Shoot me! Shoot me now!

Yesterday, when I went to email my paper I foundout that it wasn't loading into Central's copy of Microfsoft office..ok I'll just email it from home I thought...I go to open it on my computer and the worst words in the english language flashed accross my screen: "this file is courrpted and can not open." No this is a bad dream..some nightmare from the twilight zone.....a weekend's worth of work gone....oh curse you...oh damn you..oh somebody load me up on caffine as I start over from scratch. needless to say from 3pm Yesterday until 1pm today I was in hurry up offense..I called in sick to work this morning...some new dreadful disease..paperitis could be fatal..symptoms include serve increase in stress levels and drop in GPA..side effects could be an extra semester at Central. needless to say I managed to get it out 13 pages of grade A American...or in this case British Bullshit. I don't really care anymore as long as I pass the course and never have to take it again I'll be happy. It was not my best work but for a combined 16 hours of sleep in the last 4 days, juggling another paper, and studying for exams...it'll do. considering I had to explain to my professor it was late with the modern equivlaent of the dog ate my homework excuse I don't think I scored any brownie points..but the sad thing my computer really crapped out on me....oh the karma train got back at me big time for all the times I used that excuse at Fordham. If my thesis is going to be anything like this I'm starting my research now..because when I handed in that paper I felt like a mother who had just given birth....months of dread and worry, nearly 23 hours of labor...and in an instant the finished product...a devil spawn..I mean precious angel.

Well that is it for my adventure with Mr. History Paper.
things I learned:

1. I am really, really glad I didn't live in the 1840's.
2. Hospitals were filthy, overcrowded, understaffed, and usually crawling with medical students...wait today Hospitals aren't as filthy, but are still overcrowded, under staffed, and crawling with medical students.
3. I'm glad the guy cutting me open with a knife has gone through years of college and lab work and is not apprenticed like they were before 1858.
4. Apparently they thought mercury, opium and turpentine were good for you....pass the heroin please.
5.Somehow I don't think sumerging a burn victim in hot water is going to cure shock.
6. Robert Liston could have taken a side gig as an action hero..he put his knife between his teeth as he worked the bone saw during amputations.
7.Mrs. Beeton's cure for the common cold sounds like it would be a good party cocktail...
8.I have a new profound respect for the Victorian house wife...if she really wanted to kill her spouse she didn't need an ax, the medicine cabinet could have done the job 10 times over.
9. I never noticed the subtle nutty taste of maxwell house before I lived off it for 3 days straight.
10.These guys must have been the precusors to modern athletes because I have never read about people so concerned about their diet.

ahh so that's it I can unwind...oh shit I've got two more pages of an anthropology paper...2 pages..that ain't shit...I just hope the file didn't courrpt itself.

The Slumping Student in the corner
R.D.

Die Evil Paper!

Yes today is the day my Victorian England paper is due. It is completely different from my first draft, it has kept me up nights and I am still not done. I am six pages out but luckily she's accepting it via email until the wee-hours ( granted I'm out of work early so I should have it to her by 6:30PM, God Bless you internet.) I write this post on 4 hours of sleep after a night of borrowing computers, watching my beloved dell, bite the dust at a crucial moment yet again...once I send that email, I am using $1.00 of my university subsidized print credit to print myself a copy that will be destroyed using various means to rid my self of access frustration...burning, using as toliet paper, tearing into millions of pieces have all been thought up...while some of the research and topics were interesting, if I have to read one more article on how opium could cure simple aches and pains I might be "chasing the dragon" to ease my torment. This paper kept me in most of the weekend.. I vowed I would not be a last minute Charlie, yet here I am again, printing typing the final pages hours before the deadline...oh curse you good weather, oh curse you mother's day, oh curse you University administration who makes me perform this torture......alright I just collasped there for a second...the only things holding me together are the necktie and several cups of coffee I've been consuming at a rapid rate...alright it's almost over take courage man....six pages of bullshit, just make sure I get my sources in. I'm in the juicy part so I should be able to crank it out rather quickly....all I know when this paper is finally finished a 300 lbs. Gorillia will have been lifted off my shoulders, then I can get back to normalcy. Oh shit I'm writing like a Victorian....this just won't do, not at all.

Alright I'm getting back to work....if they findout you can get cancer from a computer screen in 50 years I fully plan on suing, Dell and HP.

The Tired Typer.
R.D.

Paper writing weekend.....Planning for 09 already.

Well this is it game time,D-Day, Armageddon, the end of my junior year of college...hopefully only 2 more semester away from that piece of valuable paper. I was intially planning to swim or run, but have decided that I would devote my time to blogging before lifeguarding for an hour, then cranking out some Latin American Cultures goodness... ( the interesting paper also because we have to peer review it...so one of my classmates and I will be throughly researching each other's works. ..pretty much this looks good, this sounds awkward, what's the point, so that's why they call it the necktie...the BS do you think this paper will impress the good doctor. ) The Victorian England paper...well I'll be doing that tomorrow night, Saturday night and a good chunk of Sunday. I know what I want to say, I've got most of my sources, I just have to get it done Write first footnote later....If it sucks it sucks if it's good it's good, that's been my mantra all along and I'm not going to let..the pressure of this paper defines your academic career wreck my groove.

Saturday: I think Speedy Claire wanted to ride, I'm down for anything in the afternoon as my coporate masters have impressed my for another Saturday of servitude.

Sunday: It's Mothers day, and I haven't gotten anything ....shit.... well I find something nice somewhere.

Next week my Economic Stimulus check should be arriving in the mail...which means a couple of credit card payments go out and an entry fee to one race in the Southern Pacific will be going out.

I've already started the number crunching:
Race Entry: $500
Airfare on American Airlines/Quantas $2050.00 ( United/Air New Zealand is $200 more.)
Same Hotel as Last Year for two weeks $2100.00

I'm looking at about $5k..less if I rack up some more frequent flier miles (although I might just use those to up grade to business) if I do the two week thing, maybe I'll just stay for 10 days and save a little on the hotel, but I would like to actually be able to see a little bit more of New Zealand, Post Ironman this time around...also going home actually being able to move my legs without pain. and packing without a hangover from the awards party...always a plus. Also anyone interested in coming down with me we get a discounted rate if it's a double...did I mention cute Kiwi and Aussie chicks with well defined posterior chain..... Ladies ,Guys with ripped chests and cute accents.....and it's about 60 -70 degrees in early March......
Yes sadly this is the kind of thing that helps me get through those long hours at the office, realizing what I'm working for.....One day I will be in a profession where I earn more than $2ok a year and it will be glorious.... and I will be able to do this kind of thing with out having to crunch numbers and strategically plan and it will be glorious.

So that's all that's going on in the dangerous mind of Bob-o also be sure to read my last post. My speed session has my legs feeling tight but the times were worth it.

Well that's all for me.....now it's time to write about the Political interference of Liberation theologians with the Juntas in Guatemala and El Salvador....I mean Communists posing as Priests trying to destroy democracy.

R.D.

Mad Fast Son.......

Last night, when I should have been diligently stressing out and writing my papers, pulling my hair out and smashing my head against the desk, for misplacing commas in Chicago citing, trying to find one more primary source, etc..etc...I took my burned out ass to the track and got in 5 miles 4 of them speed work/ aerobic threshold work. Seriously, sometimes it's peaceful just heading out to the track at a god forsaken hour (9PM...). The first mile was a warmup a surprisingly quick 8:16. Followed by streching. Then the repeats 4x1600m :60R between each descending. The first one wasn't too bad an 8:08.21...coach always said use the first one as a burn one..I learned that the hard way in High school...too many times I would attack the first repeat and would be shot by the end of the work out....especially with thresholds in which you are trying to gradually build up to race pace. The game plan was to try to descend 5-10 sec. off of each one So the second was a little harder. 7:36.75 what the Hell? Did I go too hard again. I push a little harder to hopefully make it a 7:30 on the third repeat...7:20.34.The Fourth I was going to Sprint Full bore I should break 7 if I'm lucky..... 6:47.03. It was a good night, note to self do squats at least once a week.

Speed Racer's site is back up...apparently someone reported it as Spam....but it's back up and going now....

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I've been blogging from work and occasionally at school to procrastinate.... I mean clear my head....so I will have some more colorful posts in a week or so.

Well that's all at this early hour....back to the grind.
RD

Ironman New Zealand 09

That's right today entries open for the 25th running of Ironman, hopefully there will still be openings when my pay and stimulus checks hit the bank other wise I'll be looking to Lake Placid or Louisville...either that or I'm going to Brussleton for Western OZ, (as a graduation gift to myself) to be my possible Spring Boards to Kona. There are several reasons I'd really like to go back to New Zealand here are the following:

1. It is an escape from the dreary icebox that is New England in Feb.-March

2. The course is challenging but not too difficult. No Murder Hills, the road's a little rough but if you've done some of the races in the Northeast the bike course is cake...except for the wind. Granted.." it ain't windy until there are surfers on the lake" -Blair.

3. Lake Taupo is Cyrstal Clear. Also they start age groupers and pros together...good news for guys like me because we get a mental boost beating some of the favorites out of the water....bad news for pros whose strength lies in the bike and run.

4. The entire town gets into it. You don't run into those guys who are like " So why are you walking around in running gear and wrapped in a foil blanket?"

5. Some of the nicest and..well most interesting people you'll ever meet live down there.

6. It's one of those races that now that I've done an Ironman for the sake of doing one now I've got to go back and do one with the intent to qualify for Kona...and why not do one on a course I already know.

7. I like traveling through time and space, any one who has visited the Asian Pacific...understands this one.

8. I have to know if the water really flows in a different when I flush the toliet.

9. The Kiwis and Aussies seemed to be a little more laid back and down to earth than us over here in the States...just don't steal any glasses off of tables at the Pub or World War III will breakout.....also if you are a fan of the French National Rugby team...you might want to stay at home, or at least keep the jersey home.

10. It's the 25th Anniversary....think of the media hype and the swag that's going to be flying around at this gig.

All right now that I've tried to sell myself and some others in on the race, I've got to check on the entry satus and see if I should start counting my pennies, or buy books on how to become a faster climber or a year's worth of Salt tablets...It gets hily in Lake Placid and it is just a tad bit warm in Louisville in August.

Taps for " Who in their right mind?"

Sadly our favorite female sans wetsuit/ Distance Glutton for suffering's blog has bit the dust....(tear...sniff...) I haven't been this low since Sunoco Ditched their masters swimming program last summer...now I will have to network with Speedy the old fashioned way, either via email or her AIDS lifecycle page...sadly now this means we can't go back and visit old stories...like how Grandpa became TOAST! or her epic Bandited Boston Marathon, or the Lake Placid getaway...So passes a noble blog site.....( a trumpet slowly plays TAPS in the distance.) Speedy Claire...thanks for the memories.

All that aside Catherine in NZ has a boyfriend...no it's not me! ( Which probably works out for the best...I mean seriously my phone bill was sky high when I was dating a girl in Woodbrigde like 20 miles away.... I hate to see the bill after one call to NZ...) But I still have a friend out of the deal so it's all good ( wipes brow relieved he didn't send anything yet....or maybe I should have sent flowers that bloke would have made out big time....) In either case that's been life. This weekend is the last weekend I can crank my papers out. I'm so done with my Victorian England paper 12 weeks of torment leading up to this moment...may God have mercy on my soul...and GPA.

So in a recap...
SPEED RACER's Blog is no more ( starts to rend garments, pull out hair and sob uncontrolably.)
my silly crush......crushed
and my papers still need to get done.

Somehow with all this crap I managed to keep a friend and get in a 3300 yard pool workout...It hasn't been a total loss.

Come Back Speed Racer!
R.D.

Weekly long ride.

Well I'm still kicking myself from my long ride...for some odd reason I still have this primal fear of taking sharp curves on descents and it's pissing me off. Today I did the opening of the Griskus Olympic Route including that "drop off the face of the Earth" Right hander...again I slowed way up for it, and again I kicked myself as I descended down the rest of the hill at mach 1. The same thing happended at my "favorite" curve on Route 109 in Washington. I don't know why but I always feel like I'm going to overshoot the curve and end up on some guy's front lawn of in the path of a mack truck or something. I think I'm going to have to go to Spain and ride with either John and Mandy or Claire's "Soggy Homos" in order to learn how to descend like Lance. Anyway all my yellow bellying it on sharp curves aside, I know I need to invest in a 12-27 cassette for the Griskus Olympic, that and I need to start doing some shorter weekday rides..preferably on steep inclines....oh I can't wait until classes end. The first half of today's ride went well and except for some miscues at dangerous intersections ( ie me unclipping and struggling to clip back in.) and my pedal cleat popping out at one inopertune moment it was a good day. On the back half of my route I think I soft pedaled a little too much but after 48 miles in the saddle I think I can cut myself some lee way. I rode up to the lake which had been taken over by the prep school crew teams. I was also wiser on hydration bringing my aero drink and a third waterbottle with me. No dehydrating headaches this time..but that pit stop at the lake definiately added to my ride time. The second half was all down hill until Route 6. I now know why most cyclists refer to it as " Suicide 6" Varying inclines, nearly immpossible to pick the right gear, cars speeding by at 70mph ( 110km I think?) in essence a death wish. Then the climb back to the Griskus course in which I think I really soft pedaled it. Then the back 4 miles of the Griskus course including that damn smiley faced hill. I didn't attack it today, my legs were spent from out of the saddle work in Washington. I heard Eagleman is flat as a pancake with severe winds well I did about 55 miles ( roughly 90k) in 3:27 @ an average speed of 15.7 mph ( I'm thinking a little over 20km) with a headwind on my opening climbs. So I'm not sure if I'll be a dominant force on the bike but I think I'll be able to break 3 hrs. ...I want to add some more cycling just to improve a little more.

Well I've got some more of a paper to crankout....but before I go Bree Wee finshed 3rd for the pro chicks at St. Croix, Mandy's going to Kona and John was 13th for the pro men. Ken well, lets just say John's got a picture of him doing what most of us would do in St. Croix.

Well like I said back to the books....uses for leeches...yummy!

The pyschopath in a pink bike jersey that keeps swerving all over CT 47.
R.D.