Rough day

Well on the way to work I re-popped the tubing on my tire. I went back to Rolls Bike after work and discovered that my tire had popped in addition to the tubing so a quick $50 bucks down the drain. The wheel is also bent so I have to go back tomorrow but that would explain why my breaks get caught so much in the back. On the flip side the guy told me the new tire would be more resistant and much quicker as well. Today and lab I think we have finally put our contamination issues behind us but I still am having issues with the RT-PCR machine which is quite frustrating as well. But, I will head back extra early tomorrow to get first crack at machines and with a few new ideas in my head I am hoping for an improved day.

An excellent weekend

This Sunday, my lab group had a picnic at the Park of Roses for Prashanths last weekend. I personally had a great time it was nice to hang out with some guys my age from the lab and talk with a lot of the post docs. One of the funniest things was the difference in conversation topics between the two groups. Whereas the post-Docs were at one point overhead discussion how they address fellow Ph.Ds in emails (such as Dr. so and so....), we were discussion ridiculous (and sometimes violent sports) we had heard of from the far reaches of the globe. It was a fun afternoon though. Then, my friend Drew from lab was kind enough to fix the tubbing on my bike. It was working great (more on that later). Then Sunday night, me and Prashanth joined Drew at the Columbus Gateway Theater to watch the season premiere of Breaking Bad. Tickets were free because they make their money from alcohol sales (yes this movie theater sells alcohol) but I saved my money for some Taco Bell afterwards. They Sunday night, we headed to the German Village to the World Famous (I think) Thurman's Pub for their burgers. The burger was 3/4 of a pound but was delicious. And despite having a light dinner I was almost able to finish although my stomach hated me this morning. Thruman's was actually on Man vs Food for their massive burger. It was a small place that looked a lot like moose but had a great atmosphere and we were able to watch the Olympics as well.

Olympics

The Olympics are always a big event and personally I enjoy watching being able to relate a bit being a college athlete. I hustled home last night to watch the opening ceremony but in the end kind of regretted doing it. I thought the opening act was not that great. It was cool to have the english countryside in a stadium but the workers and the dream sequences were kind of weird and I wasn't a big fan. I also didn't like the Mr. Bean sequence I think "Chariots of Fire" is a great song and played by the London Symphony there was no need to do more. I also thought Paul McCartny sounded poor I'm not sure what was up with his voice. The prossesion of nations is always interesting for me so I enjoyed that part. I also didn't the Queen and James Bond parachutting in was nearly as entertaining as everyone else. I am excited for the games however unfortunately Sam hasn't gotten our password/login for the internet and so I can't stream NBC live or Espn3 for that matter. But I will survive nonetheless.

Bike Issues, again...

So this week bike riding had become increasingly laborsome again. I figured it was due to playing pickup soccer and a leg workout back to back days but Wednesday heading to work someone on the Lane Avenue Bridge yelled to me to tell me I had a flat back tire. Once at work sure enough, my back tire was flat. When I got home I checked it with my pump and it was only at 20 psi (ideal for this tire is 80) and so I pumped it back up. Thursday on the way to work I had barely got to the end of the road when my tire popped. Thankfully I left early enough that my roommate was able to give me a ride and I've bused since but I seemed to have another problem. At happy hour yesterday I talked to several of the undergrads who happened to be avid bike riders and one of them has offered to patch it so I spent this morning going to his recommended bike shop to get new tubbing and a patch kit. Tomorrow we are having a picnic because Prashant is going back to India so he offered to fix it then. The bike shop was cool and the worker even gave me a very detailed city map for free with all the bike trails and safe streets to drive on which will be awesome because Columbus drivers are increduously even worse than Cedar Rapids drivers. So after finishing my work today (Saturday) I will go with Prashant to get food for the picnic, maybe get a workout at the ARC and perhaps watch a movie (I bought several cheap ones at half-priced books along with several books) or read my "The Making of Barcelona" book by Graham Hunter which is excellent if anyone follows Barcelona soccer at all.

500 page views in one month

Today I checked my blog "stats" and was shocked to find my blog has been viewed 500 times in the last month and often times more than 25 times I day. I am truly surprised to have this much traffic and that people find my posts/life that interesting. I will now try to be more proactive with my blogging. Thanks everyone

Movies

After viewing the Dark Knight Rises on Saturday morning for 5 bucks, I realized this is a good way for me to entertain myself. There are several decent movies coming out and for 5 bucks, why not. Personally I am looking forward to the Bourne Legacy the most. Anyone who knows me knows I loved the Bourne Trilogy and although the Legacy does not feature Matt Damon, the basic premise is similar and the screen writer is now the director. I'm excited, and you should be too.

Developing a new habit

So I found out this Monday at work that Columbus had a jazz festival downtown this weekend. I realized how much of the city I am missing out on and am pretty disappointed I don't really have anyone to go check these things out with. However, I discovered a website http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/ that has lots of cool stuff so hopefully I'll be ready to hit the group running in the mean time. Since I'm not playing organized tennis anymore and don't really have a way to play any pick up games (other than the occasional soccer) I have taken the opportunity to try new personalized workouts and see how I like them. After playing tennis for so many years and using my training time to run developing quickness and endurance, its fun to try some new things out. Lately I've been doing more weight training, explosive training, and biking. Now I realize some of you may have a chuckle at this as I have been a scrawny guy forever but actually know my way around the weight room. The traditional lifts kind of bore me and I really don't like bench pressing or military very much so I've been looking for other things to fill the void. Menshealth.com has some great blogs that are available and I've also been following this Chad Waterbury guys blog (he also has a book I'm considering ordering) that has lots of good stuff on it. Basically, I'm buying into the whole varying your workout strategy to fight boredom and stagnation. So far its been working out pretty well. It's been a lot of fun so far and I've actually put on a little muscle doing it. Personally I don't really care to ever get bulked out I think it looks kind of absurd on guys that aren't using it for sports but getting a little bigger isn't a bad thing. Also I've let a few people walk over me the last few years and there is an attitude change involved that I think is positive for me. Since I've been doing some explosive stuff too I might be better at team sports when I go back to them. I like reading all the various ideas towards getting fit and different people's advice. A lot of the traditional thoughts on fitness have been proven to be very wrong and I've definitely found this out for myself as well. Anyway, I'll end here and stop what I'm sure is an amusing article to anyone reading it. Catch you guys later.

My weekend

So I haven't posted for a few days because everything has been pretty uneventful as of late. Friday I got to do a lot at work because my post Doc had some stuff he needed to do and then I got to go home at 6 (which is around 2 hours earlier than usual). I didn't do anything Friday night but Saturday I went for a bike ride and saw The Dark Knight Rises. I thought it was a good movie but not nearly as much as everyone posting on facebook about it being the greatest movie ever. The last plot twist at the end I thought was pretty dumb and honestly made the earlier part of the story worse. The story was good but it wasn't that incredible. I liked the villain, Bane, until he started making speeches all the time. I thought he had more of an aura of invincibility before he started to talk. I also thought the prison metaphor could have been developed more it would have made it a bit more dramatic although I realize they probably had it that way but cut out parts due to the movie being freaking long as was. But with $5 student rate and a relatively open theater (due to it being 10:30 am saturday morning) it was worth the show. Today, Sunday, I was biking down Olentangy past the West Campus athletic area and noticed a tennis tournament going on at the Buckeye tennis courts. I biked over to watch for a bit and the director invited me inside. It was an open tournament with lots of college players so it was a pretty high level. You could definitely tell the difference between the ones on good D1 teams and bad ones because the good players hit big, heavy grinding shots and rarely missed while the lower ones slapped and hoped for the best. Anyone has watched me play for more than 5 minutes knows which style I prefer. Then I went to the RPAC and asked some guy hitting against the wall to hit with me. He had just started playing so he wasn't very good but it was great to be out hitting again (especially with the great sunny day) and I wasn't too upset to chase and hit the ball softly back to him. Other than that I'm starting to get pretty bored without a real social life so I've honestly never been more excited for school to start. August 13th is when my real orientation starts (although we have some sort of a meeting earlier) and I'm excited to meet some new people so I can actually start enjoying this city for real instead of just biking through all of it.

Good day

Today I got to sleep in a bit later than normal, had stuff to do at work today (a change from the last few days), and I got tickets for the U.S. national team game vs Jamaica in Columbus! I grabbed the tickets for my friend Blaise and one of his buddies and I'm super excited to go. The date also falls on September 11th which is obviously a very emotional day for our country so I'm sure the atmosphere will be incredible. I can't wait to go!

Rob "Bobo" Rye is leaving Coe

My 2 year assistant tennis coach Rob "Bobo" Rye is leaving Coe to take a head coaching job. For Rob and team (and myself) I put together a short Prezi of his time at Coe. It was fun to put together it brought back many memories. Here it is.
http://prezi.com/9djdfcx7bsbe/rob-bobo-rye-and-his-career-at-coe/      

Another update

So I haven't really been up to much the last few days so I have not been blogging. Work has been very very slow since I'm waiting for some stuff that we ordered to come and some cell lines to grow. However, I'm still expected to be there until 8 or so even if I have nothing to do. I know its absurd but I am managing. This Friday after happy hour I ventured to the field outside to play some pick up soccer. I had brought my cleats earlier in the week but hadnt mustered the courage to walk up and ask to play. but, after looking at another long weekend without much to do i went over. I realized about ten minutes in how much i missed competing and playing sports. ive been working out a lot in the RPAC and biking but it doesnt have the same emotional rush. the 2 hours I play went quickly until it got dark and only once I got home did I realize exactly how exhausted I was. Saturday i went with an exchange student to see spiderman at a theater on high street. with a student discount the tickets were cheap. It was a pretty cool theater but was a bit bizarre as well. for instance they serve drinks. Then we played Halo. Sunday I biked and read most of the day and then back to work Monday.

My address

For those who have asked, my mailing address is 682 Riverview Drive Mailbox 140, Columbus Ohio, 43202. No stalking is allowed however

Attempts to join the club tennis team DENIED

So the title is more dramatic than the actual story. After being here almost a month and not really knowing anyone here, I decided to check out the rec sports/intramurals page. I was disappointed there was a summer soccer league I could have signed up if I had found the page earlier but was excited to see there were teams during the year and also a Club Tennis team (along with "team tennis" which are apparently different). I emailed the person in charge wondering about the team and if anyone was around this summer to hit with. Unfortunately due to my varsity experience at Coe, I have been denied a spot on the club team due to the "strict regulations regarding varsity athletes" but he at least said he would see who is around this summer and give me their contact info. Also they have an intramural event called "Battleships" where teams of 4 board canoes and attempt to sink other canoes by throwing water into each others canoe. Registration lasts another few days so perhaps I'll enter as a "free agent" and hope a good team of 3 needs me.

Apartment Pics

As promised, I am posting pictures of my place. I wanted to wait till we had a kitchen table to make it look like people actually live there.

This the entrance from Riverview Drive. Obviously not that exciting.

This is the pool in the front of the complex. It's fairly nice but is only 3 ft deep throughout. Sometimes after work I like to take a dip and then read on some of the lounge chairs.

View of the buildings from the parking lots. Also my station wagon happened to be in the shot.

A view of the kitchen.

A view of the courtyard from my door.

Our living room. Completely with a Mr. Coffee end table and Floor Lamp coffee table. Also notice the fan (our air conditioning is poor).

Our bathroom. I really don't know why I included this.

These aren't in a great order but thats the kitchen table by the kitchen.

A view of part of my room from my bed. The closet is huge. Also note the fan pointed directly at my bed.

View from the doorway. The dresser to the right is awful (Walmart) but the bed is super comfortable. There are more posters on order.

The other view from my bed of my desk area.

So......yeah. There it is, my apartment. I haven't invested a ton of money for stuff so it looks pretty bare but it's comfortable, in a decent location, and most of all is more than affordable.

Scenes from biking today

Today after watching the Wimbledon final and going to the Newman center, I biked to the RPAC (see below) to work out. After that, I decided to bike farther south to explore the trails more. The bike trail went right along the river and was very pretty. This is the Lane Avenue Bridge which is actually close to my work (it runs past the football stadium) but I've only biked over it and never seen it from this angle. Seemed like a nice enough photo. The building to the left is the hockey arena and the road that runs perpendicular to the bridge leads north about a mile to my apartment. I bike along the river to and from work every day although there is construction now and I take a modified route.

Federer wins #17

Today Roger Federer won his record-extending 17st Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. It's the first time for a few years he has won a title (he is now 30) and thus has regained the #1 ranking in the world. I haven't really been watching a lot of tennis lately but it was great to see Federer back to his old form. He is truly magnificent to watch when he is at his best. My heart goes out for Andy Murray who was attempting to win his first Grand Slam title and the first person from the UK to win at Wimbledon since 1936. This was his fourth loss in a major final and he tearfully said afterwards "Well I'm getting closer" which I'm sure will go down as a memorable line should he proceed to win a major in the future. My heart goes out for Andy Murray having lost my fair share of sporting events in the past and he showed true class in the trophy presentation.

The RPAC

Some of you have been asking what I've been doing for fun in Columbus. In short, not a whole lot but I have been careful as always to squeeze a workout into my day. Other than running and biking, there are two places to go on campus to work out. One of them is the ARC(Adventure Recreation Center) on West Campus that houses a modest weight room but several basketball courts, indoor soccer fields, and a rock climbing wall. I have parking near there so I have gone a few times. However, most of the time I go to the RPAC (the Recreation and Physical Activity Center). To say it modestly this place is incredible! It is also conveniently located across the road from the Biomedical Research Tower where I work. Here are some photos.

 Above is the outside view that I took from the website.

This is a picture of the weight room on the main floor.

This is my photo of the "cardio cave"

One of the 6 basketball courts at the RPAC

A picture of the lobby complete with 2 cafes and some lounge space.

Another picture of the weight room with the walkway out.

A view of the "Horseshoe" (football stadium) from the upper levels.

A view from the entrance where I park my bike. The Biomedical Research Tower (where I work) is the tall one in the center.

Finally, a view of the 12 tennis courts outside. Also missing are the 2 soccer fields and practice football fields.

Also in the RPAC is a running track, boxing area, many workout classrooms, huge locker rooms, child care center, squash courts, racketball courts, mats, more cardio equipment, and as I learned talking to another student extensive lounges where pool, ping pong, and other recreation activities occur. Usually I head to this building after work around 8 or 9 and then bike home to make dinner and relax before bed.

Trying to beat the heat

Sorry for not posting for a few, but when I have gotten home from work the last few days I have been quite frankly exhausted. We are in the middle of a heat wave here and combined with getting home between 8 and 9 most nights it is wearing me down. It doesn't help that our apartment has been in the mid 80's even at night due to our poor air conditioner. Today (Saturday) is going to be the hottest day so after I am down at work today, I will probably go to the RPAC to work out and then go to a movie once I return home to get out of the apartment. The roommate again went home for the weekend. After today though it is supposed to cool down. Tomorrow is only a high of 93 (yes I am actually excited about that) and next week will be in the high 80's. I will try to post some of the pictures I've been accumulating this weekend.

Happy Third(?) of July!

So apparently Columbus has fireworks the night before the 4th of July. After getting off work at 8:30 I walked to West Campus (because the bike is still out of operations and the bus service is still on strike) and noticed everyone lining up on the bridge over the Olentangy River and learned fireworks were happening tonight. After a quick workout in the Arc I ran home to change and shower quick and went back to the bridge to watch. I was fairly far away but got a decent view. To the left is the new hospital they are building on campus which neighbors where I work now. Afterwards I met some students wandering around and hung out with them a bit before walking back to my car and returning home. Overall a reasonable evening.

The downside of living cheaply

So I got a bike before I came out here from Target. With my location and the parking situation on campus its about as quick to bike to campus and since I like to be active, it seemed logical to get a bike. Since this is a campus area I figured a cheaper bike would be better. Less likely to get stolen and there was no real need to get a nice one with how short of a commute I would be doing. Lately however, the bike has become very difficult to ride and I took it to the shop today. I discovered the night before the breaks were rubbing against the wheel which made my ride very difficult due to the constant breaking. The shop reset the wheels for a short fee and I was on my way. After putting the bike in the station wagon and returning home I am disappointed to say that the breaks are still rubbing. I will try and go back tomorrow to fix this (using my car carrier this time) but if it cannot be fixed perhaps I will have to buy a new bike anyway. One of the many new challenges I am learning about living on my own.

Spain makes history!

Forgive me,  I was quite wrong about the game. Spain won comfortably 4-0. The score line is a bit misleading. Spain went up 2-0 in the first half making a great goal for the first in the 14th minute and capitalized on poor defending to score in the 41st (from the Left Back nonetheless). However, in the 60th minute Italy had used all three subs and one of their players got hurt meaning they had to finish the game with 10 men. They held out for about 20 minutes but Spain got a third and the disheartened Italians quickly conceded a 4th. In the trophy presentation, you could see the pain in all the Italians eyes and it reminded me of losing in the conference finals 3 years in a row. Obviously the Iowa Conference Tennis Championship does not compare to the Euro Finals, but it still stung. My freshmen year I did not play a part but my sophomore year I lost the 5th match to give Luther the win. That was one of the toughest moments of my tennis career. My junior year, we had beaten Luther 5-4 earlier in the year but got swept in doubles and ultimately lost 5-1 (although my match was not finished). But watching Iker Casillas(the captain) lift the trophy reminded me of when I lifted the trophy immediately after winning conference and all of the emotions rushing through me. Today brought back those feelings. Today also reminded me of my experience in Spain when they won the World Cup and I happened to watch this game with one of my roommates from Spain Blaise who goes to Law School at OSU now. He was back from Virginia for the weekend before heading off to England for the remainder of the summer. Needless to say it was a good day and I'm glad I got to watch. Viva España!