Archive for the ‘Day to Day’ Category
The Power of the Internet
Lately I’ve been completely blown away by the power of the internet, and blogging specifically. When I started blogging, blogs didn’t even exist. Now people make a living off blogging. People are offered opportunities and make connections with people that would not be possible otherwise. Not just one instance, but a ton of them. Check out these examples.
Political Math (AKA Matthias Shapiro or 10000Pennies)
Ever seen this video? It was posted on youTube my Matthias and quickly became viral. The videos got the attention of the news media and Washington. His videos have been linked to from many national news outlets and shown on cable news shows. He now has tons of followers on his visualization blog and twitter accounts. He continues to do experiences on TV and has been eluding to a change coming in his career.
Dooce (AKA Heather Armstrong)
I’m not really sure how this blog got to be so huge. I think one of the things that drew women to it is that Heather wrote about her experience with postpartum depression while she was going through it. Her blog is raw and truthful but Heather is a brilliant writer and also makes you laugh. I have to imagine that many first time mothers connected with her and looked to her for support. She is now often invited to speak at conventions and video blogs regularly on Momversation.
DC Rainmaker (AKA The Boss or Ray)
I stumbled on this blog through a mention in a review on Amazon. As I understand it Ray is a triathlete geek who got into doing really good product reviews on his blog with all of the super geeky details that most of us care about. The reviews started getting mentioned all over Amazon.com as a great place to see really good reviews of cycling/running/fitness type products. As the reviews got more popular, he started to get early releases from companies like Garmin and Polar to do reviews on (and give feedback to them I’m sure). As far as I can tell, Ray still has a “regular” job; whatever that means. I didn’t classify Ray in this “famous blogger” category until I read this post on detailing the plethora of items that were delivered to him as a media reporter at Interbike. Wow! Interbike is huge and this guy is on the radar.
A Week in Review
Wow! I knew it had been a while since I posted but it feels dead here. I’ve gotten a ton of spam comments in the past week but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a real one. Anybody read this? Life has been work lately, and I don’t like just posting about work here so it’s lead to some blogging down-time. I’m not out of the woods yet with this project but it was an interesting week and I don’t like how lonely this place feels right now.
The Preparation (Last Saturday and Sunday)
I worked some crazy hours the last couple of weeks leading up to first silicon. What is “first silicon” you ask? It’s finals week on crack; with an audience in a small room watching you, and only you take your exams. It’s a big stinking deal. So I worked over 8-hours last weekend. I did get to ride a little but I’ve been limiting myself to 35-mils on Sunday (more on how 35-miles became a limitation later). The week before last I had gotten word that the final part would not be back until late September instead of the original late August date. That was a huge deal that allowed me to keep my weekends to only 8-hours. The look-ahead part was due into the design center on Monday putting it in my hands on Tuesday. I worked tirelessly to get the interface up and running but found myself tripped up by a board design issue and a complete lack of understanding for how long if-statements take to execute. I laid my head down for bed on Sunday night with nothing working and a sense that it was going to be a very difficult week.
The Final Push (Monday)
I worked 14-hours on Monday. At some point I tried to use the mothers-room to rest but couldn’t get over the stress of needing to work. I knew the part was coming and I was still way behind. I had put aside any dreams I had of being able to ride my bike. On top of the anticipation over first silicon arriving, the intern was starting his last week and we were having to deal with his exit; closing out the project, filling out HR paperwork, and helping him with the presentation. It was a very rough day and I was really beat up when I got home.
The Arrival (Tuesday)
I got to work really early hoping to get something done before Barbra came with my box. I knew that I had until about 10:00AM to get something done. I was still having issues getting a consistent pulse-width. Looking back, I can’t believe how stubborn I was. It should have occurred to me early on that slowing down the interface would give me the differentiation I was looking for. The parts arrived very close to 10:00 and I immediately delivered them to the other folks in the team. I tried getting some tips from the girl who writes the apps software but it turns out the designer wrote the firmware. I didn’t want to have to admit to the design team that I was having trouble. I never even put a part in the socket during this time. I didn’t see I reason. I could see from my scope shots that it wouldn’t work. I ended up working another 14-hours.
Desperation (Wednesday)
Wednesday Morning I had a 1:1 with the boss. It was pretty standard except that he asked me if I had powered up the part. I answered yes because I had used the sister part and powered it up so I knew the board wouldn’t smoke (well, more on this and other good engineering practices later) but I hate being dishonest so I decided it was time to start working with the part in the socket. We had a bunch of intern stuff to do on Wednesday so I wasn’t able to get nearly as much done as I’d hoped and by 3:00 I really needed to go home. After two 14-hour days I was making mistakes and I could tell that I wasn’t working effectively. In fact, one major mistake that I stumbled on was the fact that I never actually powered on the part. Yup, you got it. I never actually scoped it to make sure. Type the command and it works, right? The boss had made it very clear that he expected communication to be up by the project review the next morning so I was taking a gamble by leaving early. I had a theory by the person I needed to answer my question was in Singapore so I figured I had to wait anyway. When I got home, I set myself up on the trainer and was actually able to get in a 60-minute spin.
An Unexpected End (Thursday)
I took another gamble and went to DP in morning for our weights session. I ended quickly, stretched on my own and headed out. I was at my desk by 7:15 with the answer I was waiting for sitting in my inbox. I modified the command appropriately and commenced communication. With in 45-minutes I had the handshake working. A few typos and a decent register selection after that and I had communication. The boss and I were emailing status back and forth and he wanted me to bring the good news to the project review. In the end it really wasn’t perceived as that big a deal, and it really wasn’t. Still, it was huge for my boss and I and I felt comfortable letting myself off early for the day. After a meeting, I ended up getting out around 4:30. I stopped off at the Austin Wine Merchant to get myself some bubbly to celebrate my accomplishment. Around 6:00 I rolled into my subdivision and immediately noticed smoke. I thought for a moment that it really could be a bad attempt and a bar-b-q until I rolled down my windows and smelled burning cedars.
I pulled my driveway passed the fire. It didn’t seem big but I knew that looks could be deceiving with brush fires. I parked new the edge of my driveway and called 911. They already had a unit on the way. As I was calling Brain the cedars behind my neighbors house started to go up in flames that shot 50-feet in the air. Brian instructed me to get everything I could out of the house and in the truck in case we had to leave. He was headed out the door to get home and I got to work. The first thing I did was get the front sprinklers going. If embers did come across I didn’t want them hitting dry grass. 15-minutes after that, the car contained all our photos, albums, the safe, my bike, the camera, laptop, and the remote drive. I was drenched in sweat and the fire department had arrived. I had been checking the progress of the fire as I packed, knowing that if it did jump, I would need to go. All our neighbors also had their cars packed and were ready to go. In the end the fire department was able to get it under control and we were not evacuated. Still, it was a very scary night.
It was the wee hours of the morning before the fire department packed it up and went home. I didn’t sleep well and woke up exhausted. I had a goal to ride outside which I knew was going to be a challenge given how tired I was. I did set out but it was sans heart rate monitor, which was really upsetting to me. If you do a ride but your garmin doesn’t record it, did it happen? I got back later than I’d hoped and just couldn’t get myself going. I felt like I brain-bonked (if there is such a thing). I attended out intern presentation at 2:30 then we had happy hour at 4:30. All of a sudden I’m feeling very behind.
Recovery (Saturday)
I couldn’t drag my ass out of bed on Saturday. I rolled out for good around 9:00 and felt like shit. I took Fozzy on a short jog then road my bike around the neighborhood for just over an hour. After lunch I started to feel dizzy, washed out, and exhausted again. I rested and basically pissed the rest of the day away. I went to bed extremely early hoping I would feel ok on the ride the next day.
That Damn Ride (Sunday)
There really is something wrong with me. I can’t believe that I ever thought I would be able to do 70-miles after determining I had no fitness and hardly riding my bike all week. I feel like the other girls make it look so easy. I was actually feeling pretty good most of the ride. The speed really picked up coming up to the store but I thought that would not be the “normal” pace. When we rolled back out of the store I was feeling good. The pace was nice and I was really enjoying myself. I remember going up one of the hills leading up to the damn and thinking we were really pushing it hard up the hill. We evened out again and I started focusing on recovery. It didn’t happen. Though the pace steadied, the damn hill was just in front of us and the pace was not letting up. I just couldn’t breath. My legs burned maybe a little but mostly I just couldn’t breath. My heart was pounding and the sun was beating down on me and I just didn’t care. I didn’t want to be with the group any more.
I pulled out of the pack and found a girl way back that was more than willing to cut it back to 55-miles with me. When we got to the store, Alexis was there with some of the other slower folks. The girl I came in with went into the store to get water. While she was in there, Alexis talked us all into doing the lime creek extension slower. Without thinking, I rolled out with them. My mind kept telling something was wrong. Lucky I listened because we had left the girl at the store! I turned around and sprinted up the hill to the store just in time to see her go through the intersection before the light turned red again. I screened and screamed but she didn’t hear me. The light felt like it took 5-minutes, though my Garmin tells me only 1:20. I got on 60 and time-trialed as hard as I could to get to her. It took my 5-minutes of everything I had all out to finally catch her. then it took me 15 more minutes to figure out where we were going because I didn’t know the route.
By the time I got back I was completely beat up. Catching her had taken alot out of me and I couldn’t seem to recover at all over the rest of the ride. I felt weak and questioned what I was doing this for the entire way back. I just don’t know how to fix this and I concerned that if I don’t figure something out soon, I’ll end up hanging up the bike.
One of those days
Have you ever had one of those days? One of those days where everything is going wrong and, even as you think that it couldn’t get any worse it does.Of Course you have, we all have. Every time I have one of these days, I can’t help but feel like nobody has ever had a day as horrible as mine. Now, lets put this in perspective. I realize that tremendously horrible, life-altering things happen to people all the time. These events are on a completely different scale than what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about are the many little things that, by themselves, would be easily manageable. Combined with a myriad of other, equally unexpected and difficult events, they become completely overwhelming.
So I always end up imagining that nobody’s unmanageable day has ever been as unmanageable as mine. Yesterday was just such a day. I have a hard time imagining that anybody else’s day can possibly trump standing in the pouring rain with a turkey baster full of hydrogen peroxide waiting for you dog to vomit up your $5.00 chocolate bar. All while on a conference call with your coworkers. Yeah, I pull up that image and I’m pretty sure it’s he worst day ever.
I had come home early to make sure Bennett was doing well and that he hadn’t been scratching at his hot spot. I had about 1-hour from the time i got home until my 4:00 conference call. I had planned on using this time to watch the end of the tour and relax. The first thing I noticed when I got home was the bedroom door was open and Fozzy was not coming out to greet me. Then I saw a few pieces of paper shredded on the floor next to the kitchen table. When I walked into the bedroom to scold Fozzy, I saw a ton more paper, shredded on the floor, along with safety pins, earrings, and a stain remover bottle. It looked like the dog had rioted.
At first I thought it was funny and even took a few photos. Then I saw the package shredded in the kitchen. It took me a little while to figure out it was my chocolate bar. My brand new, 8-oz, $5.00 chocolate bar. Now we were talking about something serious. I tracked down the hydrogen peroxide from the last time we had to induce (onion powder I think) and filled up the turkey baster. There’s some formula for how much to give your dog based on their weight but Fozzy is huge and he’s too strong for me to control so I use a whole baster and most of it ends up on the ground.
I administered the first dose and waited. I walked him around the yard to aid in the process. While I was waiting the sky opened up and started to pour on us. It was nice to finally have the rain, but I was soaked and Fozzy wasn’t getting any closer to vomiting. 45-minutes later he still hadn’t vomited and I had a conference call. I figured I could pull up the meeting on my cell phone and stay outside with him.
I called the conference number only to find it wasn’t valid. I had no way of finding out what was going on and how I needed to call in. I didn’t have anybody’s phone number so my only option was to get my laptop and log in so that I could use communicator. I started up my laptop and immediately it crashed hard. I tried waiting for a few minutes before giving up and trying to restart; all outside in the rain so I can keep an eye on Fozzy. I pushed the power button and nothing happened. This thing was crashed hard. I ripped the battery off the back. The whole time that I’m waiting for it to come up I’m imagining that the meeting is moving along without me.
I finally got connected, the rain stopped and the dog vomited so everything was fine in the end. Still it was a bunch of distractions I didn’t need.
Pool Party at Diana’s
Updates are going to be very sporadic for a while. Poor Bennett has a really bad hot spot that we’re having to nurse. On Saturday we shaved his whole body down to 5/8″ so the small spot we had shave off completely wouldn’t look so strange. He looks silly with his hair short but I have to say, I’m tempted to keep it up just to minimize vacuuming. We have a vet appointment for Friday, but I’m hoping we don’t have to use it.
Saturday I tried to relax and get some work done because I knew I had plans almost the entire day on Sunday. I totally failed at sleeping in and woke up, ready to go, at 7:00AM. To be honest I don’t really know where Saturday went. It was over before it even began and I had hardly anything to show for it. I think I lost a few hours to the tour.
Sunday was so much fun. I had a ride starting at 7:30 so it was another early morning. I had wanted to go with the slow group this week but the slow group left at 7:00. I figured I’d find a few others who were not up for beating themselves up and convince them to ride with me. Well that didn’t really happen until almost 15-miles into our 55-mile ride and the only person I got to stay with me was Suzi. We had only been off the back for a few miles when we came on the group stopped at a Texaco. We were in west Austin so everything is nicer. Still, I was not expecting ceramic tile in the restroom! Erin and Jessica both had flat tires and the rest of the group was itching to go so Suzi and I volunteered to stay back. Except for the 30-minutes the 3-tire changes took, the ride was a ton of fun. Our little group stayed at just the right pace. My HR was still very high because it was basically uphill for 15-miles after the gas station. We weren’t expecting the other group to wait for us at the next stop so we were very surprised to see them when we came rolling by. I actually kind of wish we’d missed them because Tracy kept pushing the pace.
Nicest gas station restroom in Austin. This really beats the usual unisex, one room, broken sink restrooms. There was even a Texas star tile mosaic.
After the ride I had the AFWC pool party at Diana’s house. I had hoped to get back by 10:30 so that I could get some work done at the office before heading over. We didn’t get back until almost noon. I had time to shower, answer a few emails, eat a snack and hit the road. I was a little frustrated but in the end it was nothing but a fun day. Kate had ordered a ton of food for the party and stocked us with drinks. Dianna had the Margarita machine out and we had the tour playing on one of her TVs. Her house is the perfect house for a big party like this and it was really nice of her to let us use it. About 45 members showed up which was huge!
Passing up pool time to whatch the drama unfold during stage 9 of the 2011 Tour de France.
It turns out the tour that morning had been full of extreme drama. Instead of lounging by the pool, a whole group of us huddled around the TV and waited. We had been tipped off, of course, that there was drama but we just had to see it. I did get to spend a little time in the pool after watching the two big crashes.
It does kind of freak me out that pro cycling has been pushed so far. It’s been a tough year with two pro women being hit and killed by cars, a pro male dying in the Tour de Italia, and many of the top contenders crashing out of the TdF; some with injuries that may threaten their careers. I had a hard time sleeping that night.Vinokourov with a broken femur, and Hoogerland with 33-stitches after a car crashed into he and Flecha. I know it must be tough for all of them to take so soon after Wouter passed away.
Your Morning Carcass
I’ve been battling insomnia brought on by a sore throat for the past two nights for a combined total of 7 hour sleep over two nights. This morning’s routine was performed in a sleepless daze as I had only gotten 3-hours sleep. Instead of standing outside with the dogs, I let them out and then went to neti-pot in hopes of fending off a sinus infection. It was still pitch black outside when I opened the door to let them in. I quickly realized that Bennett had brought something in with him. It was a huge bone with some tissue and fur still attached. That’s right, my morning started with a dead rabbit carcass in my kitchen. I did what any sane person would do; I let out a blood-curdling scream for my husband to help me.
Something similar happened last March when he picked up a dead bird while we were outside. I absolutely hate birds so every time he would try to come near me I would run away screaming. He thought this was great so he would continue chasing me. Then every time he walked away I would chase him to try and get him to drop the bird. It was about 3o’clock in the afternoon and I have to think it was quite a scene for the neighbors.
By 3-hours into my day I knew I was not going to make it and would have to go home early. I had a few things I wanted to finish up before I left but soon I was feeling like I was going to pass out and I knew I could not stay any longer. I went to Sheri’s office to drop off the CC for her to use at the HH tonight. She wasn’t there and wasn’t answering her phone. I flipped out a little and, in the end, decided to leave the CC under her keyboard and left her a message. She never got it and never found the CC. I’m still a little nervous about it being stolen. I’ll feel better tomorrow when I get the CC back. I just hope I feel well enough to go to work tomorrow.
Bike Fit
So after a few weeks of being in pain on the bike due to my back being tight and my shoe not feeling right, I finally booked an appointment for a bike fit. I knew that my position on the bike would need to be adjusted as I developed more strength and flexibility but I didn’t expect to be in so much pain. I decided not to mess around and booked a Retul fit. For somebody who’s totally a numbers person like me, this is the best thing ever. Using little infrared sensors attached to key areas of the body, the camera takes an image of you cycling for 15 seconds. From these images, the computer can calculate all of the key parameters and determine what adjustments should be made. The good news is that my crank length turned out to be perfect. There really wasn’t any bad news in that everything could be fixed but I was very disappointed to find that my handlebars were actually off-center by almost a centimeter!! That seems like a pretty amateur mistake. So the overall changes were a slight adjustment in cleat position, seat moved back about 3mm, seat moved up by probably over a 1cm, and handlebars moved down by 1cm. The change is amazing!
So today I was really looking forward to my first ride on the new fit but the wind today was ridiculous. Something like 30mph wind gusts. I wimped out and went to PH instead. I actually don’t think I can get away with calling PedalHard a cop out given how hard the workouts are. I found that I felt much better on my bike today and felt that I could push more power than I had before. When I did the actual analysis against my last session I don’t’ know that the data actually looked any better but I felt like it was better.
New Shoes and New Dog Beds
I knew I was crashing yesterday. I was putting my new cycling shoes together, inserts and cleats and such, while watching office reruns and all of a sudden, I just needed to sleep so badly. I pushed off the need to sleep because I had too much to do, which was probably a really bad idea. I did go to bed on time but still overslept in the morning and I never oversleep. I’ve been training 8-hours a week for 6 weeks straight and, even at lower intensity, that might be pushing it. I’ve also been extremely busy and have not been great about getting 8-hours of sleep every night. Pile on top of that the crap I’ve been putting into my body and it’s a recipe for disaster. My TP goals this week should be to eat better, sleep more, and get a message. The message isn’t going to happen but 2 out of 3 isn’t bad.
Last week I bought the dogs beds. Brian thought it was stupid but now they won’t leave them. Bennett will disappear at night and we’ll find him in bed. Fozzy will eat his breakfast and go out then get right back into bed. He doesn’t even say good-bye to Brian anymore. It’s really freaking adorable. My only complaint is that Fozzy didn’t pick the bed closest to me. I also wonder if they’ll still love them in the summer.
Funny Stories and Bike Drama
My back has really been hurting these last couple of days. It’s so difficult for me to say if it’s muscle of spine since the muscles are totally related to how your spine moves and feels. I tend to think that it is just muscle pain but it makes me nervous. The good news is that it is very low; much lower than my L2.
Yesterday was nice and relaxed. Brian came home early and decided not to go into the office today. The mood was light and fun for the first time in a while. As we were cooking dinner, I mentioned a conversation where Shontell tried to argue that pint glasses were 12-oz. Brian wondered if pint-glasses were actually 16-oz or if they held a little more so that you could fill it with 16-oz and still walk. Being engineers, we had to try it out. I filled a pint glass almost to the very top and it measured 16-oz. My plan was to drink it but after I poured it to the top I started giggling. As I giggled the water threatened to spill which made me giggle harder. Giggling turned into laughing which turned into waters spilling all over me. Brian was almost in tears laughing over the whole ordeal.
Later, I was trying to crawl up the stairs on my butt. I sat down on the stairs and Bennett immediately sat down next to me. He gave me this adorable look like “We got this mommyâ€. Brian started up the stairs and tried to pass when Bennett got all excited and tried to block him. It was so cute!
Today I went to MJ’s to get fit for a new bike. When I got there, the guy who was supposed to fit me passed me off to another sales guy who didn’t fit me at all. He looked over the measurements of the two bikes I was looking at and just talked to me about them. I had already done all the research so he didn’t really tell me anything new. He did tell me he didn’t think the Parlee would fit being 2cm taller than my last bike. We decided on the Madone only to have him check inventory and find they don’t make it in my size anymore. I left really upset. When I got home I realized that that Specialized has been expanding their line of short woman’s bikes and they sell frames. So worst case I buy the frame at BSS and build it with my discount at MJ’s.
Accident Prone at the Paella Festival
Two days ago, this would have been a post about how horrible my doctor is and how he isn’t really evaluating my individual progress. I have a hard time writing that post now because I have not been a good patient and may have totally messed my knee up.
The story starts on Thursday when I first started calling the doctor’s office to find out about the results of my back X-rays. I was so confident based on how I felt and based on the conversation we had at my first follow-up that I actually stopped wearing the brace. I was shocked when the nurse called to give me instructions that the X-rays look good but that I’m still to wear the brace for 4-weeks more then have the X-rays taken again without my brace. This is the part that kills me because her instructions were very clear that I was only to remove the brace for the brief period when they take the X-rays but the doctor told me I didn’t have to wear the brace for short periods like when I wake up at night to use the bathroom. The icing on the cake is that I wasn’t wearing the brace in the last set of X-rays because I assumed that if I can walk to the bathroom, I can stand for 5-minutes without the brace on. I had a minor tantrum when I heard what she had to say. After I calmed down, I called her back and told her I wanted an appointment with the doctor. It’s amazing how guilty you feel, like you’re going to get into trouble for doing something wrong. I should have been up front right away but it was obvious that she had no idea what he had told me before and it would have turned into he-said, she-said.
So after that drama, I end up having to wear my brace at the paella festival. The festival was so much fun, but since I couldn’t get my own food, I ended up not getting much food at all. I should have had people get two plates to make sure that I got a whole plate of food but it just didn’t happen. So even though I didn’t drink a whole lot, I ended up quite tipsy. After it got dark, I made the mistake of trying to “run†after Sheri and tripped on a blanket. I tried to save it for a few seconds and ended up going down on my ass. Just before I went down I instinctively tried to use my left leg for balance. I have no idea how hard I put my leg down but I know it wasn’t good. It didn’t hurt except for that pins-and-needles feeling from not having stepped on your foot in a while. I still felt horrible and totally know that it may mean that the bone has shifted slightly. The worst part is that I fell again trying to get out of the truck into Tammy’s house. I got out too close to the curb where there was a steep incline and had to use my left leg to keep from face-planting forward. I was a complete disaster and it felt like I had no regard for my health. I am hoping for the best but I know that I put some weight on my leg before the 10-weeks was up and that could have a very bad outcome.
I couldn’t sleep last night with all of this swirling around in my head. I felt stupid and juvenile but mostly selfish and overconfident. Stephen ended up having to carry me to my car because I just couldn’t see well enough to place my crutches. It’s completely embarrassing. There are days I just want to crawl under a rock, today is one of those.
Fozzy’s Follow Up w/ Dr. W
I really wanted to write was the amazing care I got for my dog a at the vet on Wednesday. I had made a last minute appointment to get his sutures out because we had miscalculated the date. They put me in with one of the other doctors, which was fine. When I got there, they said the vet who did the surgery wanted to do his follow up and moved his schedule around to make time for me!! He didn’t rush at all even though I’m sure he had trouble fitting me in. He talked through everything with me and told me exactly what to expect. He check Fozzy’s ears and spent extra time making sure he was comfortable the whole time. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have such an awesome vet. Now fast forward to our oncology appointment Friday. This woman had no idea how to handle dogs. The first time he saw her, she smacked his hips even after I told her twice he had hip-dysplasia and was very sensitive. Friday, she petted him into his face then later, she clapped loudly and yelled at him to get up. It was not the energy she should have had in an already tense environment. We will not be seeing her again unless we have to and I’m glad we opted not to give her any more money.
Thursday at work was finally a catharsis. After weeks of struggling, at the final hour everything came together and I was able to make the samples. My reward to myself was to take Friday off, which was much needed. When I go back on Monday I will be back on my old project but gearing up for a very exciting new project!
The weekend deserves its own update an I am out of time. Maybe tomorrow!