Weather

I might could get used to the weather around here. It is great for riding bikes.



All the other places I look at are worse for riding this time of year. The next step is to find more time to actually ride outside.

Making Approaches

There are good ways, and less-good ways to approach strangers. This is especially true if you want something from them. Last night while walking down the street I was approached by a stranger who, I assumed was homeless. He assumed I was willing to buy him food.

The thing is, he had a pretty good approach. Step one, "I don't want any money from you"

He just disqualified himself from being a beggar, nice.

"Ok..."

"Instead can you buy me a burrito from that fancy pants burrito place right there, it's only a dollar thirty five"

"I see"

Man, I could use a burrito too. I've never been to this place, it looks pretty good. Only $1.35? That's pretty reasonable sounding. Unless they have changed things from what I've learned about the drug culture from tv and movies, and burritos are now accepted in lieu of cash, he will not be buying crack with this burrito.

"Yea I can do that"

So we ate burritos. Not together, but at the same time just in different places. Next time we're eating this meal together. What has gotten into me? Am I nicer person than I thought I was? Is it the Holiday spirit sneaking in? Maybe he just had a good approach.

Finland

According to wikipedia, Finland's "Contemporary music includes e.g. a renowned metal music scene, in common with the other Nordic countries, as well as a number of prominent rock and pop bands, jazz musicians, hip hop performers and makers of dance music." I can confirm that the metal is indeed renound. Lately I haven't been able to stop listening to a few bands, all from Finland.



It all started with Korpiklaani, after peeping the youtube for some of their music and stumbling upon this: there was no turning back. I mean seriously, the man pops out of an outhouse playing a fiddle. I thought I had found the greatest music of all time. I had, but there was more.



Luckily Banshee media player, along with the internet, is pretty smart and was able to recommend some other bands I might be interested in. Ensiferum anyone? Rumor has it they call themselves "viking metal", I call them "awesome".





Finntroll rounds out the picks for this month. In a semi related genre, but not country of origin I need to mention apocalyptica, you know, the cellists.

As a response to my letter to nationals, a friend suggested to get in shape for nationals all I would need would be a 10 minute training montage. He was right, and I think with this music as the soundtrack that montage might just work.

Dear 'Cross Nats

Dear 'Cross Nats,

I'm sorry to have to tell you this way, but I'm not going to be able to make it to see you next month like we had planned. It's not you, it's me.

My recent reductions in training volume have really taken their toll me on, you wouldn't want to see me in my current condition. Honest. My legs are flabby and shapeless, my ass is huge, and my tan lines have somehow disappeared with the sprouting of fresh hair on my legs.

School has turned my brain to mush and I would be too preoccupied to give you the attention you deserve. I'm driving home for Turkey day and well, I'm really only good for one drivathon per year. 2008's quota is filled, and with the gas prices what they are there's just no way I can afford to come visit. My new roommate hasn't panned out yet so I'm really strapped for cash, my car is in dire need of an oil change and I don't even have enough quarters to do laundry. If only I were stronger, you wouldn't want to see me like this anyway. I don't want to see me like this.

I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun with all of those 'other' boys anyway. They're in much better shape than I am. This is a good thing, for both of us. I think Matt Rotroff will be coming to visit in my place. Tell him I said 'what's up'.

Regretfully,
Aaron

detraining

It turns out that drastic reductions in training lead to drastic reductions in fitness. I realized this yesterday at NC state 'cross series race number 6. After going really hard on the start, as hard as I should be able to go, I promptly blew up and drifted to the back.

The start, all seven of us:



In my pre-college days I was expending approximately 10,000-13,000 calories worth of energy on training each week. In the past 2 months my average weekly expenditure is around 3,500. Oops. School keeps getting in the way of training.

Pictures of me going slow look like this:




Plab B: train as much as is reasonable to get fast enough not to embarrass myself at cx nats. On Dec. 13-14th I'm headed to Kansas, mostly for the after party, but I'll do the college kid championship race too.

Caitlin had a good race and is pictured here running, ahead of one of our more famous UMass teammates.



Here's a clip of me in third leading the chase towards the end of the first lap. I promptly fell back to 6th for the rest of the day.

Spring Break!!!

Ok, so winter hasn't even happened yet, but I'm thinking Spring. Spring break!!! to be exact. I'm thinking spring because I remembered that I forgot my road bike at home, in MA. I decided that I would like to have this bicycle here, in Raleigh, NC.

If I ask them nicely, my parents might box and ship my bike to me. I could carry my bike on a return flight after visiting MA for Turkey day or Xmas. Let's not be hasty, as Bruce would say, "don't move until you see it". The correct answer is to fly home for Spring Break!!! and ride the bike back to Raleigh.

The academic calendar here at State lists spring break!!! as March 2 to the 6th. It's only 750 miles or so. Tentative plans are shown below.

You might be a dork

If you think this is cool. I think this is cool.

For eons people have wondered what the shear rate of swallowing was. Then one time someone figured out how to figure it out. Basically this is what they did...

Make several samples of Newtonian goop for people to swallow, each of a different viscosity. Have them rank these as 'thick' and 'thin'. Give them a power law fluid to swallow and rank. Now plot and extrapolate.

Penz

I recently purchased a new pen from the internet. It was delivered yesterday, but since I was not home at the time of delivery, they left it in the housing association office. No big deal, they're open from 9-12 on weekdays, I'll just show up to my 9am meeting a little late after picking up the pen.

Nope. The small sign indicted that they would be closed today. Great, now I'm going to have to wait until Tuesday. Lame.

Why would you buy a pen on the internet? Because unfortunately there are few retailers carrying fountain pens these days. Fountain pens write better. There I said it. I was hoping that because fountain pens write better, I would be able to write better with one. This has yet to happen. Remember IAMPETH and the Spencer brothers? Penmanship.

I started looking at and attempting to learn and/or invent some ornamental capital letters. Here's an example from Caitlin's pumpkin contest entry.

Radio

Lately I've been pretty jazzed to be able to sample some new tunes via pandora internet radioesque website. It has about as much variety as the radio, but will allow you to choose the genre and skip songs once in a while.

Sometimes I hear voices, usually in my head. Today I could swear they were coming from the computer. Behind my epic metal there were voices. Was this a scheme by pandora to subliminally sell me more Epica or Apocalyptica albums?

I turned down the volume on the pandora website. The music went away, but the faintest sound background noise still came through.

Was I running another website or program in the background that made sounds I was not aware of? I shut them all, the noise remained.

Let's double check, I muted the sounds on the computer. The sounds persisted.

I turned the volume on my speakers all the way down. The music got louder. Apparently I'm picking up a local radio station via my computer speakers. Oddly enough it comes in loudest with the volume turned all the way down. Weird.

Nats part 2

My third collegiate mtb nationals effort was easily my worst. I got my best result yet, which was not even close to my expectations.

On the plus side my parents came out to watch and I got to play the role of Jemaine with Justin playing the role of Bret.

Justin had a good day and finished 5th in the xc. Massive respect.

Caitlin took some pics and finished the xc without a chain, scooter style. Good game.

sick and tired of being sick and tired

Saturday I woke up with a stuffed up nose and felt like crap, but I had pre-registered for a 'cross race. So I raced. Maybe I was sick from being pregnant?



I felt and looked like crap:



I ended up going ok and finished 10th on both days.




My body is tired. Done.

Justin is coming

There's a special occasion coming up called collegiate mountain bike national championships, or something like that. The part that makes it so special is that Justin, formerly of UMBRC fame and currently a resident of the beaver state (Oregon), is coming out to race. Oh yea, the race is in the tar heel state (NC).

Below is part of a custody battle for young Justin that transpired this morning, highlighting just how special this occasion is.



me:i don't know if we could fit all 5 of us

would you mind driving FB? or i could prob fit him too but not the two of yous

he was thinking coming in wed night

Caitlin: yeah sho

I'll keep him Wednesday too

me: no way. I'm keepin' him

I have the cage set up already and everything

with his little water bottle on the side

i just bought fresh cedar chips

Caitlin : no way!!!

I've been Justin proofing my house for months

I just finished getting all breakable items above 4 ft

me: But I put a plastic cover on my couch and got those 3 ft high barriers to block off doorways

Caitlin: I plugged all the empty outlets

and rerouted all things in an outlet so the wires run through the wall

me: I guess what we'll have to do is when he lands, we'll both stand at opposite sides of the room and call him, whoever he goes to can have him

no cheating either, I don't want to see you sneaking bacon in your pockets or anything like that

Caitlin: and I don't want to see you with a bowl of granola and yogurt

pictures

Here are a few pics courtesy of Caitlin from the cx race this past Sunday. I recently realized that as long as I'm not burned out by the time cx nats rolls around I could go and do the collegiate race. That might be fun. The UCI Elite race was not.

Nah

I was thinking about posting my recent race results on the 'official website' for Aaron Oakes, but I'll stick them here instead.

I raced collegiate mountain bikes (they're smarter than regular ones) a few weeks ago and won the xc. This past Saturday I also won the xc and a TT.

Sunday I went to my first 'cross race and there were more all-stars there than at the mountain bike race. I finished 2nd. Results.

Hopefully I'll be able to post a video clip of me shouldering it over the, non-uci and way too high, set of doubles and sprinting up the hill that followed.

More stuff happened, but my full-time student/job won't permit me the time to write about it.

The video is at the gun show, I'm the one running. Hear.

Suffering

For quite some time I've been toying with the idea of writing about suffering. This is not it. I don't even know that I could coherently put into words what it is I would like to express about suffering. Instead I'll just say that it is relative and usually a good thing.

Most recently, in the context of my back, I've been suffering a little because the knot which is aggravated by my compression fractures has been acting up. Yea, it hurts, but what hurts a lot more is when I put a lacrosse ball down on the floor and lay down on it. I place the whole weight of my body directly on the aggravated muscle, while the hard rubber ball firmly nestles it's way deep into my muscle tissue. Suddenly when I get up it hurts a lot less.

The moral: When you exist at a certain level of comfort, minor aggravations will cause sufferation. If you increase the level of suffering relative to your baseline, you can elevate it and eventually be comfortable with the first level of minor aggravation. This will alleviate the previous gripe.

Graph? Yes.



Don't even think about thinking about those unfortunate people who I may be offending by talking about suffering. You know, the people with no choice about it, the ones in drought stricken or impoverished parts of the world. They don't count, because they're not from America. Duh.

Thirty Two

As a skeptic of so-called 'sales' at the grocer, I take notes of the prices of the few things I usually buy. Since the grocer is the only place I really buy anything, it's not that big of a hassle to jot down the unit pricing. There are only a dozen or so food items I purchase, so other than the score board I have at home labeled 'greatest hits' for only the lowest unit priced items, I have a decent mental tally of how much things should cost.

At big lots next to the local food lion (king of the grocers) I stopped in for a garden hose and noticed they had salsa in my favorite flavor, medium. I checked the price just for fun. It turned out to be $1/lb. A red flag went up, this was a good price. Just to be sure I popped into the FL where their best unit pricing was more than 60 cents higher per pound.

How much salsa do you buy when you know it's a good deal? Salsa is my main source of vegetables, and favorite topping for eggs, cottage cheese, rice and IQF vegetables. It's supposed to be shelf stable for another year and I go through roughly a pound every week and a half. With some help I was able to walk out of big lots with thirty two pounds of salsa. It should last through the end of the year. I updated the greatest hits score card.

Being Wrong

It turns out being wrong is a good thing. I was recently challenged to write an essay on a subject that has no answer. In this light there is a broad spectrum of answers that would pass the test with varying degrees of wrongness. While pondering the thought of actually writing said essay, I remembered a relationship I had come up with that relates degree of wrongness to interest in conversation. This of course means it's time for a diagram. Please refer to figure 1.0.



Figure 1.0 The relationship between correctness of statement and willingness of others to engage you



This figure shows that closer to the origin, where the degree of wrongness is highest (x axis is how correct you are), the willingness for others to engage you in conversation is highest. In the very extreme case of being the farthest away from being correct, meaning closest to the origin, the willingness for others to engage is zero. This is because at such an extreme viewpoint people will probably be either:

a) afraid of you
b) convinced you're not capable of having a conversation because your idea is so bad

It is important to note that the maximum willingness to engage occurs very near to the most wrong you could ever be. This is because it is easy for people to identify that you are wrong, and be willing to 'set you straight' and be sure to correct you.

On the most correct end of the spectrum the willingness for people to engage asymptotically approaches zero. The asymptotic approach is to account for those people on the opposite end of the spectrum, who even though you are 100% correct, are crazy enough to argue. These are the people that most people are either:

a) afraid of
b) convinced aren't capable of having a conversation

The steady decline occurs because as your statement becomes more and more correct the possibility for anyone to add decreases. See figure 2.0.

Figure 2.0 The relationship between completeness of statement and room left to contribute



The take home message here is that if you would love to kill a conversation, be right. By all means make the most complete statement possible covering every angle and giving all sides of the argument a fair shake. Nobody, except the creepy guy in the corner, will have anything to say to that. You will have just won the contest of being right, but lost at being a guy people can talk to. Alternatively you could say something that is borderline outrageous. If you hit it just right, you will be rewarded with maximum engagement by normal people.

Partial Credit

Do you remember exams? I vaguely did until yesterday. I took one yesterday and another today, this was the first time in a few years I had taken an exam. The past several days I've been a bit stressed out about attempting to learn sufficient material to get good enough grades on two exams to not get kicked out of school. The jury is still out, but I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Having these two exams out of the way is a welcomed relief that will last for up to three whole weeks before I realize there's another exam soon.

I think the weight on my shoulders has relocated itself in my back. Last night I rolled around on a lacrosse ball, which helped it a little.

Anyone remember how to use the Arrhenius equation to get a viscosity of a Newtonian fluid at a temperature when two other temperatures and viscosity are known? I didn't, so I'm hoping for partial credit.

In related news I really like diagrams. Here's one I made to show what is meant by plug flow in pseudoplastic materials:

Technician

After the race yesterday I was called over for an interview with the technician. Apparently the technician is the name of the school's newspaper. Who knew?

Yesterday I raced xc collegiate style for the first time since 2005. It went well. There were 2 other pros and a semi pro in the race. I won and now I'm famous too: http://media.www.technicianonline.com/media/storage/paper848/news/2008/09/22/Sports/Club-Hosts.Race.Over.Weekend-3443532.shtml

Blood

Writing in blood must be the ultimate. Supplies are limited so the words you choose are that much more important. There is no more meaningful form of communication than a handwritten letter written in blood on a slice of paper made from bamboo or leaves or something. The thought and feelings and meaning are all expressed by the media we use to communicate. A text message is worth less than a phone call, which isn't as good as a typed letter. Handwritten letters are on another level, and when you put blood on that bad boy and make your own paper it gets serious.

That's it, I'm fed up with substandard forms of communication. From now on I'll only respond to sticks and leaves with blood on them. You can send it as an attachment in an email if you want.

Spencer

Remember learning how to write in elementary school? As a lefty I felt like I was always at a disadvantage even though I was allowed to write with my left hand. I didn't have to endure a ruler slapping for using the wrong hand, but penmanship did not come easily to me.

These days we can all write in New Times Roman at roughly 60 words per minute and cringe at the thought of having to write in cursive. Of course when I say 'we' I'm referring to anyone born during the era of Tom Selleck as Magnum PI or the A-Team showing on day time television.

Clearly it is an advantage to be able to produce written word that everyone can read, but isn't it a little inconvenient to need a computer and printing technology to do it? Once upon a time children were taught how to write, and write well enough for people to be able to read it. Before that time penmanship was not only legible, but it was also beautiful.

Call me old fashioned, but I think fire is magic. And it scares me. I also feel slighted by the public education system because not enough emphasis was placed on penmanship. As a result my writing looks like a two year old's. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to write someone a note and have it look pretty too? Doesn't it mean more? A pen in your hand is like a polygraph tied directly to your brain, just ask anyone who studies graphology.

I'm pretty sure there's an inversely proportional relationship between quality of script and quantity of writing required. For example, for me to effectively write an acceptable thank you note these days I need to fill 3-4 pages with my chicken scratch. If I could write like the Spencer brothers teach, all I would need to write is "Thanks".




Luckily there's a group that's come to rescue me from my own incompetence. I'm talking about IAMPETH, you know, The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting. On their website you can get a real education, and now that I'm back in school this is what I intend to do.
Spencerian Script

As requested

Some folks have taken and posted several hundred photos from the Shenandoah 100 mountain bike race. Some others have found the ones of me and sent links in my general direction. I too have found a few, and for the benefit of anyone who would like to see them I will now post them here.

This is maybe my favorite one of me having fun while all the other kids sucking my wheel look less jazzed. It may have been 7:30am by the time this photo was taken.




This one must have been towards the end, I look lost.



Still early in the game, I'm giving a thumbs up. This was the first time I remember having my picture taken in this race.

I'm clearly disgusted with the depth of this river crossing, or the dog in the trail.



All done, and in less than a standard 8 hour work day. No lunch break.

The New Way

It's time to learn a new way. Using the old way of thinking, I didn't kick ass on two separate fronts today. The first was eating, I accidentally ate a little too much at free dinner. I also had planned to ride pretty hard today. I didn't, and this was my second failure to kick ass.

It's raining. It's been raining all day. The new way now dictates that as a student, when I'm tired or can make another excuse not to hurt myself in the rain, I can take a 'rest' day. Rest is relative, I will run for like a half hour. The legs just didn't feel that swell yesterday and the correct answer is to be nice to them until they do feel swell. Only then will I beat them into the ground again. I still failed to kick ass at eating.

This new way is going to be sweet. I keep imagining how fun/different it would be to take the new way another step further and just be a normal graduate student. What a new realm of possibilities it would offer, like drinking more beer, not caring about getting fat, and joining all of the food science related clubs. Then I remember how unrewarding it all is in comparison to riding a mountain bike through the woods faster than most. Sold. I'll keep riding, sorry product development team, I have to go to sport practice.

Accidental Epic

By utilizing the desk I found on the side of the road and a map of NC I had purchased, I planned out what I was hoping would be a 4.5 hour road ride today. I really wanted it to be 5 hours or less so that I would make it back in time to indulge in my first free breakfast buffet at the flying saucer. The flying saucer is a local beer bar and beer bar chain that offers members brunch buffet from 12-3 Sunday mornings. I left at 9 so the worst case scenario would be a 5 hour ride and a rush to brunch.

Instead I rode for nearly 7 hours and got pretty well sunburned in the process. I learned two valuable lessons, the first is that churches and houses that are for sale are the best places to fill up your water bottles. Second, wearing sunscreen can prevent unsightly helmet tan.