One problem fixed

So I rearranged some stuff, and voila, the mass transfer is now making sense. Unfortunately other stuff isn't. Ah, you gotta love the world of modelling. Why did I chose this for my masters? Can anyone remember? I could be in arizona right now basking in the sunlight :)

Not much going on. I got my pictures developed from my trip to africa. They turned out really well. I got 8x10s of three of the pictures, they were expensive ($9 each), but they turned out beautifully and will be added to my collection of 8x10s :)

Oh, and I also had to rearrange my furniture a bit this morning. When I got home last night there was a notice on my door saying that the maintenance guys were coming and needed access to my AC, so I had to move my dresser this morning. Jenny couldn't figure out what was going on and was thoroughly confused. I might keep it this way, I might move it back, who knows. I think I'll wait a few days and see if I like it. All this reminds me, I MUST remember to pay my rent!!!

Later dude(ette)s

Bad posture?

Man that running guy never listened to the string tied to your head advice eh? Running like that all day like he has, I'm surprised he hasn't stopped because his neck/balk hurts. It's going to be one long haul of a month if he doesn't sort that out soon ;)

I'm feeling a little better, I've decided to leave my mass transfer problem for now and sort out other things. The new stuff isn't going any better, but hopefully when I sort it out the mass transfer will be magically fixed. Or at least make more sense.

Edit: 4:46 - yes, I'm still at school, shocking I know. I just remembered something from yesterday, so I'm at home watching the Subaru Ironman Canada. Lots of fun. They were at the finish of the swim and one of the commentators (the typical TSN guy who doesn't know what he is talking about) starts talking about how a number of the athletes are switching to butterfly at the end of the swim. WTF??? They are NOT doing butter fly, they are doing dolphin dives, which is faster than front crawl or running in about chest deep water. Very typical for high level triathletes to do this. No triathlete in their right mind would do butterfly during a race, let alone as the end of a triathlon swim let alone an ironman swim, it is inefficient, and horrible on the heart rate. We like to stick with easier strokes. All the top level people would know this. It irked me. Learn something about the sport before you start commentating. Oh and for what it is worth, the other commentator was Lisa Bently who is an ironman champion.

Gar

Have you ever been so frustrated you just want to cry? All day today I've been working on my model, trying to figure out why it is doing this one thing wrong, and I'm no further now than I was at 8:30 this morning.

When I INCREASE the mass transfer coefficient, I'm getting DECREASED mass transfer. I can't figure it out, and I just want to curl up into a ball and make it all go away :(

Nice weekend

Pretty relaxing, didn't do too much. Friday I read and watched some tv, saturday read most of the day, also dropped off some pictures to be developed then forgot to go back to pick them up!!! Rented Sahara on Saturday night - It was okay, but the movie is about an "Environmental Disaster", and it kind of annoyed me because the science and hydrogeology were pretty off. I hate it when people write stuff and don't research it properly. Mind you the average person wouldn't realize there was anything wrong with it.

Sunday morning was my long run, all 32K of it. I finished, and that is about as much positive as I can say about it. The first 18 K were great, the next 6 it started getting hot, and my legs started feeling heavy. Tried to pick it up to marathon pace for the last 6 km, the first 3 were great, the 4th not so great, 5 and 6 were miserable and WAY off pace (conciously so though). I'm pretty sure that I "bonked" which is the figurative wall. It has been a while since that has happened to me, and it is never pleasent. I think my problem was with hydration. I had my 2L pack on and was practicing drinking at the intervals that stations would be at during the race, but I don't think I was drinking enough each time. I had about half a litre left at the end of the run which means in the course of 3:45 I only drank about a litre and a half. Not enough, especially given the heat for the last 10 or so km.

I guess I just have to shrug it off as a learning experiance and hope that the same thing doesn't happen on race day. I made it through the last 2km, but I'm not sure I could have made it 12.

No Malaria?

So I called the clinic that I went to on Monday and they say it is a no to Malaria, however, I've started to feel worse again, I am feeling like shit now, so if this keeps up any longer I'm going to go home for the night. Dammit, I have my 32K run on Sunday, I do NOT want to miss it!

Ho hum

Looks like Nej stayed at home today. I'll miss her updates.

So what's new with Lj??? Not much. Yesterday Burger dragged me to the inaugural meeting of the UW triathlon club. Looks like it will be pretty good. I was expecting there to be mostly hardcore people there, but turns out I was wrong, looks like I'm one of the more experienced girls that went. Some of the boys were hardcore, one did the muskoka long course this year (2K, 55K, 15K) and one is training for his first Ironman - next september (3.8K, 180K, 42.2K!). Actually, the ironman boy (IB for short) was kind of cute - and a grad student - will have to investigate further :)

Then it was off to Yoga with QC. Lots of fun as usual, I managed to do all the poses except for one, the one I couldn't get was tough stuff. I think my chest is too large for it (and my back too weak which is odd for me to say since my back is normally quite strong!) (C-dub - I'm talking about crocodile, but getting to it from the floor instead of from plank).

I also went for a run yesterday afternoon, did my normal 8K route 2.5 minutes faster than my fastest, felt like a stud, this morning I did 10K 1.5 minutes slower than normal, felt like an elephant. Oh well, as long as I don't feel like an elephant on the 23rd of october :)

Sympathy Morning Sickness?

That is what I've decided I have :) Still waiting to hear about the malaria, don't think that is what it is, but I woke up this morning with funny tummy yet again.

Normally on Thursday mornings I run to the gym, do a spinning class and then run (a longer way) back home. I got outside this morning and turned around to go and get my car keys. It was not pleasant out there! Now it is clear and nice, not so this morning. Lots of trees down and things flying all over the place, so better to skip the run. I'll head out after school instead.

So apparently UW has a triathlon club again, so burger and I are going to go check it out this evening at their meeting. Should be good times.

And speaking of Burger, her new puppy is absolutely adorable. I got some pictures, so it is now up to her to post them :)

Oh, and one last thing. I found out that a girl I know (from doing tris) is going to be doing Ironman Canada next year. She's nuts (but in a good way!). She has a blog for her training, I'm going to ask her if I can link her :)

Exciting news :)

Okay, so before I get harassed, still no word on whether I have malaria. I'm thinking not. Honestly, it feels more like I'm pregnant, but there is no chance of that. But more on this topic later. This morning I woke up feeling queasy again, but had 17Km planned. Not fun. I decided to go and let myself pull out if need be. I got to the 8 K mark and still felt pretty good so I headed off in the direction that would be 9K left to go. I feel much better now. It is weird that running has been helping my queasiness. Note, the same thing happened on Sunday morning for my long run. Hopefully I'll find out later today if I have an infection of some kind and be able to go on drugs to clear it up. (I'm not a huge fan of antibiotics, but I don't want this cold to linger and effect my marathon).

Training swim started last night, and it was pretty tough, but I'm proud of myself. the workout went something like this

Warm-up
400 whatever you want
100 pull
100 kick
100 IM (Individual medly, means 25 fly, 25 back, 25 breast, 25 free)

Workout
4 x 100 alternating front crawl and back crawl on 1:45. This left me enough time to recover on the front crawl, but only seconds on back crawl - not my strongest stroke
Then some shorter stuff... can't quite remember what
3 x 75 on the 1:30. Lots of time to recover on these ones
some more easier stuff then...
8 x 25 dolphin kick on the 45 alternating between back and front... WTF??? I've never done dolphin kick on my back before - remember I didn't race back crawl. Now that was painfull, not even able to recover before switching to my front again.

Cool-down
200 whatever.

Man it was tough. A total of 2050 yds, not a whole lot, but more than I have swum at one time since the last time I did training swim (close to 3 years ago!). It felt good to be back in it though. I <3 swimming :)

So now for the exciting news. And yes it does pertain to the more on pregnancy issue. I got a call from D last night and looks like I'm going to have another godchild :D. She is due at the end of May :) I'm pretty excited. It is weird having a best friend with kids, but better her than me :)

If you want a good laugh

My father just sent me this by e-mail. I was cracking up at my desk. I think my office mate thinks I'm nuts!!!

Subject: 2010 Winter Games: Vancouver questions people the world over are asking.

Now that Vancouver has won the chance to host the 2010 winter Olympics, The following are some questions people the world over are asking. These questions (and answers) about Canada were actually posted on an international Tourism Website.

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow? ( UK)
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada? (Sweden)
A: So its true what they say about Swedes.

Q: It is imperative that I find the names and addresses of places to contact for a stuffed Beaver. (Italy)
A: Let's not touch this one.

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Canada? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax? (UK)
A: What, did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada?(USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Ca-na-da is that big country to your North... oh forget it. Sure the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is North in Canada? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Calgary, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada? (Germany)
A: No, WE don't stink.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada? (USA)
A: Only at Thanksgiving.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget it's name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. (USA)
A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare it by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

Q: I was in Canada in 1969 on R+R, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Surrey, BC. Can you help? (USA)
A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by the hour.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.

Pain in the neck

Literally. Last night I develeped a pain in the left side of my neck. I have no clue what it came from, and when I woke up this morning it was still kicking around.

This morning I woke up feeling a little queasy again, but decided to go for my run anyways. I felt much better after I got back. Is that weird or what? I don't get it. Hopefully my illness is starting to abate, but if not, it hasn't really been THAT bad. Not really.

So other than my sore neck and lingering unidentified illness, all is pretty well here. I'm tired, but hey, I was up too late last night chatting online with KB. Oh, and in other news my Training Swim starts tonight. I haven't done any hard swimming in way too long, so I hope I don't suck! maybe I'll go in the slow lane this week...