my day on 4/16

What a difference a few weeks can make. Just two weekends ago I felt like a real person. I got to ride on Saturday and Sunday, my wife and I spent time together on Satruday and Sunday afternoon and we got to sit outside and grill on Saturday night. However, since that time I have done nothing but work work work. Now I don't mind working hard. I like to work hard. It lets me feel good about playing hard when I get to but what I don't like so much is working hard 7 days a week all day and never getting time to spend relaxing with my wife. This semester should be over within a matter of weeks and the list of things that I have to do just keeps getting longer. Many of the things on the list I don't mind and I am looking forward to doing because I know that they are important to my career and they are the reason I am here any way. I really want to work on this journal article that I have been needing to get to for the last month. But instead I am spinning my wheels doing pointless work that will not benefit me professionally. At least this is the last semester of classes that I have and from now on the work that I will be doing (research and teaching) will be the reason that I am here.

This morning I am fighting with the computer in the lab that I use. It is on it is way out and not starting for me. On top of that my laptop won't connect to the internet thanks to this schools weak wireless network so I can't even use my laptop to get the work done that I need to do! So I figured that taking a minute and writing this so I could post it when I get home would be the best way to try and restart the day.

Crashing

I hate crashing! Today I crashed on the road for the second time since I have been riding seriously. I should feel luck that in 6 years I have only crashed twice but the first time cost me the frame on the bike my wife got me for Christmas. This time the only thing that it cost me was a new saddle and a new team kit. I had been looking at replacing my saddle for a while and luckly I just found the saddle that I wanted on sale and got it pretty cheap (75 bucks). Now I have a sweet looking selle italia SLR! The thing that kills me is the loss of my brand new team kit. I am hoping that I can get a another one since these were the most comfortable shorts and jersey I have ever worn!

I am still working on figuring out exactly why I crashed. I was taking a corner quickly but no faster than normal and suddenly my tires lost their grip and I was skidding across the pavement. I either leaned to far into the turn, hit some gravel, or a bump. Either way the result was the same. Hopefully getting back on tomorrow will not feel to bad. In fact sitting on a saddle will probably feel better than sitting anywhere else considering where the road rash is. Now if my pinkey finger will return to its normal color rather than the blueish color it is now!

I guess crashing is part of the game and the pro way is to get back on.

NEW TEAM--FCS/Metro Volkswagen

My new team kit is finally in and I can't wait to put it on and go for a ride. The new team has a club level team (the one that I am on) and an elite team (the big boys and girls). The elite team women are all working for a shot to go to Europe this summer and race over there. It is nice being on a team with an elite squad of young folks who may make it to the big leagues one day! Just trying to keep up with them provides all of the challenge I need.

Go Metro!

Austin Pictures

While we were down in Austin/San Marcos we made it down to the Alamo and Nici was not really all that impressed. She was so unimpressed that the only pictures that she wanted was a 140 year old live oak tree outside the Alamo:




On Sunday we managed to make it to Gruene and the we had a great lunch at the Grist Mill. It was a little cool but sitting out on the patio looking over the river was very nice.
Here is downtown Gruene:





After lunch at the Grist Mill we drove out to Wimberly and got to see some more of the Hill Country.






So hopefully it is obvious why Nici and I are ready to leave North Texas and either head to NC or down to Austin if we can't get back to NC

Austin, TX

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio. I am already missing the hill country and wish that we lived there. While the weather was a little cold on the first few days it got better the last day. We made it to the Alamo and Nici was only somewhat impressed. Really more interested in the cool live oak that was outside.

We got to see an old friend of mine, do some shopping at the outlet mall and get some lunch at the Gristmill in Gruene. I will post some pictures when I get a chance. The hill country is beautiful. Nici was ready to move down there after only seeing a little of the area.

SPRING BREAK

After tomorrow morning I will officially be on spring break. Or atleast what passes for spring break for a grad student. My wife and I are taking a much needed long weekend and heading south to Austin and San Antonio and taking in the hills and nice weather. Hopefully I will be able to convince her that there are atleast some nice parts in the state.

While I did not like watching NCSU lose tonight, hopefully the NCAA tourney will be fun to watch.

So for spring break, aside from the usual work that I want to get done I have a short solo training camp to get myself back into shape. To make things even better I found out today that my some of my new team kit is in. Hopefully the bibs and jersey will be in and I can wait for the arm warmers! I will post some pics of the new kit when I get it!

Non-significant results

In the research world putting a lot of effort into planning a study, collecting the data, and then scoring it and doing the analysis is what we do. Research takes a lot of work and a lot of time if you want to do it right. When you have a lot of effort tied up into this process and the theory that you have built around the hypothesis that you are testing then non-significant results are not what you want to find after all that work. Out of all of the lines of research that I am working on the one that is most important to me involves working memory and executive functioning. Three studies that I have conducted in the last almost 2 years have taken between a month to collect and a year and a half depending on the project. In the last 3 months they have all wrapped up and repeatedly the analysis has come back with findings that I am not happy about. No significant difference!

Then again all data tells us something, even if it not what we want to hear. Atleast for now I have a alternative hypothesis that might just have a decent impact on the field.