new bike and I love it!

As for my 2009 goals, I have a few. Just for the sake of competition, me and my brothers are going without sweets for the month of January. Actually, we can have only 1 serving a week. If anyone messes up they have to run 5 miles on a course of the other two brother's choice. Keith and Eric better hope they don't mess up, because I know all the steep grades around Birmingham, haha. Other goals include the following (in no particular order):

1. get a raise/ bonus at work
2. continue to further my knowledge of the natural gas industry
3. follow my budget
4. stay injury-free
5. grow our Sunday school class
6. grow closer to the Lord
7. read more
8. improve from last year at every triathlon that I do
9. qualify for Age Group Nationals
10. take a cool vacation

Vacation is over, nooooo!

2008-12-29T21:10:00.002-06:00

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

2008-12-20T19:09:00.004-06:00

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

2008-10-28T10:42:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-17T21:01:00.005-05:00

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

2008-09-08T21:16:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-26T10:56:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-13T21:47:00.003-05:00

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

2008-08-07T20:55:00.002-05:00

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

2008-08-03T17:15:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-31T21:30:00.006-05:00

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

2008-07-20T21:54:00.003-05:00

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!

...

2008-07-09T22:06:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-07T21:41:00.004-05:00

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

2008-07-06T22:00:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-05T17:58:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-07-04T23:32:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-15T22:45:00.007-05:00

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?

2008-03-07T21:34:00.004-06:00

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

2008-03-02T22:03:00.003-06:00

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...

2008-02-28T22:46:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-02-27T21:29:00.002-06:00

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

2008-02-22T19:48:00.002-06:00

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

2008-02-19T23:18:00.003-06:00

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...

2008-02-19T00:37:00.004-06:00

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

2008-02-14T21:20:00.005-06:00

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

2008-02-13T22:17:00.002-06:00

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...

2008-02-12T19:01:00.001-06:00

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.....

2008-02-11T20:27:00.000-06:00

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

2008-02-10T22:21:00.001-06:00

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...

2008-02-09T20:47:00.001-06:00

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?

2008-02-09T11:32:00.000-06:00

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

2008-02-07T21:54:00.000-06:00

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

2008-01-16T22:48:00.000-06:00

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?

2008-01-13T23:28:00.000-06:00

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

For Heather...

2008-01-10T22:42:00.000-06:00

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

Graduation!

2007-12-15T22:00:00.001-06:00

I graduated! More details to come......

Post-Graduation Job/Plans

2007-12-02T19:21:00.000-06:00

This post is definitely long overdue. The date of my graduation is drawing near...only 12.5 days away, and I am scurrying to finish all my homework/projects/labs/studying, and everything else that I have to do. Whereas my grade point will not be determined for another 2 weeks, one thing that has already been determined is my immediate post-graduation plans, including my new job for the near and immediate future.

Last week, I accepted a full-time position with Southern Natural Gas, a subsidiary of El Paso Corporation, which provides natural gas and related energy products. If you are wandering what a subsidiary is, I'll give you a little analogy (basically, EP is the parent company, just like Southern Co).

Southern Natural Gas is to El Paso Corporation as
Alabama Power is to Southern Company

El Paso Corporation owns America's largest interstate natural gas pipeline system- approximately 43,000 miles- transporting about a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the country each day. Besides pipelines, they are also in the business of exploration and production.

Anyways...the job that I have been hired on for is that of a Pipeline Analyst. Basically, I will be using a lot of simulation techniques as well as other various technical engineering skills to look at what would happen if certain events take place on our pipelines. There is a lot more to it than this, but if you want to know more you can just ask me.

The Southern Natural Gas building is located directly beside Brookwood Mall in Birmingham, AL, so that is where I will be. My start date is January 14th, 2008, so I will have a solid month to do whatever I want before I start work. My family already has a snow skiing trip planned for the Christmas break, and we are leaving the day after I graduate. Besides that, I will probably ride my bike and row alot, as well as find a place to live and take care of other miscellaneous tasks. That is about it...if anyone is going to be in Birmingham starting in 2008, let me know!

The Stand

2007-11-04T20:09:00.000-06:00

You stood before creation
Eternity within Your hand
You spoke the earth into motion
My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure
Carried the Cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand

So what can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So I'll walk upon salvation
Your Spirit alive in me
This life to declare Your promise
My soul now to stand

So what can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

Show me Your heart
Show me Your way
Show me Your glory

"The Stand"
Hillsong United

The Perfect Bowl of Oatmeal

2007-10-29T09:12:00.000-05:00

They always tell you to use to much water on the package, so I just kind of eyeball it. I like my oatmeal 80-20 solid-liquid, and this morning, I made the PERFECT bowl! For that reason, today is going to be a good day.

I haven't blogged in awhile, but I think I'm going to start posting during Thermodynamics on MWF, because I never pay attention in class, and it seems to be working out fine so far.

Busy-ness

2007-09-28T08:12:00.000-05:00

I have not posted in awhile, as I have been fairly busy lately. I won't even try to cover everything that I missed, so if you are really interested, you can just ask me. Last night, I cycled in a 10 mile Time Trial along with several other Alabama Triathletes with the Druid City Bicycle Club. My legs were still pretty fatigued from Tuesday's interval track workout and 27 mile bike ride. I managed to average between 21 and 22 mph for the time trial, which I was happy with. I'm pretty sure i could do 23+ mph on rested legs. I plan on swimming later today and going on a bike ride/run tomorrow morning.
Last night at the Well, Ben had a very interesting topic to speak about. He talked about the fact that we always feel like we have to perform for someone...whether it be school, sports, or even for God himself. However, it is not like that at all. Performance does not matter. We are not judged by our worldly accomplishments. When you get to the gates of heaven, you are not asked "How many A's did you make in college?" or "How many basketball games did you win?" What really matters is your relationship with God and what is on the inside.
I am going home this weekend to celebrate my Dad's 50th birthday, so that should be fun. I plan on eating very well.

Never Run Long Distances in Nike Free's

2007-09-20T22:20:00.000-05:00

Just like the title says...don't do it. I ran 8.5 miles in my Free's last night, and it was a mistake. By the end of the run, my knees were killing me. On the bright side, however, I slept pretty good last night.

Friday

2007-09-14T08:11:00.001-05:00

This has been a busy week...
-homework turned in for each of my 4 classes, as well as a lab report
-Sunday church, Tuesday night bible study, Thursday night The Well
-Crimson Tide Master's Swim Club on Monday and Wednesday night
-Monday night Alabama Triathletes meeting
-2 trials completed in the research that I am doing for Catalina's Exercise Science program
-work at the Productivity Center for 2 hours on Monday-Friday
-ran around 9 miles total
-biked around 10 miles
Tomorrow, The U of A plays Arkansas at Bryant Denny, it shouuld be a pretty good game. I think that if we can stop the run, we will win. Their passing game is pretty weak, so if we can just stop McFadden and put some points on the board, we will be fine. We will see what happens.
I have tests next week in Thermodynamics and Circuits, so I need to get some studying done this weekend. I also have a lab due on Monday and a homework due on Tuesday, so Sunday will likely be a busy day. The Career Fair is next Tuesday, so I plan on doing some major networking and getting some interviews set up. A guy from Southern Company called me 2 days ago wanting to talk about opportunities, so I will be chatting with him on Monday. Next week will prove to be just as busy as this week, I'm sure.

"TPOP"

2007-09-09T21:37:00.001-05:00

I hope that you are wandering what "TPOP" means, because I am still laughing at it! I am up at CAPTURE, a cool little coffee shop place that I somehow have never heard of in my previous 4 years at THE U of A, doing some studying and listening to some music. When I got here, I had to take a quick trip to the restroom, and as I was standing there, I happened to notice a little sign above the toilet paper that said "TPOP." Below these four mysterious letters stood the description of this out-of-control acronym: "Toilet Paper Only Please." HAHA!!! I am still laughing!
I have not blogged in a week, so I am going to try to catch up a little bit. Most of last week was spent either working out or doing circuits or thermodynamics homework.
The coach of the master's swim club, Catalina Casaru, is doing research on fireman's gear, and she asked me to be one of her subjects. I quickly agreed, since a pre-cursor to the study was to get a VO2 max test, something that I have always wanted to do. Vo2 max is a person's maximum capacity to transport and utilize oxygen during incremental exercise. Basically, it is a very good way to see the size of a person's "engine," or how much aerobic potential they have. However, a high VO2 max does not necessarily translate into being a fast runner, rower, or cyclist. What is more important is one's ability to stay at this level of intensity for a long period of time. Anyways, the test consisted of running on a treadmill while hooked up to oxygen max with a tube hooked to a machine. The treadmill started off slow, and Catalina gradually increased the speed and incline until I could not longer go anymore. The results of the test were:
VO2 max: 67.41 ml/kg/min
Max HR: 201 bpm
I had a pretty good swim practice on Wednesday night...Catalina had as do a bunch of speed work...something to the extent of 12 x 25 m, 6 x 50 m, 3 x 100 m, 2 x 150 m, all on time. We did some other drills and stuff, and the practice ended up being close to 3K. I attended the spin class at the rec that morning, and it was once again a very good workout. We did a lot of sprint work with a good bit of it being out of the saddle. You can tell a lot about the shape that you are in by your heart rate behavior, and it was very encouraging to see how my heart was reacting to the workout. For the short bursts of sprints, my max HR only topped 180 (compared to my max HR of 201), and my rate was quickly recovering into the 130's or 140's within less than a minute. The best way to see how fit a person is is to watch how fast their HR drops after doing work. Basically, quick HR drop=in shape.
I didn't do anything on Thursday, but on Friday I started my first trial in the research that I am helping Catalina with. I had to get in a hot box and walk on a treadmill for 40 minutes while my heart rate and VO2 were being recorded. It was pretty hot in there, but the trial was relatively easy.
On Saturday I went on a 10 mile bike ride, followed by a 3 mile run or so. For the bike ride, I headed over to McCorvey Drive to do a 10 hill repeat. For the run, I headed down the Riverwalk towards the boathouse and did 10 stadium laps on the middle school football field. Today (Sunday), I completed my second trial in the fireman's gear research, and it was extremely difficult. I had to wear 40 pounds of gear (pants, jacket, mask, helmet, and O2 tank), and then walk on the treadmill in a hot box for 40 min. I can honestly say that I have never hit my max HR of 201 bpm while WALKING! It was insane! After finishing, I had to sit down with my arm in a cooling device for 40 min to record my drop in body temperature. More than anything, this trial was very mentally demanding.
Besides my workouts for the week, I also completed a good bit of schoolwork. I hate to say it, but I actually kind of like my circuits class. Thermodynamics is pretty boring, as is materials, but I really enjoy my reliability class as well. We did some very interesting application work in reliability this week. Have you ever wondered how companies place warranty lengths on products? Well, not to say that all companies do this (some probably grab a number out of thin air), but if you have enough historical data, you can assign a warranty a __ number of years that will in turn lead to only a __% of products being returned. I do need to brush up on my integral calculus, mainly regarding exponentials, but it is a fairly simple procedure. I just love the power of statistics! (right about now, Stacey is calling me a nerd, haha!) I would estimate that at least 80% of people have no idea what you can do with stats, not that they care, but they might if they knew!
This morning, I went to the inaugural service of Church of the Highlands in Tuscaloosa. It was pretty tight, but I do plan on heading back to Calvary next week. I miss people!
I have made it this far without even mentioning college football once...well, here are my takes:
-Roll Tide! However, J.P. needs to work on throwing the deep ball.
-Go Ducks! However, I do feel sorry for Michigan.
-Go Nittany Lions! (Notre Dame might lose their first 8 games)
-I hate the Big East, but my hate for Auburn far surpasses it, go USF!
Well, I think this blog has been long enough. I am going to try to post more regularly so that I don't start writing books.

Labor Day

2007-09-03T15:55:00.000-05:00

It's been 1 week since I last posted...I am really slacking as of late! Last week was the first full week of classes, and a boring one at that. Also, I came down with a cold so it was a pretty miserable week.

Classes:
I turned in my first circuits homework, and it wasn't too bad. The class is somewhat interesting, but it will still be hard due to a lack of motivation because I am positive that I will NEVER solve a circuits problem again in my life. The same goes for my civil engineering materials class (which so far has been my daily nap time) and my thermodynamics class. I am taking one very interesting class: Reliability. It is taught by one of my favorite professors, Dr. Fonseca, and so far it has proved to be very thought provoking.
Workouts:
I joined the Master's Swim Club, and we practiced on Monday and Wednesday night. I will continue this throughout the semester. We swam 2700 meters each of the nights, and it was a really good workout. I am excited about getting back into swimming after a 4+ year sabbatical.
I was able to get in 2 rides this past week: I rode 23.6 miles with the Tri Club last Tuesday and 28 miles with Jason yesterday. I plan on biking a lot more in the near future.
Tomorrow I am getting my VO2 max tested by Catalina, one of the Swim Club coaches. She is a Master's student in Exercise Science, and is completing some research this semester of which a VO2 max is part of. After hearing her explain it to me, I quickly agreed to be a test subject.

I'm pretty excited to not be sick anymore.

My Arms Hurt!

2007-08-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted since Saturday, so I'll start with Sunday. It was a relaxing day...I went to Calvary in the morning, ran some errands, delivered a CD, and went with Stacey to get groceries in the early afternoon, and then I headed up to the pool to meet Person, Nick, and Brenna. After lounging around the lazy river for awhile, Person and I headed to Lakeside to eat dinner. Later on in the night, I went on a 10 K run, finishing in 52:33.
Today marked the first crew practice of the semester, and I showed up to try to encourage the guys. I ended up doing a 30 minute erg, moving 7160 meters in that time period. The rest of the day went as follows:
1. thermodynamics
2. circuits
3. work at APC
4. civil materials lab
5. met Matt and Jimmy to get my security deposit back
6. back home
I decided to go with Jason to the Alabama Master's Swim Club practice, which I am going to join for the semester. I haven't swam since December, and before that it was like 3.5 years. The workout was pretty tiring....
1. 300 m free warm up
2. 200 m free drills
3. 100 m free kick
4. 5 x (4 x 100 m) on 1:40, 1:35, 1:30, 1:25, 1:40 pull only
5. 100 m choice cool down
My arms feel like they are about to fall off. However, it feels good to get back into swimming. I'm going to officially start doing schoolwork tomorrow. Its been a nice 2.5 weeks just floating around and doing nothing but working out!

Interesting Semester So Far

2007-08-25T11:21:00.000-05:00

The semester has been interesting so far, with lots of events occurring that I did not foresee. A few weeks ago, I got a call from a guy at The Alabama Productivity Center asking me to work for them this semester on a simulation project. APC is a research institution located in Bidgood Hall that gets subcontracted work from companies around Alabama and hires on students along with faculty to complete them. At first, I told them that I wanted to work, but after consulting with myself and a colleague, I decided that I just wanted to chill this semester. However, in the back of my mind, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. After praying about it, I completely turned it over to God, and didn't worry about it at all. Out of the blue, on the first day of classes, I decided to pay APC a visit and figure out what they had to offer. As a side note to this story, I am paying for every single bit of my expenses this semester: tuition, living, eating, misc-- expenses of close to $7000. He explained the project to me, and it actually sounded really good, and something that I would love to do. Then he started telling me about the financial rewards, and I found out that they would be paying 1/2 of my tuition as WELL as $10 and hour! After I heard this (as well as the project specifics), I immediately felt that this was what I needed to do. I accepted the job, and did not second-guess anything. I truly feel like God had a part in it. Word.
On Thursday, I rode 23.5 miles with Jason and about 6 other members of the Triathlon Club. It was pretty fun-- we did the Sanders Ferry out-and-back route.
My classes are alright so far. I can tell that I am really going to like my Reliability class, one that deals a lot with statistics and also is taught by my favorite instructor. Thermodynamics is for sure going to be extremely boring, as well as Circuits and Materials. Oh well. That's what I get for waiting until my last semester to take them.

Summer is Over

2007-08-21T22:48:00.000-05:00

It was a good summer, but unfortunately, classes start tomorrow. I learned a lot this summer about myself, my work, and my life. Overall, it was a good time. I also got a lot of physical activity in. I kept up with everything that I did all summer, and here it is:

Weights:
-29 workouts total, consisting of exercises such as bench, curls, shoulder press, squats, leg extension, rows, pull-ups, etc
Running:
-approximately 85 miles total
-10 hours, 28 min, 6 sec
-approximate average pace of 7:32.4 min/mile
Cycling:
-343 miles
-22 hours, 24 min, 2 sec
-avg speed of 14.6 mph
-max speed of 45.6 mph
-max distance of 66.02 mi
Tennis:
-16 tennis matches played
Core Work:
-2671 push-ups
-3440 sit-ups
Swimming:
-only 800 meters swam, only swam once
Ergs:
-12976 meters rowed

That was my summer of workouts. I will continue most of this as a train with the Tri Club and compete this semester. After school, I will either compete only cycling, or triathlons. Who knows.

I do not like living 3 miles from campus...

2007-08-20T00:44:00.000-05:00

I have decided that I do not like making the "trek" from Northport to campus in order to carry out the activities that take place there. Even though 3 miles is not that far, it feels like forever compared to living right behind Publix by the strip.
I attended Calvary's new contemporary service and Relate AM this morning. The new service is tiiiiiight. Haha. It was awesome.
This afternoon I went to hit some balls on the range at Ol' Colony Golf Complex. I was hitting all irons as well as my 3 wood very well. I think I'm going to play out there tomorrow or Tuesday, so hopefully I can pull a round in the 80's.
Tonight I helped recruit people for the crew club at a UP function over by the Ferg. It went pretty good, I suppose, so we will see what happens.

North Harbor Hot Hundred

2007-08-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (Saturday 8/18), I rode 66 miles in the North Harbor Hot Hundred bike ride. Alongside with me were Jason Cottingham, John Person, and Person's dad. It was pretty crazy because the farthest that I had ever rode until yesterday was a meager 25 miles. Overall, the ride went very well. We came out blazing the first 25 miles, averaging 20.1 mph. Most of it was flat and there were a few downhills, and for most of it we were working a 4 man paceline or riding in a larger group. We took a rest stop after 25 miles, and then then another one at mile 54. After the first rest stop, a nice girl named Andrea joined our group- she is a member of the Tri Club at Alabama, and she was a very strong rider. Right before the second rest stop, I thought my quads were about to start cramping, but luckily they did not. With about 8 miles to go, Person's dad, Andrea, and I started working a 3 man pace line and we were hauling- and with 3 miles left I separated myself from them and started to hawk down 2 men that I saw in the distance. I ended up passing them on the last hill, and I sprinted the last straightaway to finish in style.
Race Stats:
Distance- 66.02 miles
Time- 3:38:45
Avg Speed- 18.11 mpg
Max Speed- 38.7 mph

Multiple Errands

2007-08-17T23:27:00.000-05:00

Today's accomplishments:
-the running of 14 errands
-lunch with some friends
-tennis with Anderson, Person, and Adam
-the organization of all crap in my room

Tomorrow, I wake at 5:30 a.m. to head out and ride the North Harbor Hot Hundred bike ride. Jason, Person, and I are going to ride the 34 mile course instead of the hundred, mainly because it is so hot. If we are feeling good, we may do the 50. We shall see.

Wednesday + Thursday

2007-08-17T00:03:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, I did absolutely nothing all day until I decided to become active at 4 pm. At that time, I went on an easy 2.5 mile run at Shades Mountain Ballpark. Following the run, I ate dinner at the church and rested for a little bit. At 6:30 pm, I went on an easy 17 mile bike ride in the Bluff Park area.
On Thursday, my Dad and I played The Valley at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. I don't feel like explaining anything, but he ended up barely winning. Oh well. When I get home, I completed an engineering marvel by packing my car! My bike, due to its shape, was not able to be efficiently packed so I had to make up for it in other areas. After packing, I headed down to Tuscaloosa for good. After unpacking/arranging/cleaning the apartment, I went to lift weights at the rec, and then erged a 6K on the rowing machine. After this and dinner, Anderson and I played some tennis. We are actually pretty evenly matched, and we split the sets 1-1. It had been more than a month since I last played, and I hope to get in some more matches in the near future.
Things to do soon:
-play more golf
-row the double or a 4+/8+
-play more tennis
-rack up mileage on my bike
-start swimming again
-run here and there
If I wasn't so active, I don't know what I would do with my life.

Showdown on the 18th

2007-08-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

Precursors to main events of the day included lunch with Eric and MiMi, as well as lounging around the house and listening to my iPod while I packed up some more stuff.
At about 4:45 p.m., Eric, my Dad, and I teed off of The Short Course at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. One thing that I have enjoyed about this summer is that I have been able to play a lot of golf, something that I have not had a lot of time to do during the past 4 years. The Short Course is and 18-hole-all-par 3 course, with even par being an obvious 54. It presents a good opportunity to work on the ever challenging short game of a golfer. I came out blazing today, shooting +1 on the first 5 holes. I don't think I hit a single green on those 5 holes, but I was scrambling like crazy. My sand wedge was deadly accurate, and my bump-and-run with a 7 iron was also working extremely well.
This bump-and-run shot is one that I have only recently figuratively added to my bag of shots, and I have found that in situations where I am just off the side of the green or instances where I am further off the green but I have a downhill approach to the green, it allows me to be consistently more accurate.
After the first 5 holes, I cooled off a little bit and ended up +9 over the front 9. I continued this cooling off phase at the start of the back 9, and my Dad started to heat up. I think at one point he had me by about 7 strokes or so. I was hitting my irons pretty solid all day, and I hit about or 7 of the greens in regulation. However, I had a trend going of making par on a hole and following it with a double bogey or two before regaining focus.
With 2 holes left to play, my dad stated that he was up 5 strokes on me. I had just come off a blow up hole in which I took a double par because I had some trouble getting out of the sand. I was determined to calm down, re-focus, and try to par out in hopes of a tie or a win (I was also hoping my dad would choke and make a double bogey on the last 2 holes).
Hole #17 was a par 3, 135 yards, mainly flat, and I elected to take my 9 iron off the tee. I hit a beautiful shot that faded slightly to align itself with the pin, and I found myself 15 feet away from the pin. After lining up the put, I played a 1 ft break to the left and.....drano! Birdie! My dad took a double bogey, and I had cut the lead down to 2 strokes.
Hole #18 was a par 3, 125 yards, mainly flat, with a difficult pin location on a skinny part of the green that jutted out of the back right hand corner. Knowing that I had to gain 2 strokes on this hole, I had to go straight for the pin instead of playing for the large part of the green which would lead to a longer put. I pulled out my pitching wedge, made good contact, and landed it on the skinny part by about 6 inches, leaving me 15 feet from the hole. My Dad landed on the fat part of the green, but left a monster of a put. He putted first and misjudged the downhill speed leaving him 15 feet past the hole. After leaving his next put short I putted, and came about about 6 feet short. His next put was for the win, and he barely missed it, followed by a tap in and a 5 for the hole. This meant that I had a 6 ft put for the tie! After a few deep breaths and some practice strokes, I putted, and...drano! Tie! Come from behind, 5 strokes in 2 holes!
Later on, I had a friendly debate with my parents about euthanasia, and all that know me know my opinion on the issue. Tomorrow will be another relaxing day. I will definitely go on a ride tomorrow.

The Bourne Ultimatum x 2

2007-08-13T23:38:00.000-05:00

Moose, Eric, Stephanie, and I went and saw The Bourne Ultimatum, my second time to do so. I'm usually not one of those 2x-movie-watchers, but the movie is just so good.
As for the rest of today, I managed to move all of my stuff to the room upstairs to make room for my brother Keith who will be living downstairs in January. It wasn't too much stuff, but I took my time, going through around 75 to 100 songs on my iPod, which I set on shuffle mode. I also made a trip to Cahaba Cycles to pick up some tubes that they forgot to put in my bag which I picked up the bike.
One interesting thing that happened today was a call that I received from The Productivity Center at The University of Alabama. They were one of my possible jobs for the summer, but they offered me a job after I had already accepted with UPS. It was kind of random that they called me today, but oh well. I talked with a guy named Jason Hatter (I think?), an IE graduate from 1998. He asked me if I had any simulation experience, and I said that I had (while trying not to laugh). On top of a simulation course that I took last Spring (of which I was the first person in 2 years to make an A...I was joined by 2 other classmates in this feat), I also employed my simulation knowledge in our Senior Design course last Spring. Fellow classmate Jordan Johnston and I teamed up to complete a stellar computer simulation of the Children's South facility. Children's South is a branch of Children's Hospital, and it is located at the Acton Road exit off I-459. Anyways, the simulation was a masterpiece. Hatter told me that they were in need of some simulation knowledge, so we are having a meeting on Friday morning to discuss some possible work. After doing some thinking and consulting, however, I am not sure if I really want to tack on 10 hours of work to my schedule, but we will see.
At around 5:30 p.m., my Dad and I started biking to the church in order to meet up with a group of people that usually ride on Monday night. We took the Patton Chapel route to the church, and after meeting up with about 6 or so other bikers, we headed out. We actually ended up doing the rest of The Purple Onion Loop, a loop that Jamie, Phil, and I named because it passes by The Purple Onion on Highway 31. After heading back to the Preserve, the group turned to head back to the church up Patton Chapel, and I headed with them to get one last climb in. I turned around when it started getting dark, almost to the point where we usually turn off. The whole trip ended up being 18.6 miles or so.
As with today, I plan on floating through tomorrow and the rest of the next week and a half until school starts. I am eating lunch with Eric and MiMi (my grandmother), and I will probably continue to pack some stuff up. I want to go for a ride, but I don't know when. Eric, my Dad and I are going to try to play the Short Course at Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, but that will not be until 4 or 5 p.m. If that doesn't pan out, I will probably ride and then go to The Basement. Either way, tomorrow should be very relaxing.

Done With Work!

2007-08-12T21:56:00.000-05:00

I am officially done with work as of this past Friday, whew! It was an excellent experience, and I learned a whole lot about working in industry, how I can apply myself, what some of my strengths and weaknesses are, and a little more about how to become successful. Overall, I think it worked out very well for me, and my manager told me I basically have a job when I graduate, if I want it.
I headed down to Tuscaloosa this weekend to attend the wedding of Kelly Parker, as well as see a few friends one last time before they moved their separate ways. Overall, it was an extremely good weekend. I saw a lot of people I don't normally run in to too much, and I had some very interesting, thought-provoking, and deep conversations. I also managed to rack up around 7 to 7.5 miles or so, following my second-half-of-summer-tradition of running on the weekends (while cycling mostly during the week).
This week is going to be awesome. After being so busy all summer, I am going to float through these next 2 weeks, and I'm going to love it!

Current Music: Lipgloss and Letdown by A Static Lullaby

Early Shift + Testing Out The New Bike

2007-08-09T22:33:00.001-05:00

As I previously posted, I worked this morning from 12:30 a.m. until 5:30 a.m. Since all of the University of Alabama student tickets were being delivered today, UPS needed all the help that they could get. Nicolas Willis (the other intern) and I, along with our manager Jon Rich, our supervisor Robyn Smaha, and a security manager managed to knock out the sorting of the 3000+ football ticket packages in about an hour and a half or so. However, the side that Nic and I were working on undoubtedly contained about 1/2 of the total volume. We had to sort the tickets into their specified routes. Each center in the Birmingham building (there are 3 of them: Southeast, Southwest, and Central) runs anywhere from 42 to 57 routes. Nic and I were working the Central routes, of which there were about 45. By the end of the sort, I had pretty much memorized each routes location in the bins that we had labeled. After sorting, we had to bag each route individually, labeling the bag with the route ID and the number of ticket packages inside. The bagging definitely took a lot longer than the sorting. When it was all said it done, the clock read 5:30 a.m., and I hurried home to bed. I slept from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m. It was awesome.
I met the Birmingham Bicycle Club out at Winn Dixie on Morgan Road at 6 p.m. for their weekly ride. I was extremely anxious to test my new bike out on a long ride. I joined Bryan Oliver (Jamie's dad), and 2 other men on a 25 mile loop through the back roads of the Bessemer area. I am very happy with how my bike feels. All of the reviews that I read on it were true: it is a very smooth ride. We finished the ride in 1:26:30 for an average speed of 17.37 mph. I plan on racking up some miles in the near future.

Exhausted

2007-08-08T22:22:00.000-05:00

The last few days have been very exhausting. After a boring day at work on Monday, I ate some dinner and headed straight to Atlanta, GA to attend a sweet concert the next day. I stayed at a past teammate (Ben Sholes) of mines apartment. I woke up on Tuesday morning and headed to the Hifi Buys Amphitheater at noon to see 11 bands play at the Projekt Revolution Tour. Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and Taking Back Sunday were the headliners, but other notables such as Saosin, Julien-K, Him, and Placebo also played. Obviously, Taking Back Sunday was awesome. I was very happy about their set list, which included mostly older stuff (which in my opinion is better). MCR was good, but I'm not too into them. Linkin Park was.............awesome! I wasn't too impressed with their latest CD that was just released, but to my surprise, they played a lot of older stuff....rocking Hybrid Theory big-time!
The concert lasted from 12:45 p.m. until 10:30 p.m., and it was brutally hot the whole day. I made it back to Birmingham around 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning, got a few hours of sleep, and headed to work. After work, I picked up my bike, wohoo! I took it for a ride this evening and it is sweeeeeet.
I have to go back to work at 12:45 a.m., and I'm not too happy about that. Alabama football tickets are going out tomorrow, so UPS needs all the extra help they can get, and I was somehow volunteered. I have gotten absolutely no sleep this week, and it is catching up to me.

I Win!

2007-08-05T22:31:00.000-05:00

My Dad and I played another round of golf at Bentbrook today. I won by a decisive 3 strokes, shooting a 90 to his 93. I actually was up 5 strokes with 5 holes left to play, but he closed the gap ever so slightly thanks to my blow-up on the par three 16th. Whereas a 90 is a good score for me, it could have been better. My goal was to hit the high 80's, and had it not been for 2 instances that found my ball in a sand trap, I would have shot an 86. It took me 3 shots each time to get out of the trap. Besides those 2 holes, I played one of the most solid rounds of golf that I have ever played. I did have to incur 1 penalty stroke, however, when I barely missed clearing a pond by about 2 feet (I hit a very fat 3 iron). Anyways, in my book a win is a win.
Tomorrow, I will be heading to Atlanta, GA to attend the Project Revolution Tour, which headlines Taking Back Sunday, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and Saosin among others. I can't wait! Unfortunately, I will most likely be making the trip alone, due to an unexpected schedule conflict of a friend. If anyone wants to go, let me know!

The Bourne Ultimatum

2007-08-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

Anderson, Jimmy, and I just saw The Bourne Ultimatum. It was awesome.

Bourne: "Where are you?"
CIA Dude: "I'm in my office."
Bourne: "I doubt it."
CIA Dude: "Whys that?"
Bourne: "Because if you were, we'd be having this conversation face to face."
[Phone-hang-up-click]

BOOYAH!!!

I'm about to start reading the book of Exodus in my quest to read the Bible. Currently, I am 4.67% of the way through.

Happy Birthday!

2007-08-04T00:33:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to the lovely Emily Britt, and also, I can't forget...happy birthday to the charming Melissa Rowland! These two very interesting, fun, and entertaining women deserve a good ole' "happy birthday"...they are probably 2 of the nicest people that I know! I joined the Britt family and some other friends at California Pizza Kitchen at the Summit, followed by a some chilaxin' and deep conversation at Joe Muggs. Fun night.

Long Day

2007-08-01T20:10:00.000-05:00

Today consisted of our project implementation, which included changing up all the sort charts and labels and everything else in the Smalls Sort area, as well as staying until the workers came in and helping them with their daily tasks. I worked about 90 mph from 7:30 a.m., until 6:00 p.m. getting everything ready for the workers. We just barely finished in time. One annoying thing that happened today concerned one of the UPS janitors. When we got to the Smalls Sort area this morning, there were boxes everywhere. I don't know who put them there, but I definitely did not. Anyways, as I was working throughout the day, this one janitor would come by and say something like "Ya'll need to throw away those boxes," or "Gah, ya'll got trash everywhere." Being in the rush that I was, I had absolutely no patience at all, but somehow I managed not go off on him. Very annoying. You do your job, I'll do mine. I'm extremely tired now, and I don't have to be in tomorrow until noon:)

Work, The Basement, and Friends!

2007-07-31T23:41:00.000-05:00

Work was pretty busy today. We are in the final stages of preparation before implementing our solution for the Smalls Sort area, a plan that will be carried out tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a 7:00-7:15 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. workday, approximatley13 hours (after taking out lunch and dinner). Good news is that I probably will be off on Friday. Yay.
I headed out to The Basement tonight by myself after a few failed invites, but I ended up meeting the Britt sisters and Gina out there, 3 very amazing people that are very fun to be around! The worship was good, as it always is, and afterwards we headed to the bowling alley some others. I did not bowl, but I did eat a massive chocolate sundae with an enormous amount of whipped cream and a cherry on top. I can't wait to go back to Tuscaloosa to see all of my friends.
I just received word tonight that a fellow crew member, boat member for 2 years, and good friend Anderson Renaud just got engaged to his long time girlfriend, Brittani Tingle. They are both excellent people, and I am very happy for them.
I have read the first 26 chapters in the book of Genesis on my quest to read the Bible before I graduate. I am 35 pages in...approximately 2.44 % complete. Already, I have seen the amazing power of God with his Creation, his ability to keep all promises that he makes, and also his wrath. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be...MIGHTY. How can you not fear?
On another note, I have finalized my choice for my first road bike purchase. I will be getting a 2007 Lemond Alpe D'Huez. It is named after the mountain range in France on which a very brutal stage of the Tour de France is usually held. From my best research, it is pronounced Alp-ey-du-ez. However, I am not completely sure about this. Cahaba Cycles did not have the 2007 in stock, but I was able to test ride the 2006 model. I took it up a fairly decent hill right beside the shop, and I really enjoyed the way it climbed. What's even better is that the 2007 is going to be an even lighter bike! I am going to OWN hills with this thing.

Contador Wins, I Lose.

2007-07-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

Alberto Contador, a 24 year old phenom from Spain, wins the 2007 Tour de France. Although it was pretty much over after yesterday's time trial (the 20th and final stage that ends in Paris is more of a formality for the riders), every once in a while, a rider may try to get cheap and gain some of the time bonuses on the 20th stage to move up some places. Being the classy and gentleman-like riders that they are, the 2nd and 3rd placed riders behind Contador (Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer) said that they would not attack each other or Contador, even though Contador only lead Evans by 23 seconds and Leipheimer was only 8 seconds behind Evans. It is insane that the top 3 riders' final times over 3000+ miles were separated by a mere 31 seconds. Unbelievable. In a Tour that was plagued with doping scandals that saw stage winners and yellow jersey holders removed from the race, it actually turned out to be one of the most exciting ones yet:)
This afternoon, my Dad and I headed out to Bentbrook to play a round of golf, in what was sure to be another epic shootout. We both started out striking the ball well, but neither of us could score, and we finished the front 9 dead even at 47-47. Both of us played significantly better on the back 9. My tee shots were almost always in the fairway or very near rough, and I was striking my irons and chipping around the green very well. After a mammoth 250 yard 3 wood down the middle of the fairway on hole 11, I had an easy 120 yard pitching wedge into the green. However, not knowing my own strength (haha), I powered it over the green and was stuck on the other side of a creek with about 5 trees in front of me. I had about a 5 foot opening in front of me, and a 10 foot vertical distance until I would hit a tree branch. Taking my sand wedge (I was too lazy to go get a 3 or 4 iron), I placed the ball in the back of my stance and hit a little punch shot that flew right in between the trees and landed about 10 ft from the pin. It was awesome. On hole 14, a 140 yard par 3, I grabbed my 8 iron and with a very solid stroke I knocked it 6 feet from the pin. Booyah. I then masterfully sank the testing 1-ft-breaker 5 foot put for a BIRDIE! However, after a few mishaps here and there and some stellar shots by my Dad (including hitting the flag stick from 150 out), it all came down to hole 18, as it always does. After my Dad missed a 10 footer for the win, all I had to do was sink a 10 footer of my own for the tie. I hit the put solid...good line...and...it lips out the right corner, no! I absolutely knew that I had it read right, but I think I hit it just slightly too hard. Final score: Dad-90, Chad-91. I'm happy with the 91 and the birdie, but none of that matters. I want the W.
I lifted some weights and ran my hill a few times later on tonight, since I've gotten to where I have to at least do something everyday. I love the way I feel after I have a really hard workout. Being in shape is awesome. I would recomend it to anyone who wants to improve their quality of life.
I have read 6 pages in Genesis on my quest to read the entire Bible. Current scripture: Genesis 3:17. Even though the summer is over, I still have some meat left on it. I am still going to see Taking Back Sunday, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and Saosin in Atlanta. I am buying a bike this weekend. I have 70 hours of work left, and about $1K more to make before the end of the summer. I am, however, ready to go back to Tuscaloosa.

I Love Saturday's

2007-07-28T12:43:00.000-05:00

Part of my daily information gathering routine usually involves keeping up with a few of my friends that blog consistently. While catching up with Trevvor Clark, a friend and teammate (rowing) of mine, I have been motivated to complete a task which I have said I was going to do a few times before: reading through the entire Bible. My plan is to finish before graduation, 140 days from now, and at 1434 pages, that is an average of 10 pages a day. I have no doubt that this will be an extremely beneficial asset to my spiritual life, and I am going to take on this activity as I do all others: at 110%
I am about to go run a few trails back behind the Preserve. Depending on how my legs feel, I might run longer than the normal 3.1 mile trail loop that Jamie and I have completed so many times this summer.
I plan on watching the entire replay of the Tour de France's final time trial tonight, so if anyone tries to tell me who won, I am going to be extremely upset, haha! Although unlikely, I hope that the GC looks like the following after today:
1. Levi Leipheimer
2. Alberto Contador
3. Cadel Evans
American Team Discovery is pretty much dominating:) This is also partly due to Team Astana withdrawing because of the demoralizing doping acts of star rider Alexander Vinokourov.

Wonderful, so wonderful
Is Your unfailing love
Your cross has spoken mercy over me
No eye has seen, no ear has heard
No heart could fully know
How glorious, how beautiful you are!

Beautiful One, Tim Hughes

I Did Absolutely Nothing Today

2007-07-27T22:55:00.000-05:00

Actually, I did, but comparatively speaking, I did not. I worked from 7:45 a.m. until 11:35 a.m. because we stayed late yesterday. When I got home, I deposited my paycheck, got my head shaved, and then cycled 15 miles. Besides these 4 things, I did absolutely nothing all day. I'm pretty bored right now as I type this...
I really would like for American Levi Leipheimer to win the Tour de France, but I do not think that it is going to happen. Alberto Contador, Levi's teammate, is in the lead, but Predictor's Cadel Evans is less than 2 minutes behind. I have a gut feeling that Evans might take the lead in tomorrow's individual time trial and secure the yellow jersey.
I plan on sleeping in late tomorrow. I have absolutely nothing planned for the day except to watch the Tour de France time trial in the late evening. I will probably go on a ride or run, whichever I fancy at that particular moment.
Only 2 weeks left of work:)

Boring Week at Work

2007-07-25T15:11:00.000-05:00

This week has been incredibly boring at work, as we are in between projects. However, we got treated to O'Charleys today, wohoo! So far this week, I have worked out twice, biked 31 miles, ran a mile, done 200 push-ups and 500 sit-ups, and jumped some rope. This afternoon, I'm heading out to ride at Oak Mountain with the Birmingham Bike Club for their weekly Watermelon Ride, in which everyone is treated to watermelon afterwards (hence the name). I'm pretty tired right now, and I can't wait to do absolutely nothing this weekend, as well as play a round of golf with my Dad.

Weekend

2007-07-22T22:12:00.000-05:00

For whatever reason, whenever I am about to leave work, I always get assigned a last-minute task that causes me to stay past my regular departure time. Friday was no exception, but that wasn't a surprise because we were pretty busy with Harry Potter stuff. When I got home, I went on 3.5 mile or so trail run in the blazing heat, stopped by Birchtree to cool off, skipped lifting weights, loaded my car, and headed down to Tuscaloosa to move into my new apartment.
I moved all of the stuff that I had packed up last weekend to my new place at River Run over in Northport by City Cafe. Of course, it was raining the whole time, but I managed all right. After moving some stuff, I hung out with Jordan and some people for awhile, before heading to see Marley for the last time for who knows how long, sad!
Keith headed down on Saturday morning with a truck, and the rest of the day proceeded as follows:
-load all of Keith's furniture into truck
-take truck to my old apartment
-load all of my stuff
-drive to my new apartment
-unload all of my stuff
-drive to Jamie's apartment
-load Jamie's and Eric's furniture (in that order)
-drive to Eric's new apartment
-unload all of Eric's furniture
Of course I am making this sound like more than it actually was, but it was a good solid 3 hour job. I was reminded of memorable moves from last summer, when I worked for Gentle Giant Moving Company up in Boston, MA. After moving all of the furniture, I headed back to my old place to put the rest of my random crap in my car and to help Matt, Jimmy, and his Mom clean our apartment, as our lease will run out on Tuesday. After cleaning, I dropped off some stuff at my new place, and then Jamie and I watched Stage 13 of the Tour de France, which was a time trial. Alexander Vinokourov from team Astana completely dominated everyone, but Michael Rasmussen was still able to hold on to the yellow jersey, despite historically sucking at time trial stages.
Today was pretty uneventful. Jamie, Phil, Matt Martin, and I biked the Purple Onion loop this evening, averaging right at 16.0 mph for the 15 mile ride. I set a new personal max speed record will riding down Hackberry, hitting 45.6 mph. It was freakin' scary. I'm going to bed.

I Hate Harry Potter

2007-07-19T23:04:00.000-05:00

In what is probably an excellent business deal, UPS landed the new Harry Potter book deliveries (awhile ago), and they are going out tomorrow. I hate Harry Potter...both the story and the fact that all I have been doing for the last 2 days is try to idiot-proof the delivery plans to all bookstores and households in Alabama. Blah.
I rode 17.7 miles after work, trying to hit as many hills as possible. My quads are shocked. I'm going to Tuscaloosa tomorrow for the weekend to move into my new apartment. Also, I will be seeing my good friend Marley McKenzie for the last time before she moves way far away to Pennsylvania to attend Mercyhurst. I wish I could have a whole week of weekends.

And all I (all I)
Need to know (need to know)
Is that I'm something you'll be missing
(is that I'm something that you're missing)
(maybe I should hate for this)
Maybe I should hate you for this
Never really did ever quite get that far
(maybe I should hate for this)
Maybe I should hate you for this
Never really did ever quite get that...
-Taking Back Sunday

O.A.R.

2007-07-18T23:48:00.000-05:00

A bunch of us went and saw O.A.R. play tonight at Sloss Furnace, and it was aweeeeesome! The finished with Black Rock and of course, Crazy Game of Poker. INSANE!!!

Work was boring yesterday, and today we started working on the plans for the new Harry Potter book deliveries...it's kind of a big deal. I ran 5.5 miles yesterday, did nothing today, and tomorrow I plan on biking the Purple Onion Loop. Peace.

Hilly Ride

2007-07-16T21:21:00.000-05:00

Work was boring today, so I will not comment about. Also, if your name is Heather Wiginton, then I am mad at you:)
Jamie, Phil, and I went on a [check the title of this entry] bike ride this evening. We rode to Hoover High, up Brock's Gap (massive hill), and then all the way up Shades Crest Road (long hill) before flying down Patton Chapel and coming home through the Preserve. We averaged slightly over 15.1 mph for the ride, which was surprising considering that more than half the ride was up some kind of hill.
I am about halfway through reading Running with the Buffaloes...and thus far, I am pretty impressed. The workouts that the University of Colorado's Cross Country Team does are insane. The top runners are averaging anywhere from 80 to 110 miles a week, and most of it is at a pace of 6:15 or under. I might could run a 5K at that pace, but nothing more. However, that might be different if I ran more than like 10-15 miles a week. I think that during the Fall, I am going to attempt 40 miles a week for as long as a can...and we will see what happens.
I'm pretty tired, I think I'm going to read some and go to bed. Cheers.

The Weekend

2007-07-15T23:02:00.001-05:00

The main objective this weekend was to pack up my apartment since I am moving to my new one next weekend, with a side objective of seeing some friends! I'd say the 2 objectives were sufficiently met.
Earlier this evening, Jamie, Matt Martin, and I went on a 15 mile bike ride on what we have officially named the Purple Onion Loop, since the route passes by the restaurant at the 9 mile mark or so. Matt has been running like 90 miles a week this summer, so being in such good shape, he was definitely pushing Jamie and I. We finished the course in exactly an hour.
I'm pretty tired...hopefully work will be easy tomorrow.

More Domination at Work

2007-07-12T23:33:00.000-05:00

I finalized the designs for the Smalls Sort at UPS today, with complete domination! We meet with Jon Rich, the Package Planning Manager, tomorrow at 3 p.m. I was actually planning on going in at 7 a.m. so I could be off for the weekend by 2:20 p.m., but I guess a manager's decision trumps my plans. Oh well.
Jamie and I had a pretty good workout today. Our Friday lifts are our "bulk days," in which we focus on higher weight and lower reps. I also knocked out some more push-ups later this evening.
Tonight, I started a new book, Running With the Buffaloes by Chris Lear, an account of the 1998 season of the University of Colorado Men's Cross Country Team. I knocked out the first 50 pages of it, and it is extremely interesting. Hopefully, I'll have it finished in a week or so.
I'm ready for the weekend.

Domination at Work

2007-07-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

I made significant progress today at work in my attempt to re-design the Smalls Sort at UPS. I have all but finalized the design, and after an initial "looks good" from the Package Planning Manager, I will meet with him tomorrow or Friday for a more in depth review. I'm kind of glad to be done with the MPG Initiative project...it was very interesting and all, but very long, and after 5 to 6 weeks on it I was ready to move on.
Phil, Jamie, Jamie's Dad, and I went on a close-to-15 mile bike ride this evening. We started out climbing up Patton Chapel Road before snaking through Bluff Park and on down to the end of Shades Crest Road, where we turned right and headed towards Highway 31 before coming home through Star Lake and back down Patton Chapel. After stretching and resting, I knocked out 90 push-ups. 20 of them were one-armed (left arm), 20 were one-armed (right arm), 20 were 5 second negatives, 10 were declined, and 20 were normal.
We have biked twice this week, and my legs are pretty shot. I think I may take tomorrow off from doing any kind of physical activity.

He is Mighty Enough to Save

2007-07-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

Everyone needs compassion
A love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
A kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations

My Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything i believe in
Now i surrender

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

Christ is not only “mighty to save” those who repent, but he is able to make men repent. He will carry those to heaven who believe; but he is, moreover, mighty to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is mighty to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the despiser of his name to bend the knee before him.
-Charles Spurgeon

Another Monday

2007-07-09T21:54:00.000-05:00

Today was pretty boring:
-I finally got in touch with Mike Boone, the Tuscaloosa manager, after about a week of trying to contact him...it was about the only worthwhile thing that got accomplished today
-The weather changed about 15 times today
-It took Jamie and I 3 tries to find a tennis court that wasn't in use
-I'm tired from yesterday's bike ride and today's push-ups/sit-ups
-I'm trying to finish up a scholarship application

Keith arrived home today, so it was good to see him. Hopefully tomorrow will be less boring at work, or else, I'm going to be in horrible shape.

Some humor:
Man robs bank disguised as tree, haha!

A Good Weekend

2007-07-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

At the time of my last post, I was basically walking out the door to meet my good friend Ben Sholes to ride up to Huntsville, AL. I suppose this post will be semi-not-short, as it will cover the whole weekend.
I would be staying with Ben for the weekend, while also attending the wedding of Mr. Matt Beaver. We left my car in the Cost Co. parking lot by the Galleria, and headed off in Ben's semi-new sweet BMW. The ride went by pretty quick...Ben and I had a nice lengthly conversation on my job for the summer, his job (of around half a year) at PWC, as well as various business topics such as CPI, management, and what kind of work I want to do, among other things. After arriving in Huntsville, we talked with his parents for a bit and then hit the sheets around midnight or so.
On Saturday morning, we all awakened around 10 a.m., and the Sholes family treated at a restaurant called Red Robin, which is similar to Johnny Rockets (for those residing in the Birmingham area). After a filling lunch, we all went back to the Sholes's residence and hung out until around 3 p.m. or so. At this time, we proceeded to get ready for the wedding, as we were scheduled to start making our way there at around 4:15 p.m. We rolled out at around 4:30 p.m., and arrived at the wedding location at around 4:55 p.m. It was at some sweet little place (I don't know what to call it), and the weather actually turned out pretty nice, even though it had rained a good bit the day before. I had been getting pretty excited about the wedding, because I knew that a lot of familiar faces would be there:)
To name a few, Mr. Kyle Carlton (and his wife of course) were in attendance. I had the pleasure of rowing in a spectacular 4+ with Kyle the Spring season of my sophomore year. We medaled at Aiken Co. and John Hunter Regattas that semester, as well as becoming the first men's boat form the U of A to race at the Dad Vail Regatta up in Philadelphia, PA, as well as making it into the semi-finals at this prestigious race. Other good faces to see include (but are not limited to) Lucian Hornbuckle (and his wife), Jason and Allison, Chris Thomas and Stamps, Larry "D", and a slew of ladies including Rachel K., Marley, Bryn, McKee, Vic, Rachel J., Cristin, Leigh Ann, Ali, Cara...and I'm sure that I'm leaving someone out! Point is, I really enjoyed seeing all these people and catching up with them!
The ceremony itself was short and sweet, lasting only about 15 minutes, but we stayed around the reception and caught up with old friends for another 3 hours or so. From there it was back to the Sholes's house...we were all pretty worn out. Breakfast this morning was at Cracker Barrel (thanks Mr. and Mrs. Sholes!), and I met up with Marley and Bryn to ride back home around 9:30 a.m.
I will say that I'm pretty impressed with the 2007 4Runners (Marley's new car), as it provided an excellent, comfortable ride back home. I was chillin' in the back seat, windows down, sunroof down, sun shinin', and wind in my face, and it gave me a nice chance to relax, clear my mind, and worship God in my only little way, since I would be missing the usual Sunday morning service. We made it back quickly, and Marley dropped Bryn and I off at my car before darting back to Tuscaloosa for some commitment. Bryn's flight back to FL did not leave until 6:05 p.m., so being the excellent friend I am:), I sought out to entertain for the afternoon before dropping her off at the B'ham airport. After a stellar lunch and some cheesy end to a Steven Segal movie, we became engrossed in the movie K-PAX, which was playing on the Sci-Fi channel. It finished up just in time to run her to the airport, so I quickly did that and headed back to get a workout and bike in.
Jamie and I lifted our weights as usual, and at around 6:30 p.m., Phil met up with us for a bike ride. We ended up riding about 18 miles, traveling up Patton Chapel, through Bluff Park, down to Alford Avenue, and back around, finishing with a nice spring down Patton Chapel and then up into the Preserve. I will note, however, that we encountered some murderous climbs, and the usually not-to-bad 18-miler seemed rather tiring. Our competitive fires got going when finishing up the last leg down Patton Chapel: Phil was already a little ahead, as he was first in line, and we had to slow down for a stop sign. After passing the stop sign, Jamie started to hawk down Phil, and I positioned myself right off his back wheel and took off with him. We caught him after 30 seconds or so, and then, right before the crest of the next hill, Jamie's chain popped off. I quickly flew by him and rode even with Phil until the bend by Simmons before falling back in line. Max speed on the hill: 40.8 mph, yea! We quickly headed home since darkness was approaching rapidly.
That was my weekend, and hopefully this week will be cool. I don't plan on doing anything on Friday, since it is Friday the 13th, ahhhhhhhh! I do plan on attending The Basement on Tuesday though, as well as completing my regular weekly workouts, and hopefully I'll get in a round of golf.

She's Everywhere!

2007-07-06T14:42:00.000-05:00

It has been brought to my attention that I have left an unusual circumstance of my life out of my blog recently. For the past few weeks, I have been randomly running into my dear friend Heather Joy Wiginton.....everywhere! First it was pumping gas at Exxon, then it was in passing on Sulphur Springs Road and Highway 150, among other places, and finally last night it was outside of the Publix Shopping Center on 150 down towards 459. In the latter of these instances, I was practically run over by her (haha, kidding)! Anyways, I thought I would acknowledge these aforementioned series of chance events, because they brighten my day!

End of the 4th + the 5th

2007-07-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

I really didn't do much on our Nation's birthday, except eat a lot (a traditional happening in my family) and play a lot of tennis (a traditional happening for the summer).

Work today was good........we reorganized the whole Smalls Sort area, which may sound rather elementary, but I guarantee you that productivity will go up by at least 5% in that area.......and that is what IE is all about. This reminds me of a comment I recently heard in response to the University of Alabama closing down the IE department. Some uninformed student proceeded to say that IE's work in manufacturing alone, and their skill set is overlapped by other engineering disciplines. Hmmmmm, that couldn't be farther from the truth. If it was true, would I really be working for UPS? (obviously, a not a manufacturing company) I would ask this gentleman to look at the manufacturing and service industries as a whole, and then get back to me.

My Dad has started up a Bible Study at our house on Thursday nights, and tonight was the first session. It went pretty well I would say, even though there were only about 4 of us, haha. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

I ran 2 miles today, finishing with a nice sprint up our hill (which rises 112 feet in elevation). This was followed by 5 x 25 push-ups and 5 x 60 sit-ups. The push-ups are getting easier as the summer progresses, which is good. I actually knocked out a few one-handed, to my surprise, as I was just trying out of pure boredom.

Tomorrow, after work and workouts, I will head to Huntsville, AL to see a good friend and ex-boat member Matt Beaver get married. He is marrying Stephanie Rainey, a former crew member who I also know. Beaver and I held down the bow pair in our 4 man shell along with Jason Cottingham and Drew Hall back in the Fall of 2005. I have to say, that was probably the fastest and smoothest boat I have ever been in, and we received medals at the Chattanooga Head Race as well as the Head of the Hooch (the 2nd largest collegiate regatta in the nation). Also, we raced at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta, placing 9th out of around 40 shells, finishing in the top 5% to earn a guaranteed entry for the next year. What a great semester. They are getting married on Saturday (7/7/07), so it should be fun. Also, I get to see a bunch of good friends from the years such as Ben Sholes (my cox'n all but one semester), Jason Cottingham (my stroke for 2 years and boat member for 3), his girlfriend (coach for a year and teammate for 2 years), as well as my favorites Rach, Bryn, and Marley, wohooooo!

I am about to dive into Sowell's Basic Economics, as I just finished Friedman's The World is Flat last night. Maybe I'll tell you what I got out of the description of the flat world next time, as this post is already too long.

The third, and Happy 4th!

2007-07-04T12:50:00.000-05:00

I was entirely too tired to post yesterday......so here goes. We started our new project at work, with the objective of re-designing their Smalls Sort area. Also, we completed a few load quality audits while the pre-loaders were loading the trucks. As one of my colleagues (Robyn Smaha, a very young, genius of a woman with an MBA) was showing me how to complete an audit, she found 2 mis-loads on the very first truck! A mis-load is simply a package that has been put on the wrong truck, which is a very big deal. The Manager of that particular line then proceeded to destroy the pre-loader.......I felt kind of bad for him! I completed the rest of the audits, and lucky for them, no more mis-loads were found.

After work Jamie and I completed our second out of three upper-body workouts for the week, and this particular workout utilized the "high-rep-low-weight" method. After lifting, we headed straight to Chace Lake to play some doubles tennis with Moose and Matt Sterley. After last weeks pitiful performance, Sterley and I were determined to dominate, like we knew that we could. We came out blazing, taking the first set 6-0. We fell into a little rut in the second set, however, and were down 4 games to 1 right off the bat. After a quick regrouping though, we proceeded to win the next 5 games to take the second set 6-4. After this amazing comeback, it was pretty much over. My first serve was pretty much unstoppable the last game, and throughout the whole match, I think my serve was only broke one time. I think we won the third set 6-1 or 6-2, but to one watching, it probably looked like 6-0. Just like last week, my net play was rather sub-par, but my forehand was pretty strong, and I would estimate that I probably hit 70% of my first-serves, and that number probably jumped to 85% in the third set.

After our 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 win, we switched it up for a Jamie/Chad vs. Moose/Sterley 1 set match-up. We fell down to a 1-4 deficit, but then started to post a miraculous comeback. Jame's net play combined with my back court play helped us get it as close as 4-5, but they eventually closed out the last game for the win. I am confident, however, that next time we can squeak out a "W."

I just ate my 4th of July lunch, and the menu was as follows:
-Pork tenderloin
-Baked potato
-Baked beans
-Cheese bread
-Watermelon
-Chocolate chip pound cake

Needless to say, I am stuffed right now. Who knows what the rest of the day will bring....maybe I'll get into trouble with some fireworks.

My legs hurt

2007-07-02T21:45:00.000-05:00

I started off the day strong, waking at 8:30 a.m. to go lifts some weights at the Hoover REC Center. Today was a leg day, so the workout consisted of squats, calf raises, leg extensions, and leg curls. I reached the 300 lb milestone on squats today, finishing my 5th set with 2 reps of 305 lbs. My goal for the summer, as I previously stated, is to be able to max 400 lbs, which means I will probably be finishing my last set with about 340 to 350 lbs. At the rate I am going, I will be there in approximately 4 weeks.

I rolled into work at noon, since I was supposed to work the Local Sort today. For the first 4 hours or so, I made some final adjustments to our project and tried to contact the Manager over in Tuscaloosa, but he did not answer. When the trucks started coming in, we went out to do some check-in audits. These are very necessary in order to find out what UPS is doing wrong and how they can make it better, and it serves as a complimentary back-end to the Planning methodologies. Anyways, we are starting a new project tomorrow that focuses on the "smalls sort." Every package that is a "small" (pretty much, this means that you can hold it in one hand) is bagged in a special container. This method helps decrease damage claims and provides a means for shipping simplification by allowing UPS to group all boxes that are going to one particular place in one container. Our project is pretty vague right now, but it has something to do with improving this operation.

After work, Jamie and I went on a 5.5 mile run down through Lake Crest, around the lake, and back. We made the run in 43 min and 11 sec, which averages out to around 7:51 a mile. It was probably one of the most painful, easy runs I have ever been on. After the first mile, my legs felt like complete jello due to my leg workout this morning. The whole rest of the run was a drag, but I guess some days are like that. It was pouring rain when we started out, but my the end of the run it was pretty humid, and I could see the steam coming off the concrete as we progressed through the run. Also, if you were wandering how I knew the exact distance of our run even though it was party on trails, there is this SWEET website where you can draw your own routes on a map powered by Google, and it automatically tracks the distance as well as any elevation changes. Check it out here.

I ran across three outrageous articles today at work:
Crazy!
Crazier!
Craziest!

Also, I heard a pretty funny quote at work from one of the Managers:
(pointing to a guy who was putting packages in a container)....

"This guy scans like 3000 packages a night. He's unstoppable. He must be on cocaine, speed, or crack."

Cool ban + Stuff

2007-07-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

England definitely knows what is up.....CHECK THIS OUT.

Today's accomplishments:

-Sunday School and an entirely too long Church Service
-a nice meal of pot roast, potatoes, and carrots
-a solid upper body workout with Phil and Jamie
-survival of a few lightning strikes and a power outage
-an interesting conversation with Ms. Micheletti concerning diets, haha, among other things
-50 pages of reading in The World is Flat (only 66 pages to go)
-taught my Mom how to use Microsoft Excel
-jammed out to some Taking Back Sunday
-completed my daily news gathering routine
-[currently] finishing up a scholarship application

What is up with all of this violence directed towards the UK?

Lazy Saturday

2007-06-30T23:57:00.000-05:00

Today was a pretty lazy day. I did not get to play golf, because it started thundering about the time we were going to go, and a golf club is basically a lightning rod. After waking up at noon, I lounged around all afternoon while washing clothes and watching TV. When Jamie got off work at 8 p.m., he joined Phil and I for a run (somewhere between 2.5 and 3 miles) through the Preserve. After that, we headed to Nick Barry's new house for some burgers, and now I'm about to get some sleep. Cheers.

Friday

2007-06-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (Friday), I worked the early shift at UPS from 4 a.m. until 11 a.m. Our project was finally going down, so we had to be there when all of the truck changes were made. Everything actually went smoother than I thought, as there was only 2 or 3 trucks that were in the wrong place. However, we will see on Monday how everything else went, because I'm pretty sure that some of the senior drivers will have something smart to say.

The rest of the day consisted of:

a nice 3 hour nap
solid lunch and dinner food
reading about globalization
a 2 mile run with Phil and Jamie
120 push-ups
290 sit-ups
1/2 gallon of Gatorade
La Brisa
Dueling pianos at Twist and Shout

Moose, Phil and I are playing 9 holes at Chace Lake later today, so that should be fun. Maybe I'll hit a hole-in-one or something.

Bike, Golf, and Tennis

2007-06-28T22:36:00.000-05:00

Phil, Jamie, and I went on a 10.36 mile bike ride around Hoover. We started out in the Preserve, went out to Star Lake and rode around there, and finally ended up going through the Preserve and back to my house. It was really weird......at several points in the ride, we picked up random bikers to ride in our pack, and it almost felt like a pick-up basketball game. A guy would join us for a few miles, leave, and then someone else would show up. I guess Thursday evenings are prime time for riding.

After biking, we headed to Phil's to hit golf balls into his new, MASSIVE net. I tried out his new Taylor Made irons and driver, and they are sweet. I'd say I probably hit around 30 to 40 balls, comparable to a small bucket at the range. As if we had not done enough physical activity today, we then headed to Birchtree to play some tennis. We didn't actually play a real game and keep score, but we just volleyed back and forth trying to hit crazy shots.

I have to be up in 4 hours and 40 minutes, so I should probably get to sleep. However, this was quite the common situation this past Spring, when I almost always got to bed between midnight and 1 a.m. while having to get up at 5 a.m. for crew practice. However, I am not suggesting in any way that it will be easy, or that I enjoy doing it.

Finally

2007-06-28T17:58:00.001-05:00

We FINALLY got the go ahead for the implementation of our car changes at UPS. For the past few days, Nic (the other intern) and I have been battling the Dispatch Supervisors in a "We want to save money and follow corporate decisions vs. We don't want to piss off drivers" all out brawl. Actually, it wasn't too bad, but it really makes you see why Industrial Engineers are needed in the business world because of their people skills (not that other disciplines do not have any people skills). The trucks will be switched to their new locations following their daily washing after Thursday's routes are run. I have to come into work at 4 a.m. on Friday morning to make sure that this all goes smoothly. The Preload starts at around 4:45 a.m., so we need to make sure that all the trucks are in the right spot before the packers try to load them........or else, chaos will be incurred!

Also, I received my work schedule for next week. Since volume goes down during 4th of July week, UPS [encourages] workers to take time off that week. That being the case, the IE department traditionally steps up its duties during that week, covering all work shifts between the department. I will be working the Local Sort on Monday and Thursday (1 a.m. to 7 a.m., and on Tuesday and Friday I will be coming in at the end of the Preload (7 a.m.). My sleep schedule is going to be really jacked up next week.

Jamie and I lifted some weights after I got off work, and at 6:30 we will be going on a bike ride, with Phil possibly joining us.

This just in: I have received my tickets to the Projekt Revolution Tour in Atlanta, GA on August 7th, headlining bands such as Linkin Park, TAKING BACK SUNDAY, My Chemical Romance, Saosin, and others. My dad literally just handed me the evelop seconds ago. One funny note though, I ordered my tickets off Ticketmaster's online web site, and it says they send them to you in an unmarked envelope (to prevent theft). The envelop I received had this return address on it:

AFTER 5 DAYS RETURN TO:
Customer Service
1000 Corporate Landing
Charleston, West Virginia 25311

Haha! After the initial confusion went away, I had a good laugh. Time to ride.

Car Nightmares + Tennis

2007-06-27T22:10:00.000-05:00

Well, we were finally ready to implement our car changes today, and as it turns out, some of the Dispatch Supervisors had already done some switching in the past few weeks. THANKS A LOT GUYS. So now, instead of changing the cars around tonight before the Thursday morning Preload gets underway at around 3:45 a.m., we will try to hurry and get it ready for the Friday routes. In an event of shear disbelief, the Standard Car Lineup (the sheet that shows exactly what cars are being ran and where they are positioned) actually had the SAME CAR in TWO DIFFERENT SPOTS! Is UPS running phantom cars or something?

After work, I headed home and hung around until around 6:00 p.m. Jamie and I then headed to Chase Lake Country Club to join Moose and Matt Sterley for a round of doubles tennis. I had not played in about 2 weeks, after starting off the summer playing just about every day. I had a rather mediocre night, with my net-play sucking to say the least. My serves were actually doing well, and out of the 30 games or so that we played, I think I only lost one service game. Sterley and I went out strong and got up 4-0 in the first set, and then survived a late comeback to take the first set 6-4. From then on, our play got worse and worse. We should have easily handled them, but our horrendous play handed us a loss in the tie-breaker in the second set and a 4-6 defeat in the third and final set. If either of us had been anywhere near our A game, we would have for sure gone something like 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, game-set-match. Oh well.

I'm going to go listen to some guy ramble on about how the world is flat and simultaneously bash the Bush Administration as much as possible. What is everyone doing for the 4th??

UPS + The Basement

2007-06-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

Work today was a normal day. We had a meeting with the Dispatch Supervisors about the project we are working on, and I will be talking with Managers in Tuscaloosa and Fort Payne tomorrow to increase the scope of our project. I met the Tuscaloosa Building Manager (Mr. Mike Boone) last week, and as it turns out, I went to high school with his daughter Natalie, who is a year younger than me...small world, eh?

After a short nap and some dinner, I headed to Heather's house at 6:15 to head off to the Basement. This was my third time to go, and it keeps getting better every time...its just amazing how everyone is just so on fire for God, I can't get over it. I also enjoy the rap music at the start, which uses the beats of modern songs, but changes up the words. I found one of Matt Pitt's references very thought provoking:

".....that WHOSOEVER believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16

It is important to note the use of the word whosoever, which means anyone that, and in this case means anyone that believes in him. It does not say that if a Baptist believes in him, a Catholic believes, or a white or male or female believes, it says that "WHOSOEVER believes in him shall have eternal life." No external features of a person matter, it is all about a relationship with Him.

I am eating steak for lunch tomorrow, yes:)

Sore, Tired

2007-06-25T23:06:00.000-05:00

Today was a pretty good day. All of the Birmingham Managers at UPS are looking over our recommendations, and we are planning to make the adjustments on Wednesday night to be ready for the Thursday routes. I had a little bit of touch up work to do this morning, but we are pretty much at the point where we have to wait on approval for our plan. I borrowed the book Excel 2003: Power Programming with VBA by John Walkenbach (also known as "Mr. Spreadsheet") from Jordan. As I mentioned earlier, I am learning the ropes of VBA, because already in my 5 weeks of work at UPS, I have come across numerous instances where I could have easily executed an otherwise time-wasting task with a macro. Anyways, I made some strides today in my quest, as I finished up the first chapter entitled Introduction to Visual Basic Applications.

After work, I headed straight to the Hoover REC to get a leg workout in. I didn't know what to expect, because it had been 10 days since my last leg workout. Previously, I was making tremendous gains on all exercises (squats, calf raises, leg extension, and leg curls), but I wasn't sure how my sabbatical would effect my strength. Anyways, I decided to continue adding 10 lbs more on each set as compared to the previous workout. As it turned out, I actually felt stronger after 10 days off! I am 5 lbs away from reaching 300 lbs on my last set of squats (for 2 reps), and I increased on all other exercises. Keep in mind, I am a major proponent of doing "real squats," and anyone that has ever worked out with me can verify this fact. I absolutely can't stand watching people do what I call "knee flexors," or only squatting down enough to barely bend the knees. Most of time, you will see meat-heads do this, as they focus so much on upper body strength and they still want their weak lower body to look strong. Haha.

After running by the bank and the post office, I headed home for some taco salad dinner. I continued work on my Father's Day gift to my Dad, which is to put all of his running data (date, distance, time, etc) into Microsoft Excel. He has kept track of his runs since 2000, and I have completed years 2000, 2001, and 2002. Both of my parents are pretty big into running and biking, so this will really help my Dad out as he is basically computer illiterate. I have found that through my experiences in rowing for the U of A Crew Club, it always helped me to keep track of my workouts and track my gains.

I came across an interesting story today. I read (via a link off OpinionJournal) that a man in Georgia killed a bear with a log. He was camping with 3 of his sons when a bear came up and grabbed their cooler. The guy's 6 year old son threw a shovel at the bear, and of course the bear dropped the cooler and turned to the kid. The father (an ex-marine) grabbed a nearby log and hurled it at the bear, killing it. Wow. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself......Man kills bear!

Jamie and I went on a run after dinner, completing one of our trail runs through the Preserve. We kept a nice 7:30 pace for 3.25 miles, but neither of us could ever hit a rhythm. It was probably the most uncomfortable "easy run" that I have ever completed. For one, my legs felt like jelly from lifting earlier, so that certainly did not help. I still have a healing blister on the inside of my left foot, so that did not help either. I think we are just beaten up from hitting the exercise so hard for the last few weeks. I believe that we are going to take tomorrow off, and maybe Wednesday also.

After watching an episode of Man vs. Wild, I am about to pass out. Tomorrow, I plan to make some more progress at work in the area of VBA. Lunch is at my Grandmothers (score), and I also plan to attend The Basement again tomorrow night. Maybe I will get a quick nap in after work. I'm tired. Bed time.

Weekend in Tuscaloosa

2007-06-24T23:28:00.001-05:00

I spent Friday night through late Sunday afternoon in Tuscaloosa and basically, all I did was relax a lot...plus I got to see a lot of friends for the first time since school let out. Jordan and I had a few duels in MLB 2007 The Show, and I failed to win any of them. Today, we went to the late service at Calvary and heard a pretty good message on trust. The word came from the story of Joseph in Genesis, which was one of my favorite stories growing up. I have probably read that section of Genesis about 40 times, so it was good to hear some talk on it. Following the service, a bunch of us headed to Mellow Mushroom, and I proceeded to knock out 1/2 of a large, pepperoni, meatball pizza. The rest of the afternoon consisted of cleaning my bathroom (because I will be moving out of my current apartment in a few weeks) and taking care of some Alabama Crew Club finances. I finally made it back to Birmingham around 6:00 p.m. I worked out, read, ate some dinner, took a shower, and now I am not even close to being tired after receiving about 20 hours of sleep in the past 2 days:) Not to worry though, I will be dead tired by Tuesday.

Good Saturday

2007-06-23T17:50:00.000-05:00

After seeing a few friends last night, I slept for 10 HOURS before waking up at 11:45 a.m. After lunging around and grabbing some lunch, I was thinking about going for a run. I took one step out of my apartment, and quickly decided against any physical activity, as it felt close to 110 degrees. Instead, Jimmy and I headed to Rachel Jone's pool at her house over in Northport. The water felt excellent, and I received slight sun burns on my shoulders and the top of my forehead. That's what happens when you don't wear sunscreen in 100 degree heat. Dinner: Mugshots. Rest of the night: wing it. Peace.

Bored at Work

2007-06-22T14:29:00.000-05:00

I'm bored at work because my boss is in Montgomery, and I've pretty much done all that I can do for the day. I'm testing out the "Add Image" feature, hence the UPS logo on the left side. As for today's highlights, I pretty much dominated Excel, did some very informing data analysis, and made a few strides in my quest to learning VBA. During the data analysis, I found the need to perform a hypothesis test for the difference between two different sets of data. I had to do a little bit of preliminary research regarding p-values, because I couldn't remember on which side of the value constituted a rejection. I found a pretty cool web site that actually carried out the test for me: http://www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/. Anyways, the p-value was .1168, so by conventional criteria, this difference is considered to be not statistically significant becuase the value is above the commonly chosen standard of .05. Basically, this means that the two sets of data that I was comparing were not statistically different (if they were, I would have had to rethink my approach to tracking the results of our project, and that would suck). In thirteen minutes, it will be the weekend!