2:32am. googled myself.
among other things, i found my finishing time for my very first cross country meet in high school. it was the first time i ever ran...well, that far, for one, but also with the team. i hadn't even been to a practice. i just showed up to the meet and followed the pack. until the end, when everyone had finished, and i was slightly lost on the trail.
my time was 28 minutes, 43 seconds. that's about a 9min 15sec mile pace. not too bad to start out with...with no training.
the guy who finished one place ahead of me finished with a time of 26mins 45secs.
so for about two minutes, i was running through the woods, completely alone. haha.
kind of funny, now that i think about it.
thanks, Google, for cementing that memory into space and time.
by the end of the season, my best time was 21 minutes and something.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
i got those sit down,
can't cry,
oh Lord,
gonna die blues.
-richie havens
this past sunday, i was talking with my old roommate, chris rose. he was in town from kernersville to hang out with charlie, steph, liz, and me. well, we were talking about the job market and jobs we were looking into, and he mentioned the idea of driving an 18-wheeler. i thought about it for a little bit, and decided it's probably something i could do pretty well. i love to drive and listen to music....why not get paid to do it? so on monday i applied to Swift Transportation Inc. online. on tuesday, i got an automated phone call saying that i seem like a great candidate for the job, and to call such-and-such number to set up an interview. which i did. so now i'm just waiting to hear back from them.
if i do it, i'll obviously need to get my CDL. i've never really driven a stick-shift vehicle. only once, actually. but i know the theory of it. and i have a brother, a good friend, and a good friend's uncle who all have experience and can give me advice.
plus, i've heard you can make really good money at it, if you're smart, and i think i'm at least slightly smart.
i've always loved road trips. i could look at this job as one big road trip. if i get it, i really look forward to getting out, making a living, supporting myself again (getting off unemployment), and seeing the country. i've heard good and bad stories about the truck-driving life, but i've been thinking about if for almost three days straight, imagining what it would be like and trying to decide if i would like it or not. i think i would. i'm a safe driver, and i think it's something i could do for a couple years. then i could get a local route, delivering...oh, i don't know...Q-tips, all across the state of north carolina.
this job, of course, would be a divergence from what i studied in college.
oh well.
charlie and i were watching a documentary on Woodstock the other day. the following is a part of what i saw:
richie havens - "handsome johnny"
later, when he plays the song "freedom", you see that he has no top teeth, and only about three or four on the bottom. crazy. (my guess would be that some form of drug use made him lose his teeth).
i've been listening to richie havens all afternoon...
can't cry,
oh Lord,
gonna die blues.
-richie havens
this past sunday, i was talking with my old roommate, chris rose. he was in town from kernersville to hang out with charlie, steph, liz, and me. well, we were talking about the job market and jobs we were looking into, and he mentioned the idea of driving an 18-wheeler. i thought about it for a little bit, and decided it's probably something i could do pretty well. i love to drive and listen to music....why not get paid to do it? so on monday i applied to Swift Transportation Inc. online. on tuesday, i got an automated phone call saying that i seem like a great candidate for the job, and to call such-and-such number to set up an interview. which i did. so now i'm just waiting to hear back from them.
if i do it, i'll obviously need to get my CDL. i've never really driven a stick-shift vehicle. only once, actually. but i know the theory of it. and i have a brother, a good friend, and a good friend's uncle who all have experience and can give me advice.
plus, i've heard you can make really good money at it, if you're smart, and i think i'm at least slightly smart.
i've always loved road trips. i could look at this job as one big road trip. if i get it, i really look forward to getting out, making a living, supporting myself again (getting off unemployment), and seeing the country. i've heard good and bad stories about the truck-driving life, but i've been thinking about if for almost three days straight, imagining what it would be like and trying to decide if i would like it or not. i think i would. i'm a safe driver, and i think it's something i could do for a couple years. then i could get a local route, delivering...oh, i don't know...Q-tips, all across the state of north carolina.
this job, of course, would be a divergence from what i studied in college.
oh well.
charlie and i were watching a documentary on Woodstock the other day. the following is a part of what i saw:
richie havens - "handsome johnny"
later, when he plays the song "freedom", you see that he has no top teeth, and only about three or four on the bottom. crazy. (my guess would be that some form of drug use made him lose his teeth).
i've been listening to richie havens all afternoon...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
My friend drew stroik is making me proud. He's been recording with a producer in New York, and I like what I'm hearing. This is a video they shot for one of his songs. Word is that the girl in the video also sings and writes music, and they're trying to get her in the band. Watch out for this guy in the next Michael Cera movie.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Saturday, January 09, 2010
01.9.10
and I will go if you ask me to
I will stay if you dare
and if I go I'm goin on fire
last night, i watched the curious case of benjamin button with my brother. it was a good, somewhat thought-provoking movie. at it's roots, it was a sci-fi movie. maybe most people wouldn't realize that, but it had elements of mysticism and magic; surreality. overall, it was a good movie. it made me really think about the concept of life and death.
and today, i watched stranger than fiction, which had the same effect on me.
To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil.
in other, lighter news, i've discovered (been told about, really) the amazingness of www.grooveshark.com.
i think there is a pepsi vs. coke, chevy vs. ford, republican vs. democrat, Blogspot vs. Wordpress battle going on between Grooveshark and Pandora.com. so which is the better site to visit for all your free streaming music needs? each man and woman must answer that question for themselves, but i'm beginning to think Grooveshark is better, as long as you know what you want to listen to.
pandora's pro:
you type in a band or song, and it does the work for you, selecting similar artists or songs. this allows you to find new music you like.
pandora's con:
you can't control what you listen to exactly, and there's a limited number of times you can skip over songs you don't like. (and if you're a pandora addict, you'll find there's a limited number of hours per month that you can use pandora for free.)
grooveshark's pro:
you can search for and select the songs you want to listen to, adding them to playlists that you can create and save to your free profile. make your own mixes. listen to the song you want to hear on pandora but have to wait for while listening to other songs like it.
grooveshark's con:
there might be a radio function (for a fee?), but i haven't looked into it much. this means you have to take the time to build your own playlists. it's not touch and go like pandora. but like i said, if you know what you want, you can get it.
i've created a gregory alan isakov playlist already. he's who i love to listen to while writing.
what do you all think?
in other news, i went running today at lake johnson. it was "mighty cold." 25 degrees, i think. i only ran about half the time. it was hard to breathe, and i haven't exactly been exercising a lot lately. but it was good to get out, and i had a good time with my running buddy.
well, time to wrap it up and help Abe study.
I will stay if you dare
and if I go I'm goin on fire
last night, i watched the curious case of benjamin button with my brother. it was a good, somewhat thought-provoking movie. at it's roots, it was a sci-fi movie. maybe most people wouldn't realize that, but it had elements of mysticism and magic; surreality. overall, it was a good movie. it made me really think about the concept of life and death.
and today, i watched stranger than fiction, which had the same effect on me.
To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil.
in other, lighter news, i've discovered (been told about, really) the amazingness of www.grooveshark.com.
i think there is a pepsi vs. coke, chevy vs. ford, republican vs. democrat, Blogspot vs. Wordpress battle going on between Grooveshark and Pandora.com. so which is the better site to visit for all your free streaming music needs? each man and woman must answer that question for themselves, but i'm beginning to think Grooveshark is better, as long as you know what you want to listen to.
pandora's pro:
you type in a band or song, and it does the work for you, selecting similar artists or songs. this allows you to find new music you like.
pandora's con:
you can't control what you listen to exactly, and there's a limited number of times you can skip over songs you don't like. (and if you're a pandora addict, you'll find there's a limited number of hours per month that you can use pandora for free.)
grooveshark's pro:
you can search for and select the songs you want to listen to, adding them to playlists that you can create and save to your free profile. make your own mixes. listen to the song you want to hear on pandora but have to wait for while listening to other songs like it.
grooveshark's con:
there might be a radio function (for a fee?), but i haven't looked into it much. this means you have to take the time to build your own playlists. it's not touch and go like pandora. but like i said, if you know what you want, you can get it.
i've created a gregory alan isakov playlist already. he's who i love to listen to while writing.
what do you all think?
in other news, i went running today at lake johnson. it was "mighty cold." 25 degrees, i think. i only ran about half the time. it was hard to breathe, and i haven't exactly been exercising a lot lately. but it was good to get out, and i had a good time with my running buddy.
well, time to wrap it up and help Abe study.
Friday, January 01, 2010
año nuevo
january 1, 2010. the new year is here. not that 2010 cares much that it is a year, or that it is here. personification of a calendar event, that's sort of strange if you think about it. and somehow it inspires a lot of things to happen. one of these things is that people feel the need to redefine themselves in certain ways. "i'm going to be a person who does X; i'm not going to be a person who does Y." january 1st rolls around and people start with the lists, the new rules, the goals and promises.
of course, i have my own list of self-promises. but i'm not going to list them. they can be summed up in one phrase: "fit again in twenty ten." so anything that benefits my personal, spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional health is what i'm going to do. also, the opposite applies. i'm making it just that simple; before i act, i'll answer this question: "is this good or bad for me?" i guess i could add a second question too: "is there something better that i could be doing?"
i don't think make a list of resolutions is a bad thing. it works for some people. it just has never worked for me. it's like the discussion of the Law in Romans, sort of. the Law comes and reveals sin. the resolutions come and reveal lack of willpower. so i think it's better for me to focus on a spirit of improvement. i have plenty of room for improvement.
my flatbread recipe:
2 1/2 cups hot water
1/4 tsp salt
2 lbs all-purpose flour
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 packet active yeast
1/2 cup corn flour
In a large mixing bowl:
1.) mix hot water and salt until salt dissolves
2.) mix in all-purpose flour progressively until it forms a dough
3.) mix in active yeast thoroughly
4.) mix in extra virgin olive oil
5.) mix in corn flour
6.) knead with hands until all ingredients are mixed
7.) add more flour if the dough is too soft/sticky to roll into balls
8.) makes 14-17 balls of dough
On a well-floured surface:
9.) flatten (i use a slightly-floured plate) a dough ball
10.) use a rolling pin to flatten dough to 1/8 inch thickness, ~8 inch width
11.) place dough in a hot, un-greased frying pan, flipping regularly to keep from burning. slightly browned is fine.
TIPS: i use a soup spoon to mix all the dough ingredients. i keep a pile of flour near where i'm rolling out the dough so i can keep the surface well-floured. i keep bread cooking in the pan while i'm rolling out more.
this recipe takes a while. start to finish, it took me about 3 hours to make 16.
of course, i have my own list of self-promises. but i'm not going to list them. they can be summed up in one phrase: "fit again in twenty ten." so anything that benefits my personal, spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional health is what i'm going to do. also, the opposite applies. i'm making it just that simple; before i act, i'll answer this question: "is this good or bad for me?" i guess i could add a second question too: "is there something better that i could be doing?"
i don't think make a list of resolutions is a bad thing. it works for some people. it just has never worked for me. it's like the discussion of the Law in Romans, sort of. the Law comes and reveals sin. the resolutions come and reveal lack of willpower. so i think it's better for me to focus on a spirit of improvement. i have plenty of room for improvement.
my flatbread recipe:
2 1/2 cups hot water
1/4 tsp salt
2 lbs all-purpose flour
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 packet active yeast
1/2 cup corn flour
In a large mixing bowl:
1.) mix hot water and salt until salt dissolves
2.) mix in all-purpose flour progressively until it forms a dough
3.) mix in active yeast thoroughly
4.) mix in extra virgin olive oil
5.) mix in corn flour
6.) knead with hands until all ingredients are mixed
7.) add more flour if the dough is too soft/sticky to roll into balls
8.) makes 14-17 balls of dough
On a well-floured surface:
9.) flatten (i use a slightly-floured plate) a dough ball
10.) use a rolling pin to flatten dough to 1/8 inch thickness, ~8 inch width
11.) place dough in a hot, un-greased frying pan, flipping regularly to keep from burning. slightly browned is fine.
TIPS: i use a soup spoon to mix all the dough ingredients. i keep a pile of flour near where i'm rolling out the dough so i can keep the surface well-floured. i keep bread cooking in the pan while i'm rolling out more.
this recipe takes a while. start to finish, it took me about 3 hours to make 16.
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