Posts from — February 2005

I got to go running yesterday, before it snowed (though running in the
light snow would have been fun). I ran out on 378 and went through
north bethlehem all the way to Stefko. I didn’t really know how to get
there, but I guessed a street that turned out to be right. I went north
a bit and then headed back the way I came. It was a good run, but could
have been better, I need to work on a better route.
5/100/80

I need to make some modifications to my running playlist. Since I’m at
work and not doing too much, I’ll write out what I have and solicit
recommendations.

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under the Bridge
I really like starting with this one. It’s not too loud or fast but it keeps moving. It’s a good way to warm up.
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Can’t Stop
This is one of my new
favorite running songs, it’s fast and has a strong beat that gets me
moving a lot before I stretch (usually during the next song).
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Midnight
This is usually used around the time I’m stretching, but has a nice slow but steady beat for running, too.
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Around the World
This is my original running song from the winter, definitely has a lot of power to it and gets me going.
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Parallel Universe
This is another old favorite, for the same reasons.
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication
I’m considering taking
this one out. I like the song, but it just doesn’t seem to fit at this
point in the run. Maybe it just needs to be moved, it has a good drum
beat.
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Vangelis – Chariots of Fire (Opening)
This
is definitely the most classic running song, though I still can’t
figure out in which part of the run it belongs. I used to think it
should be part of the warmup, but now I’m thinking it’s more of a
later-in-the-run endurance type thing.
8. Average White Band – Pick Up The Pieces
This may look really
out of place, but I like this song a lot where it is. It’s upbeat and
usually fits my mood at this point (this is where the endorphins really
start to kick in)
9. Snow Patrol – Somewhere a clock is ticking
Hmm, maybe this
one needs to be replaced. I’ve never listened to it and thought it was
bad, but the start of the song isn’t enough for me.
10. Keane – Untitled 1
This one’s gonna be replaced. It does have a strong beat, but it’s a bit too lethargic or something.
11. Porcupine Tree – Blackest Eyes
At this point in the playlist
I’m often done running, but not always. I like this song but I’m not
sure that it belongs here. Parts of it definitely do, but it’s not like
I can skip the other parts (notably the beginning).
12. Incubus – Stellar
13. Incubus – Drive
14. Incubus – Aqueous Transmission
At this point, if I’m still
moving, I need music to keep me relaxed and running at a steady rate. I
don’t need anything to get me to go faster, it’s just a question of not
stopping and making it home. These three songs might look out of place,
but I think they work really well at this point.
I haven’t managed to run for enough time that I get past Aqueous
Transmission, so I use the rest of the tracks when I’m walking errands
and stuff. I’m probably going to replace these since I’m getting a bit
tired of them.
15. Blind Melon – No Rain
16. Moby – Unloved Symphony
17. Jamiroquai – Canned Heat
18. Phantom Planet – California
19. The Polyphonic Spree – Hold Me Now
20. Cornershop – Brim Full of Asher

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome

I added myself to my LJ friends list. This way I can check for new comments on my journal and new friends entries on the same page. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of that earlier.

I was looking at a math quiz I got back today. There was one question that was worth 10 points that I got completely wrong and the prof wrote “00″ in red pen next to it. I’m not sure why he wrote two zeros, it doesn’t make much sense. However, if you glance quickly, it looks like he wrote the symbol for infinity there. So, since I got infinity points on that, I’m pretty much set for that class so I’m going to stop doing the work.

I’ve been told that my journal helps other people procrastinate, so I guess that’s as good a reason as any to write for a bit.

My computer is still broken, I haven’t had time to work on it. It’s basically working as a massive mp3 player right now (I’m doing most things on my laptop). Hopefully next week I’ll be able to work with it.

My parents and brother are visiting this weekend, which should be fun. I won’t get to see them for a while after this visit.

I had the first meeting with the KKY MC class today. It went pretty well, I’ve got a lot of work to do to get the MEP stuff finalized, but I’ve been getting my act together a lot this week. Definitely a good group of people this year, I look forward to working with them. I did a ridiculous amount of 3-hole-punching today, my arms were tired at the end. I have a lot of confetti if anyone needs it.

My tests went alright. I think I was pretty nervous about them considering how I didn’t prepare for them too much. I woke up a couple of times during the night and slept really erratically in general. My sleep schedule in general has been all over the place. I think I’ve been sleeping a bit more at night, but I haven’t been napping at all which makes me tired at times. I need to work the power naps back in, I think.

I’ve got some important things to do tomorrow, but I hope I’ll be able to fit in a run. I haven’t run since Sunday. Tomorrow is supposed to be cool and windy, but I can bundle up a bit. I definitely need to do more to keep myself sane.

Actually, maybe I need to do less to keep myself sane since it just makes me focus on it. Maybe it’ll just happen. Whatever, I should run regardless.

I don’t know what to do with myself tonight. I’m tired but not going to sleep early, I have work but I don’t feel like doing it (it can wait). I don’t even feel like playing a game or watching tv, I’m not sure what I want to do.

I’m looking forward to spring break in puerto rico, it should be a lot of fun. I’m also planning on going to the kky district meeting at uconn after I get back. I need to figure out what I’m doing this summer… I’m not quite sure what my options are yet. Eventually I’m going to need to decide what to do after grad school… that’s pretty scary but I’ll keep pretending it’s far away. I need something big to look foward to, though. I’m not sure what it should be, but I need a good motivator. I don’t remember what it used to be, but I feel like something’s missing.

Perhaps I’m ready for bed now. It bothers me how many sentences in this journal start with “I” or “My”, but I guess that comes with the territory.

I wish I could be outside today.

I’m thinking about running in the Runner’s World Half Marathon. It’s in 68 days and would give me something real to train for. I saw a 6 week program for training for a half marathon here, and I think it would be doable. I’m not sure what the farthest I’ve run before is… maybe 8 miles. I definitely would have to work to do this, as I’m not in shape to run 13 miles right now, but I’m not too far, I think.

My academic performance in the last two weeks has been really bad and I need to make a conscious effort to change it. It’s not like I’ve been failing tests or anything, but my attendance has been bad and I haven’t focused. This doesn’t mean I need to take other things out of my life, I just need to focus more, I’m far less busy than last semester, so I can do this. I need to fix my sleep schedule, too. It’s not that the schedule itself is bad, but I can’t seem to sleep for more than 6 hours at once, which isn’t sufficient for a long day.

I guess I can’t work as well lately because my mind wanders more… I’m not sure that there’s anything I can do about that, but it’s really starting to annoy me.

perhaps they should turn this into a sequel to “You’ve Got Mail”

I wrote up a whole long entry tonight since just about everyone seems to be asleep, then my computer froze. Ugh, oh well. I’ll rewrite a bit.

I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow: submit my NSFSTC internship application, play racquetball, work on my computer with hopefully, then lots of web work to do. I won’t have much time to work on any of that in the next few days, so tomorrow will be busy.

This weekend is KKY precincts, which should be fun. T-Ed will be in attendance.

I wrote a python script to find all the mp3s strewn all over the computer and put them into folders like Artist/Album/Title.xyz. It works pretty well, I’m going to continue to maintain it for myself since it made this neat directory structure. It uses ID3 tags for it, since my ID3 tags are very good.

When people ask my “how are you doing?” I don’t really know the answer to that. I’m not sure, maybe it’s that I’ve been all over the place so there’s no correct answer to it. Whatever.

Lots of people have been sick lately, I hope I don’t get anything. I have been taking my vitamins.

I went with tim to drive to wawa tonight, but there was some sort of big car accident in front of the one toward allentown, so we drove around for a long time to find another one. The reese’s pieces are worth it.

The onion is pretty entertaining this week.

I had a nightmare for the first time in years (?) during my nap today… I don’t remember the contents anymore, but I remember waking up and thinking about how nonsensical it was for me to be scared by such a thing. Ridiculous.

My ACM presentation today (on DHTML and XML and stuff) went well today. I was worried that it would be too short and unproductive, but I think people generally got a lot out of it, though it was dry at times. I’m getting more comfortable doing presentations, which is good, considering I didn’t have a huge amount of experience with the technology. Luckily I think everyone in the audience had less. Presentation materials are here in case you’re curious. Matthew Lesko was featured on at least one slide.

Wow, I’ve used the same LJ icon three times in a row.