Word of the Day

Panacea - cure-all! who knew it was that easy to come by?!?

Are you making fun of me?

So not knowing anyone for a whole summer can be quite a drag, so i thought that i should go to the local chabad and attempt to meet some nice local jews. I get to the chabad house and i would say that a 1/3 of those present are french, a bunch more spanish, a few ukrainians and who knows what else. the biggest shock though, is whenever the rabbi spoke, he had that british accent that sounds like an american mocking a british person. It was kind of hard to keep a straight face... i almost thought he could have been a monty python character, with his rotunda belly and his rendition of "kol ha'olam ku-lo" in 6 languages, it was very much an experience. As for meeting locals... I met two cute sisters at chabad.... americans. And they are leaving town in 2 days. Shucks. To make matters even worse, I was squished in the corner seat next to the rabbi, so naturally i was fairly isolated from any opportunities of meeting new people. And so it goes...

Oh the people you will meet....

The last few days have been a flurry of newness - stepping foot for the first time in the NIMR, meeting my new coworkers, adjusting to new lab procedures, attempting to meet new people, meeting acquaintances of acquittances, etc etc... What a crazy last few days. TO make it any better, I have been living out of a hostel for the last week and just paid to stay for another few days... WHY WOULD I DO THAT!!!!??? Well the good news is that I move into semi-reasonable long term housing in UCL dorms on monday.... the bad news... i still dont really know anyone is this ridiculous city. I have so far met up few a few people, but all live fairly far away and all of my coworkers dont seem to friendly in regards to post-work stuff. We'll see how that goes.

Things always have a way of working out, so im not too worried. But i am sad that the father/son dutch duo left... they were my only friends at the hostel! sad face.

Cars driving on the LEFT side of the road...

... Has to be one of the most disorienting things imaginable. Walking around London makes me feel like my world is turning upside down... its like being hungover one morning and think you are imagining things... but you're not. Its really weird!

Other random observations: The brits LOVE to stand in lines (sorry, in queue). People get in queue without even knowing what its for! I wonder whats going through their heads.... "ooo a queue! i love queues! why dont i just jump on it for the fun of it! ooo yippee!" Silly british. another queue story - i was waiting in queue and another guy cuts someone. a guy two person back approaches the miscreant and asks, "excuse me sir, but i just wanted to let you know that the queue starts back there (hand gesture) - I just thought i would let you know..." Come on. In new york he'd get stabbed, not politely and passively aggressively asked to move. o boy

Started my job a few days ago.... as it turns out it takes me almost an hour to get there... what the hell. alas such is life - hopefully living in a more central location will be worth the shitty commute. we shall see.

For those who have seen Batman Begins, I'm working in Arkham Asylum. Yup, the building they used for Arkham is my research institute. Yup, im scared....

As I was walking down the hill from Arkham Asylum to the tube stop, i hear a bell. figuring it was a bicycle on the sidewalk, i move over. I turn to see what the noise is. Blurring past me at supersonic speeds hurls an old bald man in a white tee-shirt on a red electric wheelchair...... old people can have fun too!

End of classes....

As classes wind down and the studying piles up, I am spending more and more time sitting in the library. With my newfound sedentary lifestyle in the library, I am slowly observing the effects of no longer working out are on the body.... I cant wait to have time to run again...

Anyways....

Yesterday I presented my poster (for those not in the sciences: researchers/scientists like to get together now and then and show off what they have done/do - the way this is done is at such gatherings, everyone makes posters of their research, stand by them for 2 hours and explain it to other scientists feigning interest in your field). I think it went fairly well; looking at some of the other posters there, mine was one of the better ones.

I cant wait for finals to be over, to be done with my MCAT and then to ship overseas. The US is such a bore.... Just kidding, i just am really ready to peace for a while.

update

havent run since the marathon. gotta get back into that soon.

things at school are starting to wrap up - housing for next year, summer in london stuff, research project etc...

no time now

THE MARATHON!

I finished my first (Atlanta ING) Marathon today in 4:00.16 - it feels great to have accomplished something i have wanted to do for so long.

the drama of the race... My friend (who was running with me, R,) and I were going along pretty well, well ahead of our target pace to finish in 4 hours. Around mile 9, R started to feel nauseous etc and we started losing time. It so happens that my house is right around mile 15... so i ran ahead to the house (from mile 14.5ish) and grabbed her some ibuprofen and another shirt to wear. while was getting her stuff i told her to run ahead and ill catch up... so i run to catch up and give her the stuff... anyways she still doesnt feel so good around mile 19, so she insisted that i go ahead and try to break 4 hours... My last 7 miles were ridiculous. i passed at least two hundred people and was going much faster then my original goal pace ( i was trying to make up for lost time from going slower earlier while R wasnt feel well) i ended just 17 seconds slower then what i wanted... im still really happy because just the time i had to make up in those last 7 miles means i really was going pretty fast.

the course was hilly. and it was raining. and it was cold. and it was AWESOME!. i cant wait to do my next marathon! im going to sign up for next year's atlanta ING marathon!

it was a great day, except my whole body hurts. R's mom said i looked like i was walking "with a stick up my ass." lovely. It was totally worth the hurt!

also - my sister and her good friend ran the new york half marathon today too! they are awesome mighty!! (inside joke, sorry!)

good job everyone!

So sunny, so... recycled air.

Its beautiful outside. its warm, blue skies, perfect spring day in atlanta.... And im breathing recycled air at lab and soon at a meeting...

The meeting is fr my summer program, where they are providing me a stipend to research in London for ten weeks. Catch is, the stipend is not going to cover all my costs... Whatever, its still a much cheaper way to spend some time in a sweet place.

also of note: roomies and myself will be signing our lease in the next week! im very excited to be living like a somewhat real human being this upcoming year.

AND: Marathon in a day and a half!

if god had a cruel sense of humor...

... he would have this friday and sat be the most gorgeous, beautiful days of spring in atlanta... and make it cold and rainy on sunday... I've been checking the weather reports for this weekend about as often as i check my email and facebook, and its just stressing me out. 80% chance of rain to 75% to 30% back to 55% and how 40%.... why not 0%? that would be wonderful.

besides for the run this sunday, what else is going on... I dunno - thats pretty much my highlight. cant wait til its over...

Cacophony

I am currently sitting in the 7th floor stacks of my esteemed university's sizable library. This is supposed to be a quiet place... What do I hear? Boy and girl flirting in the corner... a cell phone vibrating every 45 seconds, korean, and of course the incessant clickity-clackity of rapid fire typing. I came here for quiet, and instead i am sitting here writing this post to avoid my work and blaming it all on the annoying ambiance noises that should be ambiance noises.... I need a quiet, convenient place to study, this is going to drive me mad...

on a more happy note, or several more happy notes, i ran for the first time today with one of my friends whom i have been trying to run with for a while now. we had a nice run and a nice chat.

also, i met with my fourth and final recommender for med school apps and he was very nice, positive and encouraging. It did make me feel much better about my overall chances.

Any two more koreans walked by, and of course they have to stop and chat with every single other korean on this floor in the library, which happens to be everyone.... AHHHHH!!

lesser of two evils?

Spring Break came and went... emory is starting to fill up again and i finally will be able to stop being an ascetic... but at the same time i wish i hard more time to catch up on the stuff i have to do... the marathon coming up next weekend is occupying most of my thoughts, and getting it over with will do wonders for me (both in freeing up time and in making me feel better about myself) good news: composite letter application stuff is almost done. Funny story about that- i sent a draft to my brother to check it over (figuring he would be able to give me some good pointers, since after all he is in the application/admissions business!) i get a phone call from him a few minutes later... "hey little bro! i think i already drank 6 dollars worth of wine... (when a bottle is 3$....) He then hands me off to his girlfriend, who is now in the process of editing/correcting/generally helping out. The whole situation amuses me, but hey, ill take help from where ever it make come...

speaking of help from wherever, storytime! My dad and I were in some church in italy when a priest comes over to us and starts chatting with (Priest: where you from? Me: Upstate NY. Priest: Im from Wapingerrrrrr Falls! Me: (in my head, oh god, dont molest me!) Oh, thats close! Priest: let me offer you a blessing! Me: sure! thanks!
Anyways, moral of the story - (im jewish) take help/prayers/blessings from anywhere you can get it - hey, they can always be right!

Anyways, back to sarcomeres, actin, myosin, troponin and tropomyosin!

Update: Mileage Tally

6 weeks - 200 miles.

7 days until the marathon!

New sneakers ordered! (no im not going to use the new ones for the race...)

:-D

8am's and Saturdays

I got up this morning at 730am to head over to the local running store where they were having several group runs. I met a bunch of nice people and we had a great 9 mi run... it turns out that one of the runner's husband works in the lab right next to mine! yay coincidences. afterwards the running shop had free lunch and a free raffle, where i won an awesome long sleep running shirt! all in all, i was back by 10am, energized, with a fully tummy and a free shirt. So far so good!

adventure of the day: trying to find another pair of my running shoes... My one pair is pretty worn, and it would be good to get another soon... So i set out to quest for a pair of Mizuno Nexus 3 size 8.5. As it turns out, NOBODY in my stupid city has them... i ended up giving up and special ordering them from the running store (id rather get it through them and support them after all the free stuff i got from them this morning!). trying to make my outing slightly more productive, i headed over to borders to try and get the travel book ive been wanted to purchase for a while... Well... They actually had it! (Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring). I checked the price, and its 10$ more there then online. Really borders? Im going home to order it.
So for two hours out of my day, coming home empty handed i learned the true value of the internet: stop wasting time and just order your stuff online.

Back at the library! story of my life

Rainy days makes getting out of bed all the harder...

Last night i planned a productive day- Ill go to sleep early, wake up early, finish up at lab, have a few hours at the library and then go to gym. Well, i woke up to the sound of rain beating down upon my dilapidated house and knew that the bike or walk to work would be all the more fun this morning.... which of course prompted me to snooze my alarm for an hour.

finally made it out - at lab trying to get some good results for once. So far i have taken care of two med school recommendations, and the other two are coming along. Just have to finish my application for the composite letter by the end of the week...

hopefully ill be done at lab in the hour and a half and i can lock myself in the library for a few hours. We'll see. I need to get a lot done, and there is no better time then spring break, when i know they cant give me more work for at least a few more days...

did i mention im really nervous for my marathon? taking three days off like i did last weekend while i was in boston was terrible - catching up to where i was is going to take a while - i hope i can actually run this race...

My sister is taking the GREs today... Im thinking about her so she has to ACE IT!! who knows, i might end up at a med school in the same locale as her grad school... talk about catching up!

The Beauty of Life

Yesterday morning i awoke to a terrible phone call; it was my brother telling me that our first cousin was found dead in her dorm room. This came as huge shock to the family, and all of us are grappling with our feelings and how to best handle it, especially since we were all supposed to have a family gathering for out grandmother's 80th birthday next weekend...

It is from terrible things like this that makes me realize appreciate the world. Life is a beautiful, to be cherished and enjoyed. There is so much to benefit from, so much to see, so much to do, so much love and beauty... All experiences, from the good to the bad, are a blessing in the fact that we can experience them at all. Fail a test? So what, there is still a life to live, etc. It saddens me that it takes tragic events like this for me to realize how much there IS to live for.

I cannot imagine the anguish someone must feel when they can no longer see the merit in living... I hope that I can perhaps build better bonds with others and make myself more open so that I could perhaps make someone feel special enough to get through their own dark times...

I fly out tomorrow afternoon to be with my family... After all the tragic deaths in my family over the last few years, this is just adding more hurt on to it all, but in a terrible way we are almost used to it...

Somethings we should never be desensitized to, but we are, after all, only human.

Chapter Elections...

Today we had frat chapter elections... started at 2... still going at 6:50... I envy those with so little to do that they are building "wizard sticks." A wizard stick consists of the finished beverage cans consumed by the one individual all duct taped together. One rather crazy/ridiculous brother built a stick of 14 cans! All the while im chillin in the back studying magnetism and electric fields. And the way things are going, im not going to be running today, which would make it my 2nd day not running - i was planning on doing a 22 miler today, but then this came along. wow i feel productive... :-/

Mileage Tally

117 miles in the last 24 days

24 days until the marathon....

Tuesdays Suck

11:30am - 9:30pm. Straight. Classes from 11:30 - 2:15. Physics lab 2:30 - 5:30. MCAT class 6-9. Group meeting tonight @ 9:30. And now? more work at the library. This sucks. That is all.

Geekin' out...

Just now i was skimming NYtimes, and something in the science section caught my attention(most things that do are either in health, science or automotive...). It was a Tierney Lab blog, with youtube video of a science rap! i opened the video, and watched, jaw dropped, at the music video before my eyes. it was ridiculous, so much so that i feel the need to share it. (ridiculous in that i had a "Geekin' Out" moment -translation: moment of intense nerdiness)... enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tomcfad#p/a/u/0/VCpNk92uswY

A beautiful sunny day in the ATL...

I woke up this morning to blue skies and 60 degree weather in Feb... It doesnt get much better then that, and the only thing on my mind was getting outside for a nice long run. So... I went to the library and took a practice mcat... The only thing that got me through that ordeal was knowing that as soon as i finished id be able to put my running shoes on and get outside.

I originally planned out a ~12 mile route, figuring i would be home in under 2 hours. The first 8 miles or so went as planned, but then i saw a road i recognized and decided to turn on to it... a few miles later i realized that i made the wrong turn... I hate backtracking, so instead of turning around and heading home, i decided to find an alternate route home. And i make yet another wrong turn... or two or three... 4 hours after i set out, i finally made it home. The sun was starting to set, and all my room mates were in the middle of eating dinner...

As much as i hate getting lost, i really enjoyed the experience. There is nothing like getting to know an area by running through it... twice. I feel like I can now navigate the Virginia Highlands in my sleep.... and get to the bars without my GPS when im sober d... gotta love atlanta...

here is the route i think i did... i dont think its 100% accurate, because i think i did more miles then it says, but around here.... http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ga/atlanta/276126679809453116

Quiet Saturday....

Yesterday my lab threw the monthly departmental party... FYI whoever thought that researches dont know how to have fun are just wrong. I also spoke to my PI for a while about London and backpacking Europe - i cant wait to go this summer!

Another twenty minutes in lab

10 miles yesterday, hopefully another ten today. This marathon training shenanigans is starting to take over my life. Once I got past the hour running point, it turns into a whole process that somehow turns into a three hour or more ordeal... I don't mind it, except my schoolwork does mind. I wish there were more hours in the day to get everything done that i would like.

Day:

8 hours sleep

3 hours class

4 hours lab

3 hours hw

2 hours mcat and med school stuff

3 hour gym process

-----------

total - 23 hours. So... .technically possible, but really? Yea, not gonna happen. I wish i could be this productive, but in all reality.....:

Real-ish day:

5.5 hours sleep

3 hours class

4 hours lab

3 hour gym process

2 hours hw.

~17.5 hours. I could do better, but.... I'm only human.... Ill work on being more productive i guess... got to stay focused on the immediate end goal - get into med school.

focus alex, focus!

Thoughts in Lab...

I'm at my lab now in the middle of an experiment... That sounds intense and all until you realize that an experiment is a three day ordeal with a jillion steps that involve"put in solution X for 1 hour..." so i might technically be in the middle of an experiment, but for at lease the next 6 minutes and 33 seconds, I have nothing to do. What do scientists do then, if they have so much free time on their hands? (of course lets over look the fact that I am begging the question that I am even a scientist...) Well, for one thing, I am writing this blog. I also check facebook every 34 seconds, as well as Learnlink (Emory email) every minute or two. Then i surf the web for various pointless things, all the while pretending to look productive. I'm actually contemplating getting a headstart on my homework... oh wait, that would mean i'd be productive, god forbid. Or i can just sit here, and try to look busy. I like that idea.... Ill just look more into housing options in london and more marathon training schedules online.... oh wait, my 6 min and 33 seconds are up....

The ings.... Blogging, Running and the Atlanta ING

So.... this whole blogging thing is new to me... I've been thinking of setting up a blog for a while, but always thought it fairly presumptuous to say that my life and/or thoughts are worth sharing over the world wide web.... whether or not it does warrant sharing, ill post anyways...

So since this semester started things have been pretty hectic - MCAT pre, classes, research and .... running. Its hard to try to do so much at once, but "if not now, when?" with that in mind, and 35 days to go until my marathon, i ran a half-marathon on a treadmill yesterday.... very boring, but rewarding as well. its nice to know that im at least halfway there (on a treadmill....) Hopefully ill be able to make it in under 4 hours come race day. who knows. i just hope im able to accomplish all my goals for this semester....

goals:

1) Good grades

2) Good research

3) med school prep (mcat, apps, etc)

4) 26.1 Miles in under 4 hours on March 21st...

If I can pull this off, ill be one happy med student 18 months from now....