from the mind of me

2012...The End?

2012-01-27T10:00:00.005-05:00

So it's 2012 and I utterly failed in my 2011 goal of cooking out of each cookbook I own (though I did diversify my "goto recipe" list a bit). The Mayans say that the world is going to end in 2012 so I figure I may as well try to write a little more in this last year here. I'll admit, I was partly inspired by Lindsey's renewed blogging in 2012, too, to write more here.

Not much has changed since 2011. My back is still jacked up. Surgery in early 2011, like the one in 2010, helped a bit but then I grew tons of scar tissue on the nerve roots and so I'm still dealing with pain and burning down my left leg. My right leg is also feeling it, though it's not as bad. I've been trying different things with a pain management specialist including drugs and steroid injections.

As a direct result of my back issues, I've been spending a lot less time at the gym. I need to get back into my gym habit, as it will probably help or at least not make things worse...but it's hard to motivate to go to the gym when you wake up in pain and have to take a lot of drugs to keep it away. So that's kind of depressing. However, also as a direct result of my significantly more sedate lifestyle, I'm doing a lot more reading. I joined Goodreads when the Sword and Laser book club moved from Ning to Goodreads. I'm terpkristin over there, should you want to follow my reviews. I'm probably going to start posting my reviews over there on this blog, too, so you can see what I'm reading. I have made a goal of reading 52 books in 2012 (compared to the 47 I read in 2010 and the 44 I read in 2011...in both years, though, that ended up being right around 21,000 pages).

Something else new for 2012 is my "photo 365" project. Every day, I'm posting a picture I take with my iPhone to my twitter account. During the winter, when I work long hours, there are a lot of Oz pictures. I'm hoping that on weekends and during the spring, summer, and fall, I can get some non-indoors shots. :) I'm also curating the photos at flickr and am going to try to do a once-a-week summary here.

And, who knows, I may end up posting some of my cooking and crafting adventures. Time will tell. So, happy 2012, people.

Confession Time

2011-04-30T19:33:00.002-04:00

Beef Stroganoff, a photo by terpkristin on Flickr.

So, I have a confession. I've never bought beef other than ground beef. Nor have I ever cooked beef other than ground beef/hamburgers. That all changed today.

In continuing with my new year's "resolution" of cooking at least one recipe from each cookbook I own, the next cookbook on my shelf was Light & Healthy 2010 from America's Test Kitchen. While I was going through the cookbook, I had to force myself to try something different. There were a lot of recipes in there that look like things I like to make and eat regularly (such as chicken stew). After all, part of the point of the resolution was to try out some new things. Though there were plenty of recipes for things I've never made before (not just beef, but also pork--other than the pound of real bacon I bought for a party and the very occasional sausage, I've never bought or cooked that, either...just not a fan of the flavor). In the end, there were two recipes that fit all my requirements: beef stroganoff and spring vegetable risotto. Since I've just gotten over a period of doing a lot of vegetarian dishes, I opted for the beef stroganoff.

I'm not sure if my mom ever made beef stroganoff when I was growing up. I think I've only had it once or twice, and what I remember of it was a thick cream sauce. I think I remember coming across a recipe while in home ec in middle school that used cream of mushroom soup. This recipe did not.

I was surprised at how long this took to put together and cook. Including prep, it was a bit over an hour (albeit, a lot of it is just waiting for things to cook so it's not an active hour). I guess, though, that if you want to develop flavor without as much fat, you have to let things cook. I'm not complaining. The result was a supremely tasty brandy cream sauce with big chunks of beef and big mushrooms. The sauce isn't as thick as I remember it being (or remember seeing it at restaurants), but that might have been partially my fault. The sauce spends about 30 minutes simmering at medium heat; I think for the first 15 minutes, I might have had the heat a little too low. I kicked it up for the last 15. What I really like about this dish is that I can really taste all of the components in the sauce. I still get a touch of the brandy, the beef isn't hidden in salt, and a little bit of lemon juice and parsley added at the end round out the flavors. I'll be keeping this recipe in my repertoire.

So. Not a bad first beef experience. I actually didn't like the smell of the beef cooking in the skillet. Once it was cooked, though, the flavor was pretty good. I'm not sure that I've learned much about buying or cooking beef. I cooked the beef much like I cook chicken. And, if I were to be honest, if the cookbook hadn't told me to get tenderloin and showed a picture of how to cut it, I probably wouldn't have had any idea what type of beef to look for in the store. Sometime this summer, I'm going to have to buy more beef and figure out what one does with beef, other than grill it.

Vegetarian Paella

2011-04-17T19:45:00.002-04:00

Vegetarian Paella, a photo by terpkristin on Flickr.

With one week left in Lent, my "forced" vegetarianism is almost over. It seemed like as good a time as any to make a recipe out of a third cookbook, to keep up with my New Year's goal (yes, I'm behind on that goal...I'm still having back issues, which is making it harder to cook).

I've never had paella. It's always associated with shrimp and other things that will kill me, so I've avoided it when going out. I have yet to come across a non-shellfish version of it that looks appealing or doesn't look like a lot of work. Thus, when I came across a vegetarian version in Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, I was intrigued. It looked fairly straight forward and fairly quick to make. Truth to tell, I wanted to order pizza for dinner tonight so these were very good attributes for a recipe. ;)

I made the mushroom variant of the "Paella with Tomatoes" recipe and, based on a suggestion in the book, added 4 eggs to the pan (I wanted to be sure I was getting enough protein). The recipe is straight-forward enough: stock or water, olive oil, rice, onion, garlic, mushrooms, tomato paste, saffron, and smoked paprika. Throw it all together and bake for 15 minutes, and then keep it in the oven for another 15 with the oven off. I was surprised by how soupy the dish was when it went into the oven--I wasn't even sure it would hold the eggs very well. In retrospect, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, as the cooking technique is very similar to how I make my tomato-based chicken and rice dish.

The dish turned out all right. I think I could have cooked it a smidge longer with a little more liquid; the rice came out very slightly underdone. Also, I think it would have been better with butter instead of oil (for a better brown on the bottom). Bittman, in the book, suggests putting the pan over high heat for a few minutes when it comes out of the oven to give it more of the characteristic "crust" on the bottom. I'm not sure how well that would have worked with an electric range, though. Also, to make this dish I used mushroom broth in place of normal vegetable broth. I've found that mushroom broth is a bit more flavorful. If I make this recipe again, I may use vegetable broth and a bit of wine; the mushroom was a bit too earthy when combined with the baby bellas on top.

All in all, I think it was a success, but I think the next time I make "paella," I'm going to try a non-vegetarian version. I think this would have been tastier with chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. This isn't the first time I've found vegetable broth to yield results that have left me wanting a bit more. I make a wicked lentil soup that when made with chicken broth is rich and flavorful, but when made with vegetable broth, falls a bit flat.

Bittman's cookbook is a large tome, I'm going to have to try some other recipes out of it...after I get through the other cookbooks.

Cooking...again

2011-03-13T19:40:00.003-04:00

Gordito a photo by terpkristin on Flickr.

It's been a long time since I posted. Truth to tell, it's been kind of a rough year. As I posted on May 9, 2010, I fell and hurt my back. I ended up with a left-sided herniated disc at the L5-S1 level. After epidural steroid injections, therapy, and anti-inflammatories didn't work, I ended up having surgery on June 2, 2010 (#12 for those playing at home).

Things went well at first, but then I ended up having continued pain down both legs. An MRI revealed that I had re-herniated my disc, and this time it was bilateral. 2 more injections and a lot more therapy later, I found myself scheduling a revision diskectomy. Two days after scheduling it, I fell in the shower and made things worse. I finally ended up having the revision on 1/6/11. So it's been about two months and my recovery hasn't gone nearly as smoothly as it did the first time. It's a bit frustrating. I have a feeling my Ehlers-Danlos is playing a role in this.

Before my surgery, though, I'd made a New Year's resolution to cook more and take more photos. As far as "cooking more," I cook a lot. But I have a lot of old stand-by recipes, and I wanted to move away from those. So I resolved to make at least one recipe from each cookbook I own. So far this year, I've done two. About 3 weeks ago, I made Cuban-style Black Beans from Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Cookbook. They were OK. They didn't have a lot of flavor, but when served with some green salsa on top, they were pretty tasty.

Today, I made recipe #2, from cookbook #2. This time, I made the Gordito recipe from Quick and Healthy Meals from Trader Joe's, which was a Christmas gift from Wendy. I had no idea what "gordito" meant, and nor was I sure what the texture would be. The cookbook actually has an error in it--the directions call to add marinara sauce, but only tomatoes are on the ingredient list (and it didn't say what to do with the tomatoes). Turns out "gordito" means "sloppy joe." Or, something like that, because that's what this came out looking and tasting like. It's vegetarian, made with the Morningstar Farms Grillers. Full disclosure, I didn't end up actually using anything from Trader Joe's to make this, I picked up ingredients at my local Wegman's.

I served it like you see, on top of some flatbread. I also had mixed vegetables on the side. Turned out pretty tasty, I'd recommend this recipe to others. The recipe makes 4 generous servings, though one serving was too big to be sandwich-able. I think when I eat the leftovers, I'll throw a little cheese on top. Maybe some avocado, if I can find any that look good.

Next week, hopefully another recipe.

Healthy Comfort Food: Chicken Stew

2010-06-21T18:03:00.003-04:00

Awhile back, I happened across a recipe for "chicken stew provençal" in the Washington Post. It was based on a recipe from Runner's World, and was touted as a simple, flavorful recipe that runners could use as a nice post-run dinner to replenish their systems. After making it a few times (even though I'm not a runner anymore and will never be again), I have to say that this has become one of my goto recipes for a healthy dinner. It's also a great way to use up leftover vegetables. The one big difference I've done from the original recipe was that the original recipe called for red potatoes. I am not a big fan of potatoes, so I substituted a can of white beans instead. As written below, it makes about 6 servings. The recipe can also easily be halved, and extra portions freeze very well.

Ingredients

olive oil

approx. 1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

2 small or 1 large onion, cut into thin wedges

2-3 stalks celery, cut into 1/2" pieces

2 carrots, cut into 1/2" pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups chicken broth

28 oz. canned diced tomatoes, with juices

2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

1 tsp Herbs de Provence, crushed

1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper (or to taste)

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until it is brown on all sides (5-7ish minutes).

Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes, stirring every couple minutes.

Add the broth, tomatoes, beans, and spices, stirring so it's all combined. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 45 minutes (so chicken is cooked through).

As I said in the intro, I sometimes use this recipe to use up leftover vegetables. If the vegetables are fresh/stand well to satueeing, I add them at the same time as the onions and celery (stuff like zucchini works well here). For frozen vegetables (like peas or cut green beans), I add them at the same time as the broth. Adding other vegetables might require adding additional broth and/or tomatoes, so just keep that in mind.

Quick Bread Interlude: Mango Tea Bread

2010-05-31T09:39:00.003-04:00

I love quick breads. I do not particularly like mangoes, at least served on their own. Mangoes to me are nice accents to other ingredients, but on their own, they're too sweet for me. My mom brought me a couple mangoes the other day, and I had no idea what to do with them (the easy solution would have been to make some Black Bean and Corn Salad, but I'm having surgery Wednesday and am trying to not create any more leftovers, plus I had a spin on that salad last week). So, I went to epicurious and looked for recipes, finding a ton that sounded interesting but a) would take too long (too much standing around hurts my leg) or b) would create too many leftovers. Eventually I came across a recipe for Mango Tea Bread. I modified it slightly, and the result was a smooth bread that was slightly sweet and not overly mango tasting (a win in my book).

Ingredients

1 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup brandy (I actually used Remy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac)

2 large mangoes, peeled, diced

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

heaping 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, brought up to room temperature

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a bread pan (I used a glass 1.5 qt loaf pan, the same I use for all my breads). In a small bowl, mix raisins and cognac and put aside.

Puree the mangoes in a food processor or blender until smooth. It should be about a cup (I ended up slightly less than a cup and it turned out okay. If it's more than a cup, I'd use about a cup and reserve the rest for another use).

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar and the butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then mango puree and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixture and beat until just combined. Then, using a spoon or spatula, fold in the brandy-soaked raisins.

Pour batter into the bread pan. Bake it for about 75 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack, then turn the loaf out and let cool completely.

This bread was really tasty with a little bit of butter in the morning. This bread doesn't taste too much like mango, but is still tasty. One thing I did notice was that the raisins retained some of the cognac flavor, which was a nice counterpoint to the bread.

Comfort Food: Corn Chowder

2010-05-10T18:53:00.004-04:00

When I was growing up, one of my mom's (and dad's) favorite weeknight dinners when things were hectic was corn chowder. It was quick to make, had some good vegetables in it, and easily adaptable. For me, it's become one of my favorite comfort foods. I'm posting the basic recipe here, though it's well-suited to extra add-ins. It also is easy to double, for yummy leftovers or for a crowd.

Ingredients

1 can cream of potato soup

1 can of milk (whole milk or 2% work best)

1 can Niblets (or otherwise, about 1-1.5 cups cooked corn)

Butter (or oil) for sautee

2-3 stalks celery, diced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, diced

salt and pepper to taste

other ingredients as desired

Directions

Sautee the onions, celery and garlic for a few minutes, until they start to sweat a bit. Add the corn (and anything else you want to add, see note) and any seasonings you may want to add (I usually add Old Bay seasoning). Sautee the mixture until the corn has a little color.

Move the mixture to a saucepan and add the potato soup and milk. Mix well, bring it to a light simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve with chopped scallions.

Without extra mix-ins, the base recipe creates a chunky soup that is pretty hearty. If you add a lot of other items, you may want to add more cream of potato and milk. Other mix-ins include leftover vegetables (diced), cooked chicken (diced), cooked sausage, bacon, lima beans, or anything else you have leftover. When I make it, I like the corn to get a little brown, as it makes things a bit tastier. During the summer corn season, I've also grilled corn and used that instead of Niblets (or frozen corn), it gives the chowder a bit of something extra. If you have any other ideas of items to mix into the chowder, let me know!

On Not Cooking Much Lately

2010-05-09T09:32:00.003-04:00

Yeah, this blog has really turned into a cooking blog. I should probably just rename it to cookingwithkristin or something, but I don't want to bunk up anybody who's actually bookmarked it...plus, I still have the occasional interlude of injury, gym, and EDS news.

I haven't been cooking lately. Part of that is because my company just launched another satellite, and I was involved with the rehearsals leading up to the launch, the actual launch, and then the early mission operations activities.

The other part of that is that I managed to get a herniated disc (actually, I got it when I fell while shopping for the ingredients for the Parmesan and Kale pasta), and right now it just hurts too much to stand or walk for any extended period of time. Seriously, the other day I went to Wegman's to get a sandwich and some cat litter, and that was too much, I couldn't wait to get back to a seat and off my leg. The good news is that I'm seeing a doctor now for the disc. The bad news is that he said it's a "substantial herniation" and he has said that my only real options at this point are steroid injections or surgery. I had an injection this past Monday which hasn't helped much so far, but I think I still need to give it some time.

Of course, the sort of advantage of being in so much pain is that my mom's been coming down and buying groceries for me and cooking for me...and really, who doesn't love mom's home cooking when they're not feeling well?

Anyway, hoping to have more soon, sorry for the hiatus.

Another Vegetarian Adventure: Chickpea Burritos with Yogurt Sauce

2010-04-05T18:57:00.004-04:00

Now that Lent's over, I'm free to eat meat again, though I do enjoy the vegetarian eating, so I have a feeling that a bulk of my home cooking will be mostly vegetarian. That said, I'm kind of craving a cheesesteak, so I may have to get one this week. ;)

Towards the end of Lent, my mom forwarded an email with a recipe for chickpea burritos that came from The Splendid Table. I love chickpeas and I liked the flavors involved, so I figured I'd give it a go. I can't find the recipe on the website (it originally came in an email newsletter), but it was so good that I kept a copy in my "recipes" folder on GMail.

Not only is the recipe good as a burrito, but it worked quite well when folded into a quesadilla with some cheddar cheese, then using the yogurt sauce as a dip. The yogurt dip itself served as a tasty dip for chips and crackers, too. I think the recipe would work with any bean, though the heartiness/meatiness of the chickpea was quite good. I also tried the filling on its own over couscous with the dip on the side (no tortilla involved). The filling is quite flavorful and works well with almost any starch, even rice. This is a great dish. Even though Lent's over, I'll be making this one again, I most certainly didn't miss meat in the dish.

So, without further ado....

For the filling:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp minced garlic (I used about 4 cloves, pressed through my garlic press)

1.5 cups thinly sliced onion (I used a whole small/medium Mayan onion)

2/3 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp paprika

2-15 oz cans of garbanzo beans, drained

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

6 large flour tortillas

For the dip:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 small cucumber, seeded, peeled and grated on medium holes (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add the oil. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook for 6 minutes or so, so the onion is soft and the mixture is aromatic. Add the coriander, cumin, pepper flakes, paprika and mix well. Add the chickpeas and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper (to taste) then mix in the cilantro.

While the onion/garlic/pepper mixture is cooking, make the dip. Mix the yogurt, grated cucumber, and paprika. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

To make a burrito, warm up the tortilla briefly in the microwave or on the stove and then spread out some of the dip in the center, and then put about a half cup of the chickpea mixture on top. Add ~1/4 cup grated cheese if desired. Fold the sides in and roll the burrito. For the quesadilla, put about 1/8 cup of shredded cheese on one half of a warmed tortilla. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the chickpea mixture on top, then cover with another 1/8 cup of cheese. Fold the tortilla so it's in a half-moon shape. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Serve with the dip on the side.

Recipe Time: Creamy Pumpkin Pasta, Vegetarian-Style

2010-03-27T12:14:00.005-04:00

Last October or November, I happened upon a recipe for pasta with creamy pumpkin sauce. It sounded tasty, and as I had a couple of cans of pumpkin lying around, I decided to give it a go. For a variety of reasons, it never quite worked out for me (once it was too salty, once the sauce didn't thicken properly, etc). I was ready to give up on the recipe, but decided during this Lenten time to give it one more shot, this time with a vegetarian twist. While I can't find the original recipe I used, this one is very close. But, to make it vegetarian, what follows is how I made it.

Ingredients

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 T butter (I almost always use unsalted butter...for everything)

1/2 small Mayan onion, chopped (optional, but yummy!)

1 pkg baby bellas or shitake mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1 pkg Morningstar Farms Sausage-Style Crumbles

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (about 2 cups fresh, if you have it--I didn't)

2 cups vegetable broth (I used Pacific Organic Vegetable Broth)

1/4 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup light sour cream

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 tsp dried sage

1 lb rotini

Directions

In large skillet (I used my 12" All-Clad), melt butter. Add garlic, onion and mushrooms (if using) and saute a bit over medium heat until soft and onions start to turn translucent. Stir in the red pepper flakes and sausage crumbles, cover and cook for about 8 minutes, until the crumbles are cooked, stirring once or twice.

While the sausage crumbles are cooking, in a medium bowl, mix the half-and-half, sour cream, pumpkin, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and sage. Also, start the water for the rotini and cook it according to the directions.

Once the crumbles are cooked, remove the garlic/onion/mushroom/crumbles/paprika mixture from the pan and put them aside. Pour the broth into the skillet to deglaze the pan. When the broth is very warm, whisk-in the pumpkin mixture. Simmer for 10 minutes, allowing the mixture to thicken, stirring as needed.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and return it to the pot. Pour the pumpkin mixture over it, then add the sausage crumble mixture to that. Stir and cook over low/medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until the sauce is thickened and sticks to the rotini. Serve with fresh chopped parsley mixed in and/or shredded romano cheese, if desired.

This time, when I made the dish, it turned out amazingly well. I usually divide dishes with a whole pound of pasta into 8 servings, and I ate 2 servings the night I made it. I loved the leftovers, too! I may never try it with real sausage again! If you wanted to make a non-vegetarian version of this dish, you could substitute 1 lb of Italian sausage (sweet or hot, turkey or pork) for the sausage crumbles and use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. I didn't end up serving it with the cheese, mostly because I didn't have any on-hand. Let me know if you try this, and if you have any other suggestions.

What's for Dinner: A New Spin On Black Bean and Corn Salad

2010-03-15T19:32:00.002-04:00

Sometimes, I'm too darn lazy to take much time to cook. One of my favorite go-to "quick" dinners is black bean and corn salad:

Ingredients

1 can corn (I use Niblets), drained

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 - 1/2 red onion, chopped (optional)

fresh cilantro, chopped

avocado, diced (optional)

salt to taste

pepper to taste

hot sauce to taste (optional)

extra virgin olive oil (optional)

juice from a lime

chicken, chopped (optional)

mango, diced

diced yellow or red bell pepper (optional)

Directions

In a large bowl, mix the corn, black beans, onion (if using), cilantro, chicken (if using), bell pepper (if using), and mango. Mix in the lime juice and the hot sauce (if using). If a little more liquid is desired, use a little bit of olive oil or more lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If serving immediately, mix in the avocado and serve.

I love this dish because it scales well to make more, it can easily be made vegetarian (by omitting the chicken), and it is great as a leftover. Recently, I ran across a recipe on the Budget Bytes blog that put a spin on my "classic" recipe: instead of mangoes, it uses roasted sweet potatoes and also adds some roasted poblano peppers. The recipe, as I made it, is:

Ingredients

2 large (about 2.5 lbs.) sweet potatoes

2 large poblano peppers

one 14 oz. can black beans

1 can corn

1/4 diced red onion (optional)

1 medium lime

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 bunch cilantro

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees on the broiler setting. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray your poblanos with non-stick spray. Place the baking sheet with the peppers about 4 inches below the broiler coils. Roast the peppers under the broiler for 15 minutes on one side, flip them over then broil for another 5 minutes on the other side. You want the skin on the peppers to be all blistered and blackened. This will give them a nice smokey flavor. Don't worry, you will be peeling away the charred skin.

2) While the peppers are roasting, peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into even chunks about one inch square. Place the chunks in a bowl and toss them together with 3 Tbsp of olive oil, 2 tsp of cumin, 1/2 tsp of salt and about half a bunch of chopped cilantro leaves. Mix it all up until the sweet potato chunks are well coated.

3) When the peppers come out of the oven, put them into a resealable freezer bag and let them cool. The peppers will steam themselves in the bag as they cool allowing you to easily peel away the skin.

4) Turn the oven from broil to bake (still on 400 degrees), pour out the bowl of sweet potato chunks onto the baking sheet that was used for the peppers, and roast the sweet potatoes for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.

5) Drain and rinse the can of black beans. Drain the corn. Finely chop 1/4 of a red onion (if desired). Put the beans, corn and onion together in a bowl. When the poblanos have cooled, peel off their skin, open them up to remove the seeds, seed pod and stem then cut the flesh into chunks. Put the chopped poblanos in the bowl with the other vegetables.

6) When the sweet potatoes are done, let them cool for about 10 minutes. In the mean time, chop the other half of the cilantro, and juice the lime. Mix the sweet potatoes, cilantro and lime together with the rest of the ingredients and serve. This dish can be eaten warm or cold!

I had an issue with my broiler, so it didn't quite roast the poblano peppers like I would have liked, but I felt that the sweet potatoes worked well in this dish, and added a new texture. I didn't get a ton of flavor from the poblanos, but they added volume. I think next time, I'd use 4 poblanos.

The website also suggested using this salad in an enchilada, by putting a bit into a tortilla, adding cheese, then rolling and topping with enchilada sauce and more cheese. I did this, making 6 enchiladas, and found it to be surprisingly tasty. I wasn't sure how the cheese and enchilada sauce would work with the salad, but it was much better than I thought it would be.

So there you have it. 2 black bean and corn-based salads. 3 dishes. A lot of flavor. And a good bit of health. :)

What's for Dinner: Pasta with Kale & Parmasean

2010-03-07T11:37:00.004-05:00

Before last night, the only time I'd had kale was when it was in such small quantities, it might have been considered a garnish. I've never cooked with it, but came across a recipe that used it for a pasta dish, so figured I'd give it a try. The original recipe comes from Bon Appetit, though I modified it slightly.

Ingredients

2 bunches of kale, leaves ripped off the stems and ripped/cut into small pieces

extra virgin olive oil

1 red onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced (original recipe called for 8, I used what I had)

~10 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, sliced (I had some leftover from a previous recipe)

1/2 pound pasta (I used ditalini)

~1 cup vegetable broth

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Finely grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Rinse and drain kale.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, sprinkle with salt; cook until onion is golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add kale, a little more olive oil, and about half of the vegetable broth and toss until the kale is wilted, about 3 minutes. Cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low. Continue cooking until kale is very tender, stirring occasionally and adding broth as required.

Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente in medium pot of boiling salted water. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Add cooked pasta to kale mixture in pot. Add lemon juice and ~2 tablespoons broth or reserved cooking liquid; toss to combine, adding more liquid by tablespoonfuls if dry. Sprinkle spaghetti with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

This dish turned out pretty tasty, though I don't think it requires the pasta. I think it would be equally good served with (but not tossed with) rice. I also think I'd add some white beans to add protein, so it's a complete meal. I'll definitely be making this one again.

More Vegetarian Adventures: Spanish White Beans with Spinach

2010-02-23T20:35:00.003-05:00

Despite having a fridge that still has leftovers in it (2 servings of the pasta e fagioli left and quite a bit of chili left--I see a Mexican lasagna in my future--plus 2 more servings of roasted curried cauliflower and a bunch of baby carrots), I came across a recipe at epicurious that looked really tasty and really wanted to try it out. It looked like it had a good blend of flavors and looked pretty easy. So, the recipe can be found at epicurious, or you can read what I did here. I modified the recipe very slightly.

Ingredients
1 large onion, coarsely chopped (2 cups)
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped (Kristin's note, I think this could be upped to 3/4 cup or 1 cup)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika (pimentón dulce)
3 (15.5-ounce cans) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (a slight increase from the 38 ounces total the original recipe calls for)
1 cup water
2 (10-ounces) bags spinach, tough stems removed

Directions
Cook onion and sun-dried tomatoes in 1/4 cup oil with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a 5- to 6-qt pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
Stir in beans, water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and add the spinach in batches, stirring between each batch, to allow the spinach to wilt just a little before adding the next batch. After all the spinach has been added, cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes. Season with pepper and serve.

As expected, this tasted WONDEFUL. I think that there were a LOT of beans--maybe too many. Next time I do this, I may only use ~30 ounces (i.e. 2 cans). Also, 20 ounces of spinach takes up a LOT of space in the pot. In order to get around this, I added the spinach in batches, allowing the spinach to wilt slightly before adding any more spinach. This recipe lends itself nicely to making only a half-recipe. If you do that, I still recommend using the full 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika, it adds a nice depth to the flavor.

Vegetarian Dinner: Vickie Howell's Vegetarian "Beef" Chili

2010-02-21T17:19:00.004-05:00

I follow crafter and music-lover Vickie Howell on Twitter and I regularly read her blog. About a month ago, she posted a recipe for a vegetarian "beef" chili that uses the Morningstar Farms Grillers meat substitute. Though I was a vegetarian for quite awhile (maybe sometime I'll post about why I went back to eating meat in moderation, but not now), I've always been slightly afraid of meat substitutes. Over the years, I've come to really appreciate Morningstar Farms' Chik Patties, but I've never tried their meal starters. This recipe intrigued me. It is a familiar, comforting food using ingredients I've never used before. Though I'm cutting and pasting the recipe here, I strongly recommend you visit Vickie's website, especially if you're into knitting or crochet, and/or are interested in crafts for children. The recipe was originally posted on this post on her blog. I tweaked a few things (very minor, like using Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes instead of Rotel), my as-made recipe is below. I served it with a little shredded 4-cheese Mexican cheese over a homemade biscuit (I use the America's Test Kitchen "Mile-High Biscuits" recipe) and with roasted cauliflower on the side. I love that I'm going to have leftovers!!!!

Ingredients

1 bag Morningstar Farms Grillers ("beef" crumbles)
2 ~14 oz. cans diced tomatoes (if you can find them with chiles, you should use that
1 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained
1 15.5 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 11 oz can corn (I use the Green Giant Niblets)
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 Mayan onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup red wine (I used a Côtes du Rhône wine)
2 tsp cumin, plus a little more
2 Tbsp chili powder, plus a little more
1/2 Tbsp dried basil
1 Tbsp dried oregano, plus a little more
Pinch of Salt

Directions

In a slow-cooker, add garlic, chopped onion and bag of Crumblers. Cover with a layer of chili powder and sprinkle in cumin, oregano, and basil. Stir.

Add tomatoes, beans, and corn, including the liquid in the tomatoes and corn. Add tomato paste, wine, and ketchup. Stir.

Add a pinch of salt and a couple more shakes of cumin, chili powder and oregano.

Let cook on low for ~7 hours. Stir occasionally (if you're home), and add more spices, wine or ketchup to taste, if desired. Serve with shredded cheese and/or a starch of your choice.

What I Ate Tonight: A Take on Pasta E Fagioli

2010-02-17T19:44:00.002-05:00

Now that Lent's officially started, one thing I've "given up" for Lent is meat. In doing this, I hoped to in part try out some recipes I've had for awhile and never tried, and also pick up some new recipes. One of the former category of recipes was something I found on Epicurious (I think) ages ago for a pasta e fagioli "soup" that was originally printed in Bon Appetit magazine in July, 1990. I've only ever had pasta e fagioli at places like Olive Garden, so I don't really know anything about traditional preparations, but the recipe as I found it seemed like it wouldn't be much of a soup or even a stew, but a sauce. Also, when I copied the recipe, I noted that some commenters on it said that they would add any of the following: 1 lb. of browned bulk sausage, and/or 16 oz. of hot water or broth. So the recipe I made is below, where it's an addition to the original recipe, I've noted it:

Ingredients
olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (my addition)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 16-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, chopped (reserve liquid)
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
pinch of red pepper flakes (my addition)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed & drained
Salt and pepper
8 ounces ditalini pasta freshly cooked (I used ditalini, they recommended elbow macaroni)
16 ounces vegetable broth (my addition based on the commenter recommendation)
Grated Parmesan

Directions
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until the onions start to turn translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and cook 5 minutes. Add parsley, basil and oregano and simmer until tomatoes soften, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes with back of spoon. After about 10 minutes, I added half of the broth, as the tomato mixture was starting to look like it needed liquid to simmer some more. Once the tomatoes are soft (about 15 minutes of simmering), add reserved tomato liquid, broth, and beans and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Place pasta in bowl. Toss with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Pour sauce over and toss thoroughly. Serve, passing Parmesan separately.

This turned out really tasty, if not quite as "soupy" as I expected. I think even 8 ounces of noodles is too much--next time I make this, I'm going to use only 4 ounces. It definitely would have been tasty with some bulk hot Italian sausage, or vegetarian substitute, but as I had no vegetarian sausage substitute on hand, I did without. I think it may have also benefited from a smidge more tomato, either via some tomato sauce added to the simmer, or a few extra whole peeled tomatoes (and their juices).

What's for Dinner: Chicken Cacciatore

2010-02-14T17:45:00.004-05:00

So, on Twitter, one of the people I follow, @Wombat5277, posted this past weekend that he made some slow-cooker chicken cacciatore. I'm always a sucker for slow-cooker recipes, so I was intrigued. His recipe seemed pretty easy:
Sauce
2 cans of diced tomatoes
5 garlic cloves
salt
pepper
1/2 cup white wine

Directions
Cut up an onion, layer it on the bottom of the slow cooker. Put ~2 lb. chicken into slow cooker over the onion, then pour the sauce over the chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours.

I built a little bit on his recipe, this is what I made:
Ingredients
Onion
Mushrooms
Garlic (to taste)
6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Penzeys pasta sprinkle
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
4 Tbsp tomato paste (I use concentrated tomato paste that comes from a tube)

Directions
Sautee chopped onion with mushrooms (I used 5 oz. of shitake mushrooms, chopped) and a few cloves of minced garlic in ~1 Tbsp of butter, until just brown. Transfer to bottom of crockpot. Layer chicken on top of mixture, put in a couple whole cloves of garlic (optional). In separate bowl, mix other ingredients, then pour mixture over the chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice or pasta.

I was pretty pleased with how this turned out. Once Lent is over, this will probably be added to my stock recipes for weekends.

What I've Been Reading: The Wheel of Time

2010-01-10T18:56:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading "The Gathering Storm," the 12th book in The Wheel of Time series. I approached this book with a bit of apprehension. On the one hand, Robert Jordan had set up such an intenese world, would it be possible for a different author to take the reins and keep the world in tact? On the other, before reading The Gathering Storm, I went through and re-read every book in The Wheel of Time series (starting with New Spring, a prequel, and then the entire series proper--it took almost a year, what with work and real life getting in the way), and there was a lot to dislike in the series--in some ways, it felt stagnant.

Between reading Knife of Dreams (the 11th book in the series) and The Gathering Storm, I read "Mists of Avalon" as a part of the Sword and Laser online book club. Never having read any Arthurian legends before, I was (slightly) startled to look back at The Wheel of Time series and see all the parallels (some very direct and obvious, down to the names of characters). The 12th book surprised me from this perspective, though, as there weren't as many storylines that paralleled the Arthur stories as I've noted in past books.

I won't go into too many plot detailes here--I don't know how many people here actually read the books or would care about spoilers. I will say that I was surprised by some of the turns this book took. I was also (happily) surprised that this book felt like it brought me back to the wonder I felt when reading The Eye of the World (the first book in the series). I think this book breathed new life into the series. I was sucked into the book pretty quickly (something I can't say for books 9-11), and though there was a slow spot (for me) about 1/3 of the way in, I got through that fairly quickly and the rest of the book went by and left me hungering for more (I finished this book in about 3 weeks, which is very quick for me).

My favorite storyline in the series has definitely become the Egwene storyline. This book didn't dissapoint with that. Though I used to enjoy the Perrin/wolf storyline, over the last few books (and including this one), I have become bored with him. I also really liked where the Mat storyline was going, though this book felt like it was a bit of a slowdown for him...his story hasn't gotten to where I expected it would, yet, and seems to be taking its time now.

Next up for me is a quick "candy" read (actually I'll be listening to it from Audible), Hell Hole, a book in the John Ceepak series by Chris Grabenstein.

Flipping a Coin

2009-11-17T20:05:00.002-05:00

I'm fairly limited in terms of the exercises I can do for cardio when I go to the gym, so in an effort to keep my workouts "fresh," I do a sequence of coin-flips:
1) Workout, yes (heads) or no (tails)? This only really is in question if I'm hurting (ankle or otherwise) or I've done a hard workout the day before
2) Hard (heads) or easy (tails)? If I've done a hard workout the day before AND I flip heads for #1, then it's guaranteed to be an easy day, no coin flip really needed
3) If "hard" in #2, heads is for speed intervals, tails is for hill intervals (done on a Cybex Eagle elliptical trainer)
4) If "easy" in #2, heads is for elliptical, tails is for the exercise bicycle (which may be combined with arm bike and/or rowing machine)
By flipping a coin, I can take out my personal biases, which would always be to do some form of elliptical, since I used to love running so much.

Sometimes, the coin-flip technique doesn't work. Today was one of those days. I got to the gym and though the coin-flips had come out for "easy" and "exercise bike," there were no bikes free when I got there. Plus, I was running late. In the spirit of just getting moving, I hopped onto one of the free elliptical trainers and just did a flat course, trying to keep HR low. I did better with that today than I did yesterday:
duration: 15 minutes (cardio, I lifted for an hour afterwards)
average HR: 150
max HR: 156

I'm glad I went to the gym, though right now I feel like my body is getting mad at me. My ankle has started twinging more often (which it had pretty much stopped doing as of the middle of last week), and, in addition to being in a cast for my thumb, I'm also dealing with a flare-up of labyrinthitis. Since my workout tomorrow will be in the morning, I've already flipped the coin...it came out "easy bike." But, if I wake up and my ankle is flaring, I'm going to skip. A day off probably wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, anyway.

Sweating in a Cast

2009-11-16T18:15:00.003-05:00

I sprained my thumb (again) about a week ago, slipping down my stairs and bending my thumb backwards as I tried to catch myself. I went to the doc because my thumb would wake me up, rolling on it or something in my sleep, and he put me into a cast for 4 weeks. I still can't decide if he put me in plaster because he doesn't trust me with something removable, or because of the added protection it gives, owing to my Ehlers-Danlos, or for some other reason. Given how many times I've been in a cast, I thought it was funny he still had to give me the "lecture" on keeping it clean and dry. I wonder if "keeping it dry" precludes me from exercising (and thus sweating) in it. For the moment, I'm assuming it doesn't, as I've been way off the consistent workout wagon for awhile and have been trying to get back on...

...which is what leads me to this post today. Given that I'm not really training for anything (let's be honest, what could I actually compete in?), and don't really have a "goal" in mind (though I'd like to drop a few pounds that crept up on me...good timing, with the holidays right around the corner, eh?), I figure the best way to keep me honest about the workouts and such is to record them here, for everybody who reads this blog to see.

So, without further ado, today's workout was an "easy" cardio day (trying to keep heart rate below 152). I did an hour (plus a 4 minute cooldown) on the Octane Fitness elliptical at my gym. I've found that it mimics the running motion I miss so much these days, better than most. I also love how at the end of your workout, it says "You have been fueled by Octane." I didn't go quite as easy as I'd hoped, here were the stats:
duration: 1 hour
average HR: 153
max HR: 160

I'm a bit concerned that my ankle is disliking my workouts, as it felt fine during the workout but was sore when I got home. I'm going to have to keep an eye on things and continue icing and elevating as I can, if I want to keep up with the workouts. It probably goes without saying, but until the cast comes off, I can't do the rowing machine or anything. Tomorrow is a "workout with Brian" day, hopefully work won't get in my way there (as it has so often lately, as has my ankle). I'll flip a coin tomorrow to figure out my workout, and post it up.

Amazon's Kindle DX

2009-05-06T12:08:00.003-04:00

So Amazon today announced the Kindle DX, a larger version of their Kindle e-reader. I don't know what to make of it. I own a Kindle 2, and I cannot honestly say that there is anything that I use the Kindle 2 to do that I could do better on the DX.

The main differences in the DX from the K2 are:
more on-board memory (3.3 GB vs. 2 GB)
bigger screen (9.7" vs 6") -- and corresponding larger hardware size
native PDF support
auto-rotating screen

The DX seems to be aimed at the college crowd as well as the crowd that reads periodicals (especially newspapers) on their Kindle. I have finished school (for the time being?) and do not regularly read any newspaper (thus I do not subscribe to any on my Kindle 2).

I don't know, for regular books, I think I'd probably find the Kindle DX annoying. The Kindle 2 screen size means that with the default font size, I feel like I'm reading a normal page in a book. I think having more lines of text on the screen would be almost distracting to me. To combat this, one could of course increase the font size on the display, but I also do not like reading bigger print. I do not have any reason for this other than that it's a personal preference.

The physical size difference wouldn't impact me much. I read books in a variety of ways: on my Kindle 2, on my PDA (Dell Axim x51v until the iPod dies and then I'm likely getting an iPod Touch), and in audio form. My Kindle 2 mostly stays at home on my nightstand or in the bathroom. If I'm on the go and reading, I'm either reading something on the PDA or listening to an audiobook (I did an accounting recently, I have 117 audiobooks). When I travel, my Kindle 2 comes with me, naturally, though I don't typically carry it around day-to-day. I have done so on occassion, as it's the perfect size to fit into my day-to-day bag (an extra small Timbuk2 messenger bag). The Kindle DX wouldn't fit in there. I don't know how many people would carry either device around day-to-day, though I imagine that those who carry around briefcases or laptop bags probalby wouldn't notice the difference, either way. I would.

So, taking a look at one market for the DX, how would college students use it? When I was in college, I ended up buying many textbooks new through Amazon at cheaper prices than I could get them used at the college bookstore. When I was done with them, I'd either keep them or sell them back and then go out at the end of the term with my book buyback money. The Kindle DX probably will help save money in the initial purchase but removes the sell-back ability. I can tell you without a doubt that my introductory stats book was useless, and even with a Kindle DX, I'd want to get rid of it.

That all said, my physics textbooks were often rather thick (stupid loooooooooong equations and proofs) and I probably would have appreiciated the ease on my back. Then again, I got hit by cars twice while in college. If that happened with a Kindle DX and it was damaged, I'd have to replace the hardware to get my books back, which wasn't the case with the standard books. Same thing for more "typical" things like losing it or spilling beverages on it. A minor issue, but one that becomes major (and expensive) if it happens to you.

Of course, there's also a problem with the Kindle and DRM if you ever get your Amazon account suspended. A story related to this was in a lot of the blogs recently, and I would be quite pissed if I bought a piece of expensive hardware that was effectively useless if that happened. But that gripe holds for the Kindle 2 as much as the DX.

Then we get to the newspaper crowd. I do not know anyone my age that reads the newspaper. Granted, I hang out with some people who are disturbingly out of touch with what's happening in the world. However, I also hang out with people who do what I do, and get their news from various websites (newspaper websites, BBC, etc), news aggregators (including news.google.com), and of course, Jon Stewart. I read somewhere recently that the majority of Kindle owners were over 40. I'm not. So maybe this newspaper feature will appeal to that crowd (who I think does read the newspaper), but I don't think anybody my age will care.

At $489, the Kindle DX a bit pricier than the $359 Kindle 2. For the way that I use my Kindle, and the way I read books in general, I can't see people my age actually buying it. Dwight Silverman (on Twitter, @dsilverman) has said he thinks this is a pre-emptive manevuer by Amazon to combat an Apple tablet or e-reader. Maybe that's the case. Michael Gartenberg (@Gartenberg on Twitter) has said that the larger screen and better layout control of the DX would make him recommend the DX over the Kindle 2 to someone who doesn't own one (I hope he writes up his impressions/thoughts and posts them to his personal site or to Engadget, I look forward to hearing more of his thoughts on it). Personally, if I didn't have a Kindle 2 now, I still think I'd buy the Kindle 2, not the DX. I think a lot of people my age would. But, in the end, I guess we'll see.

Updates and Flashbacks

2009-03-24T19:14:00.002-04:00

First the update I promised right before my satellite launched and haven't gotten to until now: I most likely have classical-type Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I got the letter right before Christmas, but between my hand surgery, the holiday, and then way too much going on getting ready for launch, I forgot to post it here. The vascular type of EDS was ruled out with the skin biopsy, and the genetic doc believes I have the classical type. While not surprising, this is of course still a relief to know for certain.

Speaking of my hand surgery, I had a follow-up with my surgeon on Monday. My surgery was on December 5th, and while in many ways my hand is much improved, it's still not right. I still have pain on the inside of my hand, right where the pinkie meets the hand. I guess we're attributing this to the volar plate issues that the MRI showed, but it doesn't help when it still hurts. Of course, one thing that makes it hurt more is keeping my hand in a "closed" position (like how it would be when holding a fork or doing cross-stitch or writing long-hand), and the splint my doc had the PT make for me keeps my hand in a mostly-closed position.

The splint is a lumbrical bar splint and is intended to keep my pinkie from catching/locking as I extend it, which is the other problem I still seem to have. It's hard to understand what's making it catch or stall when I extend it, because with passive motion, my finger/hand seems normal, but with active motion, it's definitely there. The catching causes more generalized pain in my 5th MCP joint, which is also contributing to some of my issues.

Anyway, my doc thinks that my best option at this point may be another surgery (that would be number 11 overall and number 4 on the hand for those playing at home). I didn't ask for a lot of details, since I'm not sure it's the right choice for me, but it sounded like he wanted to basically splice the tendon that goes to my pinkie into the tendon that goes into my other fingers. For a lot of reasons, this sounds like a bad idea to me, and he's not wild about it, either. He has referred me to a doc at the Curtis National Hand Center for a second opinion and a second set of eyes.

The last time this type of thing happened was with my ankle. My surgeon thought I needed a sub-talar fusion, and wanted me to go to Baltimore to one of the top surgeons for a second opinion. I went up to that doctor and he recommended the more limiting triple arthrodesis, which I eventually underwent. I really don't know that I'm ready for another surgery right now. I always figured surgery number 11 would be the one to take the hardware out of my ankle but at the same time, I want to be done with one joint before moving onto the next. I guess I'll have to see what the guy at the Hand Center says. *Fingers crossed*

Hmmmm...

2009-02-08T21:49:00.002-05:00

I'll be writing more this week, but figured I'd share this, it made me chuckle a bit. Walked into a stall in the ladies room at a restaurant yesterday and as I locked the door, saw this sign:

Then, I looked at the toilet:

I couldn't help but wonder if that trash can had toilet paper in it that would normally go in the toilet...

I used the next stall over, it didn't have any signs on it about putting paper in it. Alas, where would photos like this be without camera phones? ;)

Goals For The New Year

2008-12-31T21:07:00.003-05:00

I'm not really big on making resolutions. Not that I'm perfect, far from it, but I do have some goals I'd like to stick with this year.

1) Go to the gym at least 5 days a week. This wouldn't normally be on the list, but this month (December) has been so hectic, I feel like I've gotten off of my normal schedule, and I really need to make the effort in January to get back to normal. Of course, with a launch in February, this might be difficult to really get back to "normal" until mid-March, but hey, that's why it's a goal, right?

2) Have more patience with people. Since moving out of the College Park area and into Northern Virginia, I've found that there are a lot of dumb people in the world. There are a lot more in the real world than there are on a college campus. I need to be more patient with people in general. Not everybody needs to have their driver's license revoked because they're going 45 mph in the slow lane. Not every large family in the grocery store is being purely evil when they block you and your cart from going through an aisle. Maybe they just don't know they're being very obtrusive.

3) Relax a bit more. I used to meditate regularly, and I'd like to get back to that. Maybe I'll do some yoga, or at least some gentle stretching, either in the morning or at night. I have a feeling that this goal might help with goal #2.

4) Post my pictures onto eHarmony and do something with it. I guess this is self-explanatory. I didn't find "the one" in college, but I'm more than ready to get back onto the dating scene.

5) Figure out why even after surgery in December, my hand still hurts--and either come to terms with the pain or finally make it all go away. This is my biggest goal, as right now, it frustrates me on a daily basis. I know I'm only 3.5 weeks post-op, and that I need to give it time, but at the same point, I'm finding things that hurt before surgery still hurt now, and maybe it's just because of the Ehlers-Danlos and I need to accept it. But at this point in my life, I'm already fairly limited in the things I can do, and if I can reduce further limitations, that would be wonderful.

6) Drink more tea and water. I've actually been doing this for the last 2 months or so, but I want to keep it up. The only times I seem to have soda now is when I'm drinking mixed drinks. I'd like to keep it that way, tea and water are better for me than soda. I doubt I'll be giving up my coffee, but after my 20 oz. cup in the morning, I think I can move to tea and water.

7) Take more photos. I have one camera that's my "in-between" step between a digital point-and-shoot and a DSLR, and I really should be shooting more than I am. Other than when I go out sailing, my camera is neglected more than it should be. I have thoughts on getting a LX3, and between that and my Olympus, I should be shooting more.

So that's that. If I remember, I'll try to post in early February and see how these things are going. :)

Another Baked Pasta Recipe

2008-12-28T19:40:00.003-05:00

In my previous post, I alluded to a recipe I made tonight that turned out quite nicely. I had a half pound of pasta sitting around, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I thought about a pasta bake, but I wanted something a bit heartier. This is what I came up with:

Baked Pasta with Ricotta
Ingredients
1/2 lb pasta (elbows or cavatappi)
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 package mushrooms (I used a 4 oz pkg of mixed fancy mushrooms) -- not canned
15 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 of 15 oz. tub of ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozarella
salt
pepper
basil (I used dried--if desired)
oregano (I used dried--if desired)
thyme (I used dried--if desired)
olive oil (for keeping noodles from sticking)
butter (for saute pan)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 F. In large pot, cook pasta (remember to follow The Ten Commandments of Dry Pasta).
While pasta is cooking, saute mushrooms, onion, green pepper, and thinly sliced garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste, and some dried basil, thyme, and oregano if desired.
When pasta is cooked al dente, drain, then return to pot (off heat), drizzle a little olive oil into the pasta.
Add the tomato sauce and minced garlic to the noodles, stir so all noodles are coated.
Add the vegetable mixture to the noodles, stir so well combined.
Add the ricotta to the noodle and veggie mixture, stir so well combined.
(Note, at this point, you could eat this and have a great meal!)
Dump mixture into a 11"x7" pan and bake in preheated oven, covered, for 20-25 minutes.
Stir/redistribute pasta when it comes out, cover with shredded mozarella, and put back into oven for 10 minutes (until mozarella melts).
Serve. :) I've found that it's easier to cut if you let it cool a little bit.

Hope you enjoy! I know I did. ;)

Recipe Time: Generic Pasta Bake

2008-12-28T19:37:00.001-05:00

I just cooked up a great baked pasta, and figured I'd share the recipe. Before I do, however, I figured I'd post my "original" baked pasta recipe, the one I use when I have a crowd to feed or when I need a ton of leftovers.

Generic Pasta Bake
Ingredients
1 lb. pasta such as penne, elbows, or fusili
1 24-26 oz. jar of sauce (the large size of Barilla, Prego, Classico, or whatever you like)
1 jar of water
2 cups of shredded cheese (Italian Mix or Mozarella)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In 9"x13" pan, combine UNCOOKED pasta, jar of sauce, and jar of water (use empty sauce jar, fill it up with water, and dump that in). Mix well so everything is coated and consistent.
Cover pan and bake for 30 minutes (35 if using whole wheat pasta).
Remove from oven, stir up contents, cover with cheese, and put back in oven to bake for another 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Variations
If you want to add meat, brown up some ground turkey, chicken, or beef and drain it. Add the ground meat to the sauce and then add all that to the noodles and water.
You can also add onions, celery, green pepper, mushrooms, or whatever else you like. Saute it up, and add it to the sauce, before combining with the noodles.

It's Cold Outside - Time for Chili!

2008-11-19T19:30:00.003-05:00

I was trying to get rid of some of the things in my pantry and in my fridge today, so came across a chili recipe that sounded tasty. Unfortunately, I didn't have all of the ingredients it called for per se (I was missing some basic things like onion and garlic, for shame!), so I modified it a little bit. The original recipe I adapted this from is here (without the topping thingie). This turned out really tasty. This is how I made it:

Ingredients
~1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 lb ground chicken/turkey (I used Kosher turkey)
~1.5 tsp garlic powder (would have used chopped/minced garlic if I had any on hand)
~1.5 tsp onion powder
2 leeks, chopped (didn't have any onion, maybe 1 chopped?)
1 carrot, chopped (I used a bunch of baby carrots, chopped up)
~6 drops of Habanero pepper sauce (or use 1 jalapeno, with or without seeds, chopped)
salt & pepper
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
6 oz beer (I used Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre)
1/4 cup cayenne pepper hot sauce (I used Frank's)
15 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chiles, with juices
15 oz. can tomato sauce
15 oz. can red kidney beans, drained
15 oz. can white kidney beans, drained

Directions
Heat a medium Dutch oven or large skillet over high heat. Add the olive oil and the butter and melt together. Add the ground turkey and cook, breaking up the meat, for 6 minutes.
Add the garlic, leeks, carrot and hot sauce. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and coriander, and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the beer and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan; reduce mixture over medium-ish heat for 2-3 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes, hot sauce, and the tomato sauce. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the chili for 20 minutes.

This recipe turned out quite spicy! To combat some of the spice, I shredded some Tillamook cheddar and topped the chili with it. I also made mashed potatoes on the side. I'm thinking of baking up some of the leftovers in a sort of "southwestern shepherd's pie" type creation. I also had some broccoli. I'm definitely going to be making this again. It was really yummy (and I have leftovers!).

Pumpkin Bread

2008-11-14T17:03:00.008-05:00

I haven't posted in awhile, things have been very crazy between buying a house, moving, and having some crazy work stuff come up, so I figured today I'd post something simple: my recipe for pumpkin bread. It's really simple, notterribly unhealthy, and unbelievably tasty.

Dry Ingredients
2.5 cup sugar
3.5 cup flour
1-2 tsp cinnamon (I use 2)
1 tsp nutmeg
1-2 tsp ground ginger (I use 2)
2 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
4 beaten large eggs
0.5 cup oil (I use safflower oil)
2/3 cup water
2 cup pumpkin (I use one 15 oz. can of pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Grease 2 bread pans (I use glass).
In one bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients so they're well mixed.
In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (I do the eggs first, then add the rest).
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and then mix together until everything is just mixed but not overmixed (I do not find it necessary to use a hand mixer, just a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon).
Pour the half the batter into one bread pan, the rest in the other.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the edges are pulling from the sides of the pan and a knife or toothpick in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Cool for about 15 minutes in the bread pans on a cooling rack, then remove the loaves from the bread pans and let them cool the rest of the way (if you can wait!).

This bread tastes pretty darn good fresh out of the oven but it's even better when it's fully cooled.

Ehlers-Danlos - Update

2008-09-28T19:51:00.002-04:00

I had my appointment at Hopkins on September 16th. For those of you that want the Cliff's Notes version, the long and short of it is that I do in fact have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, though it's uncertain which type. I could have the hypermobility (most common) type, the classical type, or the vascular type--the doctor couldn't tell for certain. He did do a skin biopsy, which he said is the gold-standard test to determine if a patient has the vascular type of EDS, so I should know the results from that in mid-December or so.

My appointment at Hopkins was a long day up in Baltimore. The genetic medicine center at Hopkins is contained within the Pediatric Cardiology center. Let me tell you, if you want a way to feel old really quickly, walk into peds cardiology. It honestly made me a little sad, too, as there were some kids there who were really young (one couldn't have been more than a year old, soem of them were about 6 or 7, another I saw was about 10). I felt really weird being an otherwise healthy 28-year-old around all these kids who had real health issues. It was a bit sad, really, I can't imagine being a parent with a kid who needs to go to a cardiologist at that young an age.

Anyway...I had to get there at around 10 a.m., as I had an appointment to get an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) at 11. I guess, since it's a peds clinic, that when they typically do these, they need the kids to relax, so they have it setup so you can watch a movie while you get it done. Though I've had one before and didn't really feel a "need" to watch a movie, the tech picked one for me (National Treasure) and between the movie and the heated bed, the echo went by really quickly. Even better, the echo showed that my heart is doing well. There was no sign of an enlarged mitral valve (which I could've sworn I had signs of on my previous echo), nor any mitral valve prolapse (a common symptom of EDS).

After lunch, I had to return to the clinic to talk to the genetics doc. I was with him from about 1 p.m. until almost 4 p.m.! He did a lot of different things. Some were things you'd find on a normal physical, some seemed kind of odd. For example, he asked me if I had a high palate (and I honestly had no idea), so he stuck his finger in my mouth to find out that yes, mine is fairly high.

He also wanted to see the flexibility in my joints, and see how much my joints hyperextended. At one point, he had a total of 9 points possible, and I'm kind of curious of what the 9th point was. I got a 7 out of 9: my left elbow, both knees, my left pinkie, and both wrists are hyperextensive. I would have gotten an 8, as my right pinkie "should" be hyperextensive, but since it's been broken and pinned, the new alignment serves as a mechanical lock for that hyperextension. My right elbow was the only point I missed "naturally." I know it was one point each for each pinkie, each elbow, each knee, and each wrist, but I'm curious as to what the 1 joint was that I apparently also got a point for. I didn't think to ask then.

At the end of the exam, the doc said that I do have Ehlers-Danlos. This really doesn't come as a surprise, given my history with my joints. He wasn't able to determine which type I have, though, which he indicated was unusual. In the current classification scheme, there are 6 types of EDS. Three are very rare, with fewer than 100 reported cases of each. He doesn't think I have any of those. However, of the three more common types, hypermobility (most common), classical, and vascular (least common of the three), he isn't certain which type I have.

Of the three types, only the vascular type is "scary"-it leads to premature death (according to the Wikipedia article, the average person with vascular EDS dies at about age 48). Fortunately, there is a gold-standard test (his words, not mine) for testing for that type--a skin biopsy, which he performed. I should know the results in about 3 months, or mid-December. The doctor seems to think it's unlikely that I have the vascular form, though couldn't rule it out completely (short of the biopsy). I'm missing some of the classical symptoms of that form, including characteristic facial features and heart issues. I also don't have any family members who have died young of unexplained causes or of organ rupture or anyeurism, which is a good sign.

Assuming I don't have vascular EDS, the doc seems to think it safest to assume that I have classical EDS, which has more implications than the hypermobility type. With the hypermobility type, the only real thing I have to worry about is that my joints will typically be loose, and therefore surgeries to stabilize the joints will typically fail. With the classical type, there are a couple more concerns:
1) wounds can take longer to heal, so when having any type of surgery, I should ask that the sutures be kept in longer and pay attention to any signs of internal wounds not healing
2) pregnancy can be dangerous, as there is a chance of uterine rupture (I'll have to talk to my personal doc about that)

With the classical and hypermobility types, one of the best things I can do is continue working out and developing my tonic strength--that is, not lift for bulk, but for toning. I guess that means I'll keep working out with Brian. :) While he helps me continue to improve my tonic strength, he can also help me ensure that when I lift and stretch, I'm not hyperextending my joints.

So, in the end, I finally have a reason for why I've had so many problems with my joints. EDS is a genetic disorder that is autosomal dominant. That apparently means that it impacts both genders equally (females can have higher severity, but the incidence rate is the same between male and female) and that you only need 1 gene with the mutation to get it. This means that there is a 50% chance that I can pass on the disease to each child I have. They will always get the same form as I have. I'm kind of curious which parent I got this from (or if it was a spontaneous mutation in me). My sister thinks she may have some joint hypermobility, so it is probably safe to assume that it came from one of our parents. In the end, though, it probably doesn't matter which parent has it--I do have it, and now I just have to keep it in mind when getting my injuries treated and when considering surgery.

Feeling Sore

2008-08-10T17:08:00.003-04:00

This past week, I barely got to the gym, owing to work and another mitigating circumstance (a good circumstance, but mitigating none the less).

Tuesday, I worked out with Brian. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to play with him on Thursday. I swam on Friday, though my swim didn't go quite according to plan. I had intended to leave work at noon and swim about 2,000 yards, but I ended up leaving work a little after 2 and swimming only about 1500 yards, as I didn't want to be late for picking up my friend from the airport.

Maybe it was just that I didn't workout as much this week, or maybe it's owing to the swim workout I did, I felt sore for the first time after swimming. Or, maybe I can attribute the soreness to a late night on Friday without much sleep. Either way, Saturday afternoon I started feeling a bit sore.

Aside from Advil, are there any things I can do to ease muscle soreness after tough workouts? I know one of my friends in college swore by eating lots of high-protein meals after hard workouts, but I don't know if that's got any scientific merit. I think soaking in the whirlpool at the gym after hard workouts and gentle stretching will help, but is there anything else I can do?

I guess some research is in order. Despite having a little residual soreness this morning, I decided to go swimming again this morning, knocking out about 2,100 yards. Today's workout:
50 free with paddles
rest enough to start my watch
450 free with paddles
rest 1 minute
300 free with paddles
100 kick
100 pull free with paddles and buoy
rest 1 minute
300 backstroke
100 kick
100 pull free with paddles and buoy
rest 1 minute
300 free with paddles
100 kick
100 pull free with paddles and buoy
rest 1 minute
100 breast

My backstroke and breaststroke are quite weak, but I was quite happy that I was able to do 300 back and 100 breast. I'm thinking of finding a swim lesson for adults that know the jist of the strokes, but really want to improve their skills. I don't think I'm a good enough swimmer for Master's swimming yet (once I get to a continuous mile consistently, I'll think about it), but I'd like to improve my strokes and ensure that what I'm doing won't hurt my shoulders.

I guess that was a lot of randomness for a Sunday, but hey, what can you do.

Back to the Pool

2008-08-03T09:48:00.002-04:00

Surprisingly, I woke up on Saturday feeling pretty darn good. I had a bit of trouble falling asleep Friday night. One reason was that I had too much coffee in the late afternoon and evening. I don't usually drink more than a cup a day, but after swimming on Friday, I was pretty tired, and wanted to be awake to hang out with my friends. Thus, I had a diet Coke and 2 cups of coffee over the course of the afternoon and evening. The other reason that it was hard to fall asleep is because my shoulders were feeling tired and sore. It was an unusual feeling, and neither "tired" nor "sore" is the right way to describe it, but it's the best that comes to mind. I eventually got everything to calm down and I went to sleep, waking up Saturday feeling great.

Instead of going to the gym yesterday, I ended up putting my bike on the trainer and pedaling in front of the TV for an hour and change. I'm not sure why, but I didn't feel like going to the gym, but I wanted to workout, so it was a nice alternative. Also, I hadn't touched my bike in awhile, so even though putting it on the trainer isn't the same as really riding (especially since I barely used my right hand on the bars), it felt nice to use it, show it a little love.

Inspired by my good workout on Friday and my goal for the week to get into the pool twice this week, I went swimming this morning. I had planned to do Friday's workout again, that is "workout 2" from The Fit Swimmer (150 yards swim free, 75 yards kick, 75 yards pull, 150 yards swim free). As with Friday, I ended up doing something different. Today's workout was:
300 swim free
75 kick
75 pull with buoy and hand paddles
Rest 1 minute, then repeat above, then rest 1 minute.
300 swim free with hand paddles
75 kick
75 pull with buoy and hand paddles
Rest 1 minute, then repeat above, then rest 1 minute.
50 kick
50 pull with buoy and hand paddles
repeat above twice more
Total distance: 2,100 yards (1 mile + 300 yards)

I was getting tired by the end, but not feeling "dead" so I figured I should probably stop before overdoing it. As with Friday's workout, my toes started cramping, but nowhere near as much as they did on Friday, and my fingers didn't cramp up at all.

Things I learned:

Getting into the water before 8 a.m. on a Sunday is a good thing. The pool started filling up as I was ending my workout, but for most of my swim, it was only myself and 1 other person in the entire pool.

I need to be fairly well-hydrated before I start swimming. I have good intentions of drinking water in my rest periods, but I barely touched my water bottle. I had to keep myself from chugging my water after I finished.

Eating a banana on swim days (before the swim) is probably a good idea. I had a banana with breakfast before I went to the gym, and I think that helped keep me from cramping up towards the end of my swim. I suppose I could see if there are any of the water varieties that have potassium, too...

Now to figure out what to do with the rest of my day...

What Was I Thinking?

2008-08-01T22:16:00.003-04:00

So, it's been over a year since I last swam on a "regular" basis. The last time I swam was about a month and a half ago, and before that was probably 5 months previous. So I decided, after watching Wendy's triathlon over the weekend, that I should get my butt in gear and swim more.

So I did. I have a book called "The Fit Swimmer: 120 Workouts and Training Tips." The first 12 (or 13?) workouts are setup such that you're supposed to do 1 workout 3 times per week, and they build you up to a mile of continuous swimming. The first workout is to do 9 50's, for example. The first 3 workouts, if I remember correctly (the book is at work right now) are all 450 yard swims.

I started on workout 2, which is supposed to be:
150 free
75 kick
75 pull with buoy
150 free, progressive
(no rest, only stop long enough to switch equipment)

What did I do?
150 free
75 kick
75 pull with buoy and paddles
150 free
(no rest, only stopped long enough to switch equipment)
Repeated the above 2 times, with no more than a minute between 450 sets.
Then swam 300. Then kicked 75. Then pulled 75 (with buoy and paddles). The kicked 50, pulled 50, kicked 50, pulled 50.

Total distance: 2,000 yards (1 mile + 200 yards)
One thing I did notice was that it felt better to swim with the paddles than without. As I found out, the pressure of my stroke on my right hand is enough to make it hurt. The paddles, while adding resistance (thus making me stronger!), diffused the pressure a bit. In today's swim, I borrowed Wendy's paddles, TYR Mentor paddles (she has the red ones). I'll be going to the swimming store tomorrow to pick up a pair for myself.

I'm glad I swam today, and glad I was able to do a pretty good workout, but for some reason, I think I'm going to regret this in the morning...

My Orthopods Are My Primary Care Docs

2008-07-29T20:37:00.004-04:00

I finally went back to the orthopaedist yesterday for my hip. Though my hip started hurting again early this month, I felt like I'd been in that office too many times recently, and wanted to ensure that a "more normal" amount of time had elapsed between office visits. Truthfully, my orthopaedists have become my primary care physicians. The only times I end up in a normal GP's office is when I need a pre-op evaluation. When I get sick, I end up at Urgent Care more often than not (that happens once a year or so).

Anyway, as expected, the doc couldn't give me another cortisone shot so soon after the previous one, so he prescribed physical therapy. Sometimes, I wish they could prescribe PT over the phone. I knew that was what he'd do, and I had to take the entire afternoon off of work to go to the appointment. I even got a PT appointment for last night. It was just the initial eval, so after taking measurements of strength and range of motion, all the PT did was massage, ultrasound, then stim with ice. Even with "just" that, my hip was really sore all night and for most of today.

That didn't stop me from going to the gym today, though. Last week was a very hectic week at work, with many meetings for problems on one of my satellites and also mission rehersals for the upcoming launch on the other satellite I'm working on. As such, I only got into the gym 3 times last week, and I really wanted to get this week started off right. Since I had to skip yesterday because of the doc appointment and then PT, and because I had a session with Brian, I was particularly motivated to get back into my working out ways. Today felt reasonably good, even with the hip. I warmed up with 36 minutes on the elliptical, then he had me lifting for about 50 minutes, then he stretched out my hamstrings and such.

One goal I have for this week is to try to get into the pool at least twice this week. I went to cheer on Wendy at the Hagerstown Sprint Tri on Sunday. Watching those kinds of races is always a little tough, it consistently reminds me of how much I miss that kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, I can still swim, and once I resolve the issues with my hand, I should be able to bike, but I'll never run again (and I did love that). Since the hand is on hold until after September 16th, I figure I can at least try to get back onto a regular swimming schedule. I'm not quite sure when I'll get my swims in, given that I have to leave work no later than 3:30 to guarantee getting a spot in a lane at my gym's pool. Tomorrow (Wednesday), it's looking like I'll have a meeting until at least 4, and Thursday is a Brian day, so right now I'm thinking of swimming on Friday and Sunday. We'll see how that works out.

Speaking of hands, my left thumb is feeling better. I'm still having a little bit of pain with a pinch and a wide-grip, but all in all, it's at about 90%. My right hand, though, is still hurting quite a bit. Though I've gone back to a more normal amount of usage (since my left hand isn't splinted anymore), it still seems to be irritated. I wish I knew what was wrong so I could figure out how to make it better. Right now, I'm planning on going back to the hand doctor after September 16th. The 16th is the day that I'll be going to the genetics clinic up at Hopkins, so hopefully after that, I'll know if I do in fact have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The only reason that may change is if my ankle keeps acting up.

My ankle's been unusually sore for a prolonged period of time. Not only is it sore in ways it's been before, some of the pain/discomfort is new. In one case, I think the bone around 2 of my screws is either irritated, or the screws are trying to push out, or the bone is growing a spur over the screw heads, as it hurts to put on shoes and put pressure over the area where 2 of the screws were inserted. The other observation I have is that lately, it's been swelling up when I walk around, or after workouts at the gym. The last time it did that, I'd torn (or re-torn) the ligaments in my ankle. Given that they used my own tissue for my last reconstruction, and given that I seem to have rather poor quality soft tissue, I'm slightly concerned that the re-re-reconstruction may have come undone. I'm going to play that one by ear. If the pain over the screws becomes much worse, I'm going to make the ankle a higher priority over the hand. I don't know what can be done about the ligament, in part it will depend on the EDS diagnosis, but if the screws have to come out, they have to come out (and that should be relatively easy).

Edited to fix typos, add link to Hagerstown Tri.

A Bad Week Made Worse

2008-07-03T21:46:00.004-04:00

This week was a difficult week at work. There is a problem on the project I'm working on, a problem that's occupying quite a bit of my time. I've also been helping fill in for another person, who was out all week on vacation, and there were some problems that showed up today with that project. And, as it turns out, there was another issue that popped up on a project I'm consulting on. I love being busy, and I love that my co-workers feel that they can rely on me, but it still made for a rather trying week. I'm glad that the weekend is here, and that I should be able to relax a bit over the next 3 days.

This was a bad week, injury-wise.
My left thumb, sprained about 5 weeks ago, had a flare-up over the last week or so. It felt like my thumb was getting better, excepting for pinching and doing a wide grip, but then it started really hurting again, like it did just after I first sprained it. It hurt enough that I decided to go see a hand doctor. I opted not to see the hand doc who did my first hand surgery (Dr. Leo Rozmaryn at The Orthopaedic Center in Rockville, MD), but ended up seeing Dr. Miller of Town Center Orthopaedics in Reston, VA (he's much closer). I don't think I'll ever go back to Dr. Berdia, the one who did my 2nd hand surgery. Anyway, Dr. Miller said that for a normal person, because the thumb is difficult to "not use," it can take a couple months to get back to 100%. He also mentioned that I'm not "normal" (given that it seems likely that I have Ehlers-Danlos, or at least some form of Hypermobility Syndrome).

My right hand, broken 3 times, also started hurting more again. Maybe it's that I've been using it more, since hurting my left thumb, but it's definitely feeling worse than usual. Don't get me wrong, my right hand (5th metacarpal, specifically), has been hurting for over a year now, I'm kind of used to it...but this is actually hurting more than it usually does. If normally, a "bad" day is a 7 out of 10 on the pain scale (with a "bad" day coming once every 2 weeks or so), this last week or so it's been an 8.5 out of 10 (where every day has had a bad moment). I guess the only up-side here is that once I'm ready to deal with my right hand again, I feel comfortable going back to see Dr. Miller, instead of driving all the way up to Rockville. I got kind of frustrated after my last hand surgery, that the surgery really seemed to do nothing for the pain or the other symptoms, and that the doc didn't seem to know what to do next. On top of being frustrated, life's been incredibly busy since then (various spacecraft in 24/7 testing), and given that I've got 2 launches coming up this year (programs I'm directly involved in), I'm trying to wait until after at least the first launch to see another doc again. That should co-incide nicely with figuring out if I do in fact have Ehlers-Danlos, for whatever that'll be worth.

Finally, my hip has started flaring up again over the last 3 days. Maybe it's got to do with me doing the elliptical so much...I usually flip a coin before figuring out what my cardio is going to be at the gym. I'm at the gym, on average, 5-7 days per week. I lift on 2 of those days, so it's 30 minutes of cardio followed by an hour of lifting. On the other days, I just do cardio, for a little over an hour. Two weeks ago, I had an entire week of flipping "tails," which corresponds for me to doing the exercise bike. Last week, it was an entire week of flipping "heads," corresponding to the elliptical. This week, it's been 2 days of elliptical and 1 day of bike so far (I took off on Monday). While training this afternoon (lifting day), I felt my hip hurting. Now that I'm home, it hurts to roll onto my side. I guess this is probably my tendonitis coming back, but I had hoped that it was gone. I had a cortisone injection in my hip about 7 weeks or so ago, and it was feeling pretty good, but now that it's hurting to roll onto my side, or do certain motions, I'm a bit...nervous. I guess if it persists I'll have to go back to an orthopod, maybe get into some physical therapy. Have I mentioned how much I hate PT?

To top it all off, my ankle's been feeling stiff/sore all week. I guess it's normal, it's hard for me to tell. It's been 4 years and a week or so since my fusion, and it's been feeling great in general, but this week has been especially uncomfortable.

Oh well. 3 day weekend, that can only be good, right?

Misc Updates

2008-06-24T19:44:00.005-04:00

I am finally out of the splint for my thumb! Yay, just in time for the release of Final Fantasy Tactics A2. The original FFTA was the first game I bought for my Gameboy Advance and was a game I sunk well over 200 hours into, mostly as I recovered from my various surgeries. I expect FFTA2 to be firmly entrenched in my DS for a good long while.

Yesterday I went to Stitch DC in the district to try to take an introductory knitting class. After sitting in traffic for about 2 hours (coming from work in Dulles) and standing out in the rain/storms for 30 minutes, the class was cancelled, as the instructor seemed to be MIA. The only good thing to come out of yesterday was that I got to see a really cool double rainbow, which other DC-area people took photos of (pictures at The Capital Weather Gang's site). I, unfortunately, was on 395 at the time, so there was no stopping on the side of the road to take pictures. I'll have to rely on those taken by others (which are quite good).

Kottke has linked to a very interesting article about itching and perception. [Edited to add] I must confess, this link caught my eye because of my experiences with itching in an area where I have had a nerve removed. [end Edit] Since having a portion of my sural nerve removed in 2004, if I have any itch in my ankle and try to scratch it, I don't get any relief from the scratching. I've found slapping works better, oddly enough. The article is quite interesting, I highly recommend it. [Added] This article talks more about perception as it relates to itching, and gives a bit of a history of a patient with a persistent itch problem. It also discusses various related disorders, treatments, and a bit of history about the research into itching (and scratching, and also the related perception, tickling).

Ehlers-Danlos Follow-Up

2008-06-09T21:56:00.003-04:00

On Thursday night as I drove home from the gym, I got a call from the genetic clinic at Hopkins. It was the call I've been expecting for awhile, the call from the genetic counselor. She asked me a few questions, including:
- Explain your hypermobility (which joints, how do you know they're hypermobile, etc)
- Has anybody in your family ever died suddenly?
- Do you bruise easily?

The 2nd and 3rd were easy to answer (not that I know of and not that I've ever noticed). The first was a little trickier, as I know my shoulders are hypermobile, and I'm pretty sure my ankle would be considered hypermobile, but for the rest of my joints, I can only go on what doctors and physical therapists have said, which is that most of my joints move too much. Of course, instead of saying that, I talked about how my shoulders have had non-traumatic dislocations and subluxations, even after stabilization surgery, and how my ankle didn't take 3 surgeries with good surgeons, requiring my eventual fusion.

So now I have an appointment set with the connective tissue group at Hopkins for September 16th. The appointment will start with an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart), which is a little scary. Not that echocardiogram's are scary, I mean, but that there really could be something wrong with my heart. The more I read about EDS, the more...nervous I guess I am, but I'm trying not to read too much and trying not to self-diagnose. Come Sept. 16th, I'll hopefully know a lot more, and stop playing the guessing game. I guess we'll see.

Roz Rows Across the Pacific

2008-06-08T11:05:00.002-04:00

Thanks to TWiT, I found out about this amazing woman, Roz Savage, who is attempting to row solo across the Pacific Ocean. That's solo, as in, without even a follow/support boat in case things get really bad.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for things like this, watching people do things I can't even fathom. Or maybe it's that I feel a sort of kinship with people like this, even though my adventurous life has been slowed down a bit by injury and my career (I'll fully admit I'm not brave enough to quit my job and just do something like this). She's already rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in 2006.

Anyway, I've been following along on her blog and on Twitter, and listening to the podcasts that are being recorded when Leo Laporte (chief TWiT) calls her 3 times a week. I thought others here might be interested.

Blog: http://rozsavage.com/blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rozsavage
TWiT page (podcasts available here, recorded live Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET): http://twit.tv/roz
Podcasts also availble on iTunes, if you search for "Roz Rows The Pacific."

Yep, It's Sprained

2008-06-02T17:29:00.002-04:00

Or at least, the doctor thinks it is. It's hard to tell how severe a sprain is with me, but more on that in a minute. For now, my left thumb/wrist is in a splint similar to this one. It's kind of annoying, because I don't like the wrist constriction, but the doc is playing it safe, and I can't say I blame him. I'll be splinted for 2 weeks.

Ok, so the reason that it's hard to tell how severe a sprain is on me is because the doctor thinks I may have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Let me back up. 3 Advil 3 times a day was helping my hip feel better, but as soon as the Advil wore off, I was back in pain, so I ended up going back to the orthpod a few weeks ago. He wanted to give me a cortisone shot, but I was a little concerned about getting one, because I've heard from another orthopaedist that cortisone shots can lead to deterioration of the ligaments and tendons in the joint, and I've got a history of rather loose ligaments and bad quality ligaments and tendons. He assured me it would be OK, as it was just 1 injection, so we did it, and my hip's feeling close to 100% now. Sometimes, it twinges with certain things at the gym, but all in all it's good.

That's when he asked about my joints. You see, I've had 2 shoulder surgeries (1 on each shoulder) and 4 ankle surgeries. The shoulders were for repeated dislocations, even though I never had a traumatic dislocation. The ankle was for torn ligaments (torn playing soccer), and because none of the first 3 surgeries worked, I had to have it fused in the 4th. Since those surgeries, I've had one more non-traumatic subluxation of my shoulder (last November). That's when the doc suggested I might have something called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and mentioned I should get tested.

According to Wikipedia, Ehlers-Danlos is, "a group of rare genetic disorders affecting humans and domestic animals caused by a defect in collagen synthesis. Depending on the individual mutation, the severity of the disease can vary from mild to life-threatening. There is no known cure. Treatment is supportive." One of the classic symptoms of this is having hypermobile joints, which my doctors all agree I do. There are other symptoms, but that's the big one.

Needless to say, I think that there's a good chance I do have it. It would certainly help explain why I've had so many joint issues. It would also help explain why my first 3 ankle surgeries, performed by good surgeons, didn't work properly. So, at the moment, I'm waiting for the Genetic Medicine group at Hopkins to give me a call back. I've done the preliminary call, now I need for a genetic counselor to call me, take a history, and determine which doctor I should see.

So that's that. Knowing I have generally "bad" ligaments, I try to treat my injuries with kid gloves, and it seems my doc is doing the same. He thinks I've only got a fairly mild sprain, but my right thumb joint is also very "loose" so it's hard to tell the extent of the sprain. If it still hurts in 2 weeks (which I doubt it will), I'll go back. Fun times. Have I mentioned that I love my joints?

I Think I Sprained My Thumb

2008-05-29T21:06:00.002-04:00

I'm talented in so many ways. After my workout at the gym this evening, I was picking up my bag to go home and somehow, it slipped out of my hand, and my left thumb caught on the strap, bending my thumb backwards. Yes, you read that correctly, I made it all the way through my workout with no major issues, and then I hurt myself on my gym bag.

I've got it taped up now and am icing it. Depending on how it feels tomorrow, I may call a doctor. Normally, I wouldn't be terribly concerned about a sprain where I didn't feel or hear a pop, but due to some other potential mitigating circumstances (which I'll try to write about tomorrow), I'm starting to treat any potential soft-tissue injury with kid gloves.

Hip Pain: Update

2008-04-20T10:22:00.002-04:00

My hip pain got worse over the course of the past week, to a point where it hurt to walk and it hurts to sleep on it. When I realized that rolling onto it caused pain on this past Tuesday night, I decided a trip to the doctor was in order. I saw the doc on Friday morning, where he took x-rays, moved it around, and gave it a good look-over. We saw that I have a small bone spur on my hip, but he doesn't think that's what's causing the problem, and he thinks it's a muscle that I pulled hardcore. So instead of taking 2 Advil liqui-gels every 4 hours, I'm taking 2 Aleve twice a day. The Aleve seems to be helping a little bit, though it still hurts to walk and stuff. Without going onto crutches (which he said might help, which I'm NOT doing), there really isn't much of a way to rest a hip.

So I took off Friday and Saturday, and I'm taking off today, with the hopes of starting back up at the gym tomorrow. I need to get a bathing suit so I can swim (which should be gentler to the hip) and I'll continue to ride the exercise bike (which doesn't seem to bother my hip too much), avoiding the elliptical until it doesn't hurt to walk. And, I'll be using the whirlpool at the gym after my workouts, which should also help. On a side note, I'm even more frustrated with my hand, as taking 2 Aleve twice daily doesn't seem to help it too much...it still hurts to play video games and stuff...

I <3 My Joints

2008-04-07T18:28:00.004-04:00

My hip has been hurting, and for once I'm not sure why. I've had hip pain sporadically over the last year or so, which I've attributed to doing too much at the gym, usually on the elliptical. A little heat, a little "Vitamin I," and a little rest is all it usually takes to make it better. I still think that this bout of hip pain is related to doing too much at the gym, but now it seems delayed and seems to be taking longer to feel better. I haven't worked out since Thursday evening, having taken off the weekend because I wasn't feeling well and I took off today since my hip is still hurting (it's been hurting since Saturday) and I'm exhausted from not sleeping well last night (which may be related to the fact that I haven't worked out since Thursday...).

I wish I had normal joints. Between my shoulders (which are doing well for now, but I'll need to ensure to keep them strong for the rest of my life, lest I dislocate either again, as I did not too long ago), my ankle (fused), my hand problems, and now my hip, I'm beginning to think I just can't win...maybe I SHOULD try to get back in the pool...

Neal Stephenson Returns!

2008-03-31T20:16:00.003-04:00

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors. I got hooked on him when my friend Elisa lent me a copy of Snow Crash, which is often compared to Gibson's Neuromancer. I had no idea what to expect at the time, but a day or two later, I'd finished reading the book (I got through Snow Crash much more quickly than I did Neuromancer, Stephenson's writing style is a lot easier to get into than Gibson's for me). I quickly moved onto The Diamond Age (of which there is a magnificent unabridged version at audible.com) and then I started the Goliath that is Cryptonomicon. I admit, it took me longer to get through Cryptonomicon, in part because the story was a lot more...complicated, or involved, but it also was due to the fact that the book is over 1,000 pages long. From there, it was a short jump to the books of The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. Interface was another book of his that I read later, as was Zodiac, though Zodiac was in my esteem his weakest novel. These books, as a whole, represent to me what good science fiction should be: just on the edge of believability and a story that sucks you in. Stephenson is one of the authors I compare other science fiction authors to as a measure of how good they are.

Via slashdot, I came across an article on the TIME (the magazine) blog touting Stephenson's return. His new book, Anathem, is already available for pre-order on amazon.com, with a release date of September 9, 2008. The TIME blog quotes the story description, "Since childhood, Raz has lived behind the walls of a 3,400-year-old monastery, a sanctuary for scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians—sealed off from the illiterate, irrational, unpredictable "saecular" world that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms and busts, world wars and climate change. Until the day that a higher power, driven by fear, decides that only these cloistered scholars have the abilities to avert an impending catastrophe. And, one by one, Raz and his cohorts are summoned forth without warning into the Unknown."

I don't know if there are any other Stephenson-lovers out there, but this is definitely on my "must get" list.

Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Craptastic Beer

2008-03-27T20:16:00.001-04:00

see more crazy cat pics

That is all.

If I Kill Oz...

2008-03-09T13:24:00.002-04:00

2008 02 23 i'm going to kill oz
Originally uploaded by terpkristin

...you'll know why.

My TV is a 52" Sony Bravia XBR LCD (the exact numbers are KDL-52XBR4, but that really doesn't matter much). The TV it replaced was a 30-ish inch CRT TV that was at least 10 years old, one I got when my aunt passed away in 2001. With the old TV, Oz would sometimes lay on top of it and if I was playing a soccer video game, or when playing Final Fantasy X, he'd try to bat at the ball/cursor moving around on the screen. It was funny, but it was a rare occurrence, and so it wasn't much of a problem.

With this new TV, Oz seems to want to attack everything. If I have the Cartoon Network on, he attacks the logo in the lower left corner. If I have sports on (like soccer or basketball), he bats at the ball, and only runs away when the TV zooms to a close-up of a player coming towards the camera. If I have a movie on, he bats at things moving on the screen. I'm going to have to buy a spray bottle to contend with the situation...or, you know, kill him. ;)

He's much cuter when he's trying to imitate the RCA dog.

On Goals

2008-03-09T12:45:00.003-04:00

It's good to have goals in life. Goals for your professional life, goals for your personal life, goals give you something to work towards and allow you a feeling of accomplishment when you've met your goals. When I started writing here "actively" again in late '06, my goal was to lose weight so I didn't look like a fat cow at Wendy's wedding. As a means to that end, I started working out again, a little over 2 years after having my ankle fused.

At the time, it was difficult. The old ways I would work out were no longer viable. Back before I hosed my ankle beyond belief, I would run and do martial arts and play soccer. With a fused ankle, running and jumping are physically impossible, so those outlets were inaccessible. I was never one to enjoy going to the gym, and hated the idea of weight lifting before I hurt my ankle. So, to meet my goal in late '06, I found myself doing those things I never considered before my injury and subsequent surgeries--I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer to help me out.

Needless to say, I've made a lot of progress. Wendy's wedding came and went (beautifully, despite my running a fever on the big day), and I found myself enjoying the gym. My friends had started calling me a gym rat, and even though I'd achieved my goals for Wendy's wedding, I found I didn't want to stop working out. In retrospect, this shouldn't have been a surprise, but at the time it was. I decided to shift my goal to generically "lose weight." Through the course of my injuries and surgeries, I spent almost 2 years virtually unable to walk (and when I could walk, it was very short distances), and I decided to keep working out with Brian (my trainer) and keep up with my cardio to help lose more weight that I'd gained while recovering from my ankle mess.

That was almost a year ago. These days, I'm about 20 pounds heavier than I was when I was at my lightest, but I'm also lifting regularly, something I NEVER did when I was at my lightest, so it's hard to judge things based purely on numbers. I bet I could lose a bit more weight, but if I don't, I'm ok with it, knowing I'm healthy and looking pretty good. I'm still a gym rat, though, as I'm at the gym 5-6 days per week on average.

On cardio days, I do between 65 and 90 minutes of fairly high-intensity cardio (I've been erring on the side of 65 lately, as work has been keeping my schedule really busy, and I've been working out at ~85% of my max heart rate). On lifting days (about twice a week with Brian), I warm up with ~30 minutes of cardio and then lift with him for an hour. But now I'm starting to wonder what my goal is/should be. It's no longer "lose weight" as it were, and it's not like there are too many things I can compete in that I can train for.

My hand is still causing problems, which is a part of why I'm not at this point interested in a cycling-related goal (the vibrations through the handlebars hurt my hand, and pulling my rear brake as it's currently configured is painful, too). I recently re-dislocated my right shoulder, and though I'm done with rehab, I'm afraid that swimming may overstress it, like it did years ago, when I needed stabilizing surgeries on both of my shoulders.

So, I'm at a loss. Maybe the right answer is that I should go back to the hand doc and try to figure out what's wrong with my hand and how to make it better, but right now, I'm not sure I'm ready for that, mentally. Or maybe I should see how much more weight I can lose. Maybe make a new goal of losing 10 pounds, and take it from there. Or maybe in this case I don't need a goal....

Utah Pictures

2008-02-13T08:24:00.002-05:00

051 view from top of Snowbird 1
Originally uploaded by terpkristin

I finally got around to uploading all the photos from my trip to Utah. I'm still in the process of adding descriptions, full tags, and notes as appropriate over at flickr. However, if you want to see the complete set of pictures (only about 1/4 of them have descriptions), the set is available here.

If anybody has been to This is the Place Heritage Park, and knows who this is a statue of, can you please leave a note in the comments on the picture?

Also, if anybody lives in the Salt Lake City area and can snap a photo of the signs guiding you to This is the Place, I'd be much obliged. I meant to grab one when I was down there (you know, the sign that says This is the Place, with an arrow in the right direction), but I ran out of time and good weather...

Super Wednesday?

2008-02-06T19:12:00.000-05:00

Wendy kind of gave me some good-natured flack today for not updating more often, so I figured I'd definitely update today. Maybe tomorrow, too, we shall see. I was on vacation in Utah for most of last week, and I've got photos to upload, so maybe if I get that done, I'll post something here... Anyway, for now, here's a bunch of random stuff...

Today's workout was:
1 hour, 5 minutes on the elliptical, Cross Training Program 2, resistance set at 13 (out of 20).
Average heart rate during exercise: 162 beats per minute
Max heart rate during exercise: 170 beats per minute
According to various methods of calculation, my calculated max heart rate is somewhere between 185 and 192 beats per minute, so my average in today's workout was 84% - 88% of my max. Not too shabby, I'd say.

Last 10 songs that came up on my iPod (while listening on random shuffle to my "Music Only NO CLASSICAL" smart playlist):
1. Don Davis - Main Title (from The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack)
2. Switchfoot - Meant to Live
3. Rod Stewart - Forever Young
4. Sonic Youth - Superstar
5. Hoobastank - From the Heart
6. Bowling for Soup - 1985
7. Young MC - Principal's Office
8. The Beach Boys - In My Room
9. Pat Green - Three Days
10. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2

I'm going through a rather long process of trying to remove songs from my iPod that I don't particularly care for. I have a 60 GB 5th generation (video) iPod with 27.35 GB of audio (12.03 GB is audiobooks), 5 MB of photos, 19.28 GB of video, and 273.7 MB of "other" (which includes the highly addictive game Peggle). Basically, what I do is put it on random shuffle while I'm at work, and note what songs need to be removed (and then remove them at home). It's a slow process, but it works.

Finally, on some sad news, I just read that Sheldon Brown passed away on Sunday. I first was introduced to his wonderful website while still an undergraduate at University of Maryland, trying to build my own single-speed bike (to this day, I still long to build up a fixed-gear bike, but I have neither the time nor the ability to ride right now...). Over the years, I've gone back to his site time and time again to get tips and tricks for various bike-related things, specifically related to bicycle repair.

I guess that's enough random rambling for now. Now I'm off to listen to the CAG Foreplay podcast, where this week I'm donating the prize, a copy of Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations.

I'm Not a Doctor, But... (On Clemens)

2008-01-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on the internet, but I do have more than my fair share of experience with orthopedic and sports injuries (8 orthopedic surgeries so far...). Keeping aside the fact that Clemens hasn't exactly "acted" like an innocent person (given how long it took him to make a REAL statement, how he has been dancing around things, etc....), and that if McNamee's testimony/information to the Mitchell investigation was really under duress, it's certainly suspect, these are my thoughts...

I didn't watch Clemens on "60 Minutes" last night, for fear that I'd get so annoyed I'd throw things at the TV and get my blood pressure needlessly elevated. What I have seen of it, through clips on ESPN and such, don't really add up to me.

First, about the injections of vitamin B-12. We've heard it before, athletes claiming that they've been injected with vitamin B-12, in part (at least) to combat fatigue (it helps maintain healthy nerve and red blood cells). Last time we heard it, with Raphael Palmeiro, at least some of that "B-12" was probably steroids. Vitamin B-12 is commonly found in meats, particularly seafood and beef, so people with a normal diet should naturally get enough to cover the recommended daily allowance without supplements. For those who don't, my bottle of Centrum says that one pill has 100% the RDA of B12. Though it can be hard to get from foods, because it requires a few steps to be proceceed correctly, in supplement form, what you see is what you get. Why would somebody bother to inject it, even if they were trying to get more than the "normal" amount?

On another point, in the NY Times, it says that having the vitamin injected by a trainer is illegal in some states. I'm not sure if that means that it's illegal to have a trainer do it, or if it's illegal to have in the injectible form, or even what states it IS illegal (or legal) in. It's also stated that as an injectible, B-12 is given intravenously, but if it's been injected into the buttocks, that's hitting mostly muscle, not veins... It just strikes me as odd to get a vitamin which can easily be taken in pill form as an injection. But maybe he has a needle fetish?

As for the lidocaine, I'm much more skeptical, and this comes from a lot of personal experience with docs trying to keep me playing and keep me from going under the knife. Unless Clemens had a sore butt, there really would be no reason to inject lidocaine there. It's not a drug that acts systemically--it works only where you inject it. I've had it injected for "joint pain" only in the small joint in my hand. Though I've read that it helps if you have point pain in a joint, most of the other joints are too large to be treated by lidocaine injected into the joint (without multiple injections over the area), again, we heard from McNamee that he injected Clemens in the butt. Not in a joint.

The other way that lidocaine can be used for pain, in a more systemic matter, is to have it injected into a nerve. They do this before some surgeries (both of my shoulder surgeries were done with this method), and during/after some surgeries (in all of my ankle surgeries, I had it done to help with post-op pain management), and I believe it's sort of what pain management specialists do (based on my one visit to one). However, for a lot of the nerves in question, to find the nerve and ensure they're in the right place, the DOCTOR doing the injecting will first stick you with an electric needle. I know of at least one nerve where this isn't the case, but I also know of a few (from personal experience) where it definitely is the case. So it strikes me as highly unlikely that McNamee did THAT.

That all said, for longer-term joint pain management, most docs would I'm guessing recommend cortisone injections, and those are relatively easy to get from the team doc, it seems, so I think it's fairly unlikely that McNamee was injecting Clemens with those, especially given that injecting those incorrectly can cause other problems (I once had one go into a nerve...that was excruciating).

I'm highly suspicious of Clemens, and what he said on 60 Minutes only makes me more convinced that he's lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. In the end, it's going to turn into a he-said/he-said situation, and we may never have proof, but so far, color me skeptical...

My Adorable Nephew

2008-01-01T10:16:00.001-05:00

2007 12 24 and 25 020
Originally uploaded by terpkristin

Isn't he cute?

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to the one or two of you who might read this.

I'm not really big on resolutions, but one of my goals for this year is to write here with more frequency...and hopefully, find something interesting to write about...

I'll be posting a picture of my nephew here in a minute or two. At least then, those few of you who come will see an absolutely adorable little kid.

RSS Feeds Are For Geeks

2007-11-18T21:25:00.000-05:00

I noticed something completely random today: the RSS feeds I subscribe to (through Bloglines) with the most subscribers are mostly websites that are kind of geeky (ok, really geeky). The "Top 10" feeds I subscribe to, in terms of subscribers, are:

Site	# Subscribers
Slashdot	103,507
Dilbert	90,229
BBC News	86,447
Engadget	74,694
Boing Boing	62,900
CNET News	42,454
Techdirt	40,943
Wired Top Stories	26,613
Lifehacker	19,834
ESPN.com	16,730

Of those, one may argue that the BBC news feed isn't "just for dorks," and neither is the ESPN.com feed, though the rest really do seem to have the geek appeal. The only other feed I subscribe to with greater than 10,000 subscribers is kottke.org.

I assume that this is because it's the geeks who really use RSS feeds to begin with. Most of the "general public" using the internet are probably going to only a few sites: news sites, YouTube, and email sites. It's us dorks, more interested in rapid information access, who find the benefit of RSS feeds, so it's natural that sites that cater to dorks (or geeky interests) are more popular in the feedreaders. I wonder what other readers, such as the Google Reader (which I am not a fan of), show.

Ah, The Joys...

2007-11-13T20:05:00.000-05:00

One of these days I might become good at regularly updating a blog (or anything else for that matter, other than work). I have all these good intentions when the day starts, but by the end of the day, and with the lure of a stack of unfinished video games, a few unfinished stitching projects (not to mention those that I want to start, but I'm trying to finish up the open ones before I do...), and books to read, I find that when I get home from the gym, I don't really want to write more on the computer.

I have, however, had a thought recently, and I may post it here and see how it goes. I was listening to an episode of TWiT (This Week in Tech, a fabulous podcast hosted by Leo Laporte) recently, and Leo made a comment to John C. Dvorak ("dvorak dot org slash blog") about how because they all work in an audio (and video) format, and things aren't written down, it's easy to forget what you've said. Alas! I'm going to try to do transcripts of each show. I hope to have them up by 1 week after they were originally posted to the iTunes feed, and I'll be adding my commentary to what they've said. We'll see how long I can keep it up, anyway. Or if it ever gets noticed.

I'm going to try to post here more regularly...with goings on at the gym, stitching, video games, well, really, whatever.

In the meantime, if you need/want some interesting reading, check these out:
Wincing at Light (a blog recently started by a fellow FOFC'er who is using it to share his writing with the world--he's writing a novel and posting chapters up, along with other random musings)
Sword and Laser, a social network/forum/thing I first heard about on TWiT. It's basically an online sci-fi and fantasy book club. They're currently reading Pullman's "Golden Compass," which I read last year, and on the 19th they'll be starting "Ender's Game." I'm using my common moniker, "terpkristin," over there.

Naps Rule!

2006-12-07T19:58:00.000-05:00

I had a doctor's appointment today in the morning at a place about an hour away from my apartment if there's no traffic. Needless to say, I spent most of the morning in the car, excepting the 45 minutes or so I was in my doctor's office. It's ok, though, as I told people not to expect me today at work. Things have been crazy enough lately that I already had enough hours stocked up so I didn't have to take leave to not show up today, so when I got home at about 1 p.m., I decided to relax at home. I ended up taking a short nap on my couch at about 3 (until about 3:30ish). Oz had crawled onto my stomach and with him curled up, I was pretty comfy. After I got up, I felt great, and then proceeded to have a fantastic workout tonight. I got to the gym a little earlier than usual so did 40 minutes on the elliptical. Brian had me do some boxing first, then we did upper body work. It was a great workout, if only I could take a nap everyday!!!!

Things have been going well, workout-wise, though work's been absolutely insane so I haven't written much about what we've done. I found out today that I've lost 11.5 lbs since starting working out with Brian, which I'm stoked about. Anyway, I stand by my subject line: naps rule!

Silly Cat

2006-11-28T20:28:00.000-05:00

i'm so cute
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

This is my cat, Oz. He's a terror, but he's got me well-trained and he knows he's my terror. He'll come into my story in a little bit.

I haven't written in over a week, how shamemful! It's not that I haven't been working out (I definitely have!), it's just that with work being a little crazy and the holiday, I don't have a lot of time when I get home from the gym to blog. But last week I was a good girl, working with Brian on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, doing cardio on my own on Monday and Wednesday, resting the other 2 days (and let's face it, eating a lot of really good food on Thursday). Cardio lately has not been swimming, as much as I enjoy it. When I swam on Friday (the 17th I guess?), I think they shocked the pool with an extra dose or 10 of chlorine. It was so potent that after my swim, my sinuses hurt for 3-4 days. Needless to say, I'm not exactly looking forward to that again, so instead I've been doing time on the elliptical trainer.

This week has been rough, from a workout standpoint. I was feeling pretty sick on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday and Monday. Not sick sick, but a little achy (outside of normal training muscle aches) and worn out. I think I've probably been fighting off some low-grade illnenss that hasn't managed to surface fully. Hopefully it'll stay down-trodden. Anyway, I had a long day at work yesterday and really didn't want to go to the gym afterwards, but I was a good girl and decided to do it. I just was planning on doing cardio, 45 minutes on the elliptical. Even though I've done that type of workout (at that intensity level) before, yesterday my average heart rate was about 10 beats per minute higher than it "normally" is at that intensity. So that wasn't fun, but one might think that after a tough day like that, I'd be ready for some good sleep. Oh no, as it turned out. I couldn't fall asleep, and when I finally did, I was tossing and turning all night. I literally woke up every 30 minutes or so. At around 3:30 a.m., I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep until 5, then was up again at 6:30 and have been up since then (my alarm normally wakes me at 7 a.m. To top off the bad sleeping, when I was awake, Oz the Psycho Kitty either wanted to play or wanted food (or both), as he kept attacking my hands until I dove under the covers and then he started batting things off of the nightstands by my bed (I have one on either side). At one point I scruffed him and threw him off my bed, but all in all it was a bad night.

Surprisingly, I had a good workout with Brian today. After a "normal" day at work, I got to the gym to do my regular 30 minute warmup (so much for it being 5-7 minutes beforehand...). During the warmup (on the elliptical), I noticed my heart rate was back to its normal rate for the level of intensity I was working at, which was good to see. I warned Brian that I was pretty tired, but it turned out to be a good workout.

I'm pretty tired now, so I'll probably crash early tonight...hopefully the furball won't disturb me too much tonight (I swear he knows I'm writing about him as he's staring at me right now).

Note to Self

2006-11-17T20:07:00.000-05:00

Note to self: doing a long swim workout the day after a tough upper body workout with the trainer isn't exactly a bright idea. Actually, it wasn't that bad, but boy are my shoulders tired...I could really use a massage. But I digress...let's see. When last we left, I was getting ready to take a shower after a swim.

Tuesday's workout with Brian was (as promised) a full-body workout. I'll be honest, it didn't FEEL (afterwards) like a full-body workout. When all was said and done (on Wednesday), I was really feeling my quads, biceps, and triceps. That might be because the workout included:
wall-sits/squats leaning up against a fitness ball on the wall
pseudo-squats and shoulder presses on the bosu board/ball/thing
leg press on the Cybex machine
wall-sits for length of time (30 seconds and 40 seconds)
tricep push-downs to fatigue
bicep curls to fatigue

Needless to say, on Wednesday I could barely walk, and when I got on the elliptical on Thursday before working out with Brian, I could STILL feel my quads burning a bit. Luckily (or not...), Thursday was an upper body day. It was a good workout, as I'm feeling my biceps again today and am feeling my traps and delts a bit. Oddly, I'm not feeling my pecs which I worked out pretty hard, too (flys on the fitness ball are tough!).

Anyway, today's swim was good (and I've already showered), as I swam 3/4 mile:
1/2 mile (900 yards, but it may have been 950 or 1000 as I lost count and may have swam an extra lap or two) continuous
150 yards (1/12 mile) kick
150 yards (1/12 mile) pull with gloves
150 yards (1/12 mile) kick
TOTAL 1350(ish) yards (1050 swim/pull, 300 kick)

It was a good workout and I can't complain, but I'm looking forward to my rest day!!! :)

I Need A Shower

2006-11-13T19:28:00.000-05:00

What a title for a blog entry, I know, but it's the truth--I really need a shower. However, I figured it'd been a couple of days since I last posted so I wanted to be sure to post (and doing it sooner than later is a sure way to guarantee I don't forget). I last posted on 7 Nov (a Tuesday). On the 8th, I took a day of rest for myself--I'm aiming to workout 5 days a week, with Wednesdays and Sundays as my rest days. Of course, that's subject to change, but I'm definitely hoping to keep the 5 days a week part.

Thursday I worked upper body with Brian. The workout was a bit unusual, as it was pushed back from a tentative start time of 5 to a real start time of 7. The 2 hour delay meant that before going to the gym, I needed to make sure I ate some dinner...dinner that wouldn't be too heavy, but something that would provide a bit of extra energy. I ended up going to Atlanta Bread Company and getting a turkey panini. Unfortunately, it wasn't as "light" as I'd hoped it would be, and the theme of the night became "keep dinner down." I ended up starting with 30 minutes on the elliptical, then Brian wanted to warm up my shoulders by having me work on a punching bag for a little while. I did some combination moves, and ended that part of the session with a 2 minute endurance drill. It was a tough workout, made more difficult by my dinner, and I was glad when I reached the end of it (without puking). After Thursday's workout, I really wasn't too jazzed to swim on Friday but I made a promise to myself so I went to the pool on Friday. I did a pretty good workout, totalling 3/4 of a mile, alternating kicking and swimming/pulling. In the end I did 750 swim/pull and 600 kick.

Bright and early Saturday morning, I was back in the gym, this time for a lower body workout. Brian had me do some work on a balance-ball-thing as well as wome serious core work. It was a beast of a workout, but it felt great. Tired and happy, I went to the Terps game to tailgate and enjoy the Terps 14-13 win over Miami, and came back dead tired. Sunday, I took a well-deserved rest day (in retrospect, tailgating--a bunch of standing up for awhile and then going to the game--a bunch of standing and walking up and down stadium stairs might NOT have been a wise choice of activities following a hard leg workout...).

Finally after work today I decided that even though I had no motivation, I'd hit the pool today. I had a pretty long day at work, and ended up staying there later than I expected to. I usually try to leave right at 4 on swimming days, because the later it gets, the more crowded the pool gets and the harder it is to get into a lap lane. I got lucky, as when I got there it wasn't too crowded and I was still able to get a good swim in. I only did 1050 today (slightly over 1/2 mile), but it was a quality 1050 (450 continuous swim, 150 kick, 150 free pull, 150 swim, 150 kick). I realized two things today while I was swimming:
1. I really need new swim paddles/gloves. One of mine has a hole in it now, and both have a tendency to unzip while I'm swimming which makes me compensate for it by altering my stroke in a weird way.
2. I tend to have only 1 or 2 songs stuck in my head while I was swimming. Today it was "The Wheels on the Bus" (don't ask why, it's a long story but it makes sense...) and some song by Keane, the title of which is escapting me at the moment.

So that's that. And now, I really do need to get the chlorine out of my hair, so I'm going to go work on that..

Kicking My Butt

2006-11-07T20:16:00.000-05:00

After working the complete circuit on Sunday (on the machines I did not like), I went through with swimming yesterday. Even though it had only been a few days since I was last in the pool, I felt almost akward in there, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it was just that my muscles were sort of "pre-tensed" but for some reason, my strokes didn't seem as smooth and my breathing was off. I tend to breathe every third stroke, which was fine, but it seemed like I was getting some water every time I breathed...it was odd. Anyway I did 1050 (450 free, 150 free kick, 150 free pull, 150 free, 150 free kick), and then was bummed out to discover that the whirlpool at the gym was broken. I tell you, that's my favorite part of my swimming workouts, and it was a bummer not to be able to relax in the hot tub afterwards. Oh well.

Today I worked with Brian again. I got to the gym a lot earlier than I meant to, so I took the time to do an extended warmup on the elliptical...I did 30 minutes on it, keeping my heart rate in the mid- to upper 140's which should have had me talking "in broken sentences" but I was still pretty conversational. Oh well, it felt like a good workout. Today Brian had me do a lot of leg work, including some standing squats and balance exercises, as well as work on the Cybex and Free Motion machines doing leg press, leg curl, leg extension, and some calf raises. I think all of the exercises went well, though I discovered that I'm pretty weak in my calves. I suppose, given my history of ankle issues, that shouldn't really be a surprise, but it was somewhat frustrating. I also did some stuff for my core including an ab exercise machine, oblique work, and a back strengthening Cybex machine.

All in all, it was a good workout. I see Brian again on Thursday, and I think I will take the day off from working out tomorrow. The rest of the week I think will go something like:
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: work with Brian
Friday: swim
Saturday: work with Brian
Sunday: rest

I guess we'll see how I feel tomorrow, but right now I'm feeling pretty good.

A Circuit On My Own

2006-11-05T19:49:00.000-05:00

Let me first state that at the time I posted yesterday, I was sort of sore, but not terribly so. As the day wore on, the soreness increased to a point that laughing hurt and playing with my hair was a bit challenging. Of course, it was the good kind of soreness and today, I was feeling a bit better. Not perfect by any stretch, but good enough that I wasn't "afraid" of working out on my own today.

Per Brian's request, I went to the gym today to work out. The first thing I noticed: I need to find something to hold my iPod while I workout. I think I'm going to get one of those armband things. I did a 20 minute warmup on the elliptical, which I'm loving more and more each time I use it, then got down and dirty with the Hammer Strength circuit weight-training equipment. I did an "entire circuit" which consisted of 12 exercises including squat, leg extension, seated leg curl, incline press, high row, decline press, shoulder press, bicep curl, tricep extension, back extension, and abdominal crunch. I did not particularly enjoy using the Hammer Strength machines. I found them clunky to adjust to the proper position/seat height, and with the shoulder press, they forced you to use them one way that really stresses the shoulder. Given that I have a history of shoulder problems, I didn't like that at all. Anyway I went through the circuit once, using weights that I could do 2 sets of 12-15. I was seriously wiped out after the workout. I don't know if it's because it was tough, or because I needed to eat more prior to it, or if it was the lack of coffee, but I was definitely beat at the end. Again, the good kind of beat, but still beat.

I think the next time I have to workout like that on my own, I'll use the Cybex machines as I'm familiar with them and think that they adjust more easily in general. It'll be a longer circuit, but one I think I'll be a lot more comfortable using. of course, that is for naught right now, as tomorrow I'm going to try to swim, and then Tuesday I see Brian again.

Working Out with Brian

2006-11-04T09:38:00.000-05:00

Last night was my first session with Brian, and I think it went really well. I was scheduled to start at 5, but he told me on Thursday that I should get there a little earlier than that to get on the eliptical and warm up for 5-7 minutes. I guess I was a little overeager as I got there about 15 minutes early so I did a 15 minute warmup on the elliptical. That was actually the first time since having all my ankle surgeries that I got onto an elliptical, and I'm glad to say it went well--that machine will definitely be incorporated into future workouts.

In the training session last night, Brian worked my core and my upper body. He told me that in every session he'd do some core work, so I expected it. Oddly, though I think I've worked my upper abs the "most" leading up to starting personal training, my upper abs are what's sore today, not my lower abs or obliques. Oh well. I also had to do a bit of upper body stuff including pushups, rows, lat pull-downs of a sort, delt push-ups of a sort, biceps work, and triceps work. The gym I go to has free weights as well as machines by Cybex, HammerStrength, and Free Motion. Most of what I did was free-weight or on the Free Motion machine. It was a tough workout, and my arms were definitely sore last night. They're not too bad today (yet), so I guess we'll see how they feel tomorrow (when I go back to the gym to do a weight session on my own).

I think the plan for this week is to go to the gym tomorrow (Sunday), swim Monday, session with Brian on Tuesday, swim Wednesday, session with Brian on Thursday, rest Friday, and then work again on Saturday. My work schedule (ever-hectic) may change that a little, but I'm fairly flexible with work, so I don't forsee too many problems holding that schedule.

And now, it's time to get ready to watch the Terps play against Clemson. GO TERPS!!!

Meeting With the Trainer

2006-11-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

Well, after a great workout yesterday, I was pretty exhausted and almost thrilled that today (Thursday) would be a "rest" day as I was to meet with Brian, the personal trainer. Yesterday's workout consisted of:
450 free, continuous
150 kick free
150 pull free
150 free
That totalled 900 yards (or 1/2 mile) and was done continously, with no break between the sections. The longest "break" I took was between the kicking and the pulling, as it took a little bit of time to get my gloves on. It was an endurance workout, and combined with my long workout on Monday and biking on Tuesday, after Wednesday's workout, I was pretty spent (the good kind of tired and spent).

Today I met with the trainer at the gym. In a 30 minute session, we went over my goals (as I outlined in my first post), he took some measurements of body fat and height and weight, and he asked me to do some simple exercises to get a baseline for where I am. I had to do the sit and reach (flexibility of the hamstrings), show my shoulder flexibility (which is now at a NORMAL level instead of being hyperflexible), do as many sit-ups as I could in a minute, and do as many push-ups as I could do, period. I was surprised by my push-up number, considering I haven't tried to do any push-ups since my shoulder surgeries, and I haven't done any arm-specific weight training. I suppose that the swimming has helped, but I was still surprised I could do them. All in all it was a good meeting and I'm really psyched to be starting working out with him. My first session is tomorrow, and I expect him to push me pretty hard, I'll report how it goes (provided I have enough strength left to type... ;) )

Back on the Bike

2006-10-31T20:27:00.000-05:00

For the first time since having some downright crippling back spasms a couple weeks ago, I went for a bike ride today. Wendy and I went out for an easy ride along the W&OD Trail. It's a convenient ride for us, as the trail runs right by our work. We went for 11.08 miles, an out-and-back trip from the Dulles area through Herndon and then back. I love riding, but not having done it for a couple weeks definitely made me a little rusty. For one, my back did stiffen up a bit, but I was able to stretch it out while on the bike. The other problem I had, which is a problem I've had before and still don't have a good solution to, is that my fingers went numb. It wasn't a cold ride (the weather here was GORGEOUS today, I think it was between 65 and 75 degrees when we rode), but for some reason, whenever I ride, my fingers go numb. I'm sure it has to do with the pressure on my hands, but no matter what type of gloves I wear or how I grip the handlebars, my fingers go numb. I mitigate this by taking my hands off the bars to loosen them up, but it's not overly convenient. Wonder if there's anything else I can do about it.

Oh well. I'll probably be back in the pool tomorrow, unless I hear from the personal trainer. I didn't hear from him today (though I expected to), so hopefully I'll hear from him tomorrow.

A Day in the Pool

2006-10-30T19:42:00.000-05:00

In keeping with my "plan" as outlined yesterday, today I called the gym to inquire about getting a personal trainer. The woman called me back at around 3 p.m. and she said that Brian (I think that was the name she gave) will be my trainer and will call me within the next day to setup the details. Needless to say, I'm kind of excited. The last time I was this excited about working out, I was training for a marathon (pre-ankle surgeries). I guess it's nice to have a goal and a plan for getting back to where I want to be.

I also went to the gym today, for a nice session in the pool. I did 1050 yards, or just over a half a mile. This was my workout:
450 continuous freestyle (450 is a quarter mile)
100 kick free (using a kickboard, in the same style I'd use if I were swimming freestyle)
100 pull free (using resistance gloves and a pull buoy)
100 backstroke
100 breaststroke
100 kick free
50 pull free (using resistance gloves and pull buoy)
50 free with resistance gloves
------------------------------
1050 TOTAL

I've been using a book, "The Fit Swimmer" to get workout ideas for building my endurance up to 1 mile and beyond. The next time I swim, I think I'll move up to Workout 7 (total 900 yards--1/2 mile--but longer "sessions" in the last 450). It's also time I get new resistance gloves or paddles, as my gloves (which I've had since before my first shoulder surgery) are starting to wear out and the neoprene is tearing. I think this time I'm going to get the "Catalyst Brites" by TYR as they look more durable in general than gloves.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll hear from Brian (?) tomorrow and have more of a plan.

Learning to Walk Again

2006-10-29T21:27:00.000-05:00

Triple Arthrodesis
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Older readers will recognize this picture, as I've had it on the blog before. Since I'm restructuring with the goal of revamping my body by working harder at the gym (combined with eating well, as I've been doing to start losing weight), I figured it was a good place to put in the "back story" of the weight gain.

Stories start best from the beginning, and the beginning of this story is in 2001, when I was in arguably the best shape of my life. I was doing marathon training, was playing soccer on a high-level women's team and on a beer league team, was swimming about 3 days a week, and doing Tang Soo Do (a Korean martial art) about 4-5 days per week.

The story begins on July 3, 2001. I was playing soccer with my beer league soccer team when I went up for a head ball and came down on the outside of my right foot, instead of on the balls of my feet. On a "normal" person, this would probably crack the heck out of their ankle. For me, with strong bones and hyperflexible joints, it popped all of the ligaments on the outside of my right ankle. I figured it was just a bad sprain, as I was sort of prone to ankle sprains already, and in less than a week, was walking (with a noticeable limp) and trying to play soccer again. I was scheduled to have my right shoulder fixed on July 26, 2001, so was eager to keep in shape and highly active until the surgery, so that during the recovery I could ride my bike (on an indoor trainer) to stay in shape so I'd have minimal physical impact from the surgery (other than that my right shoulder would stay in socket).

Fast forward to April of 2002. I've now had BOTH shoulders repaired and am starting to play soccer and run again. The first thing I notice when doing both is that my ankle isn't behaving well. Even after a "normal" outing, it was swollen beyond belief, and was rolling a LOT. I mean, when I was walking on perfectly flat, smooth pavement, my ankle would roll underneath me. Realizing that the injury from 2001 probably was to blame, I found myself back in the orthopaedic surgeon's office. He said it looked like a bad sprain and perscribed PT to strengthen the muscles. After a month of PT, my ankle was still incredibly unstable and it was obvious that PT hadn't helped any. My doc recommended surgery, and I went through with it.

In that first ankle procedure, August 15, 2002, the surgeon took some of one of the tendons on the outside of my ankle and weaved it in and around my ankle bones to become the new ligaments. He'd said that prior to the surgery (after the anesthesia took effect), they could move my ankle more or less anywhere, and when he got in there, there was nothing left for him to "tie up," as everything was shredded and gone (i.e. PT wouldn't have helped). The surgery left my right foot a bit stiff, but all in all, much more stable.

In March of 2003 I started trying to play soccer and run again. Even though I'd been cleared to do so by the orthopod, very quickly I realized that things still weren't good. My ankle was loosening up again and it was extremely painful to run or walk on. I sought out the opinion of Dr. Paul Cooper at Georgetown University Hospital.

Based on my complaints, and confirmed by an MRI, we discovered that the tendons that were used for the ligament graft in the first surgery had become weakened and as such, tore. He also thought I probably re-tore the ligaments, or that the first surgery didn't otherwise hold. I had my second ankle surgery on August 6, 2003. In that procedure, Dr. Cooper repaired the torn tendons and re-repaired the ligaments. As he is a foot/ankle specialist, I had high hopes that this would be the last surgery on my ankle and that I'd be back playing soccer by summer, 2004.

Needless to say, I was wrong. While in rehab after my 2nd ankle surgery, I felt something on the outside of my ankle pop, and the pain returned. Only 4 months after surgery number 2, an MRI confirmed that the tendons were re-torn and that I'd need another surgery. The surgery, on December 24th, 2003, didn't go quite as planned. Dr. Cooper intended to use a cadeaver tendon and graft it in to form my new lateral tendons (peroneus brevis and longus). For some reason, the graft wouldn't take. Dr. Cooper mentioned something about the place where the tendon would "plug into" at the mucle was quite atrophied and not fit for the graft. This probably had to do with the fact that I was barely walking, much less exercising/working out since the surgery in August. Instead of using the cadeaver graft, Dr. Cooper ended up taking a tendon from the bottom of my foot and re-routing it behind my leg to form the new tendon. With this surgery, if it worked, I'd be back to "normal" and would even be able to play soccer and do karate again.

While things looked good at first, they steadily went downhill after I got out of the walking cast and into PT. Whether it was all the trauma to my ankle of the 3 surgeries, or just bad quality tissue, a combination of all of these, or just fate, I was walking worse after the last surgery and was in even more pain. It was to a point where my limp was quite pronounced, and even then, walking 100 yards would make my ankle swell and make me want to cry. I went to see Dr. Mark Myerson of Mercy Hospital's Institute for Foot & Ankle Reconstruction.

After watching me walk for a few minutes on a treadmill and after some other tests, he decided I needed my ankle completely fused--a triple arthrodesis. He also determined that I needed to have a portion of one of my ankle nerves removed, and said I'd probably need the ligaments re-re-reconstructed. On June 24, 2004, I had my fourth surgery, to fuse my ankle, remove part of the sural nerve, and perform a Crisman-Snook lateral ankle ligament reconstruction. This is a surgery not usually done on people who don't qualify for AARP benefits, and was done on me (at the age of 24) because my foot was too far everted (possibly a remnant from previous surgeries?) and because I was in a LOT of pain.

Happily, after the fusion, a lot of the pain went away. Unhappily, with the fused ankle, I will never run or jump again, and I had to learn to walk all over again, with a significantly stiffer foot. 7 months after my surgery I became unemployed, having graduated from the University of Maryland with my MS in Aerospace Engineering. I'd been making good progress in PT, though still wasn't 100% pain-free, nor was I walking quite right, but with no job, I had no insurance, so I had to stop.

I remained unemployed until September, 2005. During that time, I must admit, I became depressed. I was jobless, bored, and frustrated, and the things that used to keep me sane--running, playing soccer, martial arts, were no longer an option for me. Between not being able to walk much (and not able to work out at all) from late 2002 on and the depression, the weight added on.

Finally after I got a job, I resumed physical therapy, where I finished learning to walk properly, pain-free. In February, 2006 (4.5 years after my initial injury, 3.5 years after my first surgery, and 1.75 years after my final surgery), I was given a full clearance to do whatever I wanted--bike, swim, walk, anything I could do given the limitations of a fused ankle.

Some things came up even after that, between then and now, including a broken hand, back spasms, and a very hectic time at work. I joined Worldgate Sport and Health in September and am now swimming and biking. Between the workouts and the modified diet, I've started losing some of the surgery and depression weight. But now, the time for excuses has past. Now it's time to get back to my old body, especially in light of the wedding I have to be in come late March. Now's the time I call and take the next step to focus my workouts to reach that ultimate goal.

And so, the next chapter begins...

Restructuring A Bit

2006-10-29T21:22:00.000-05:00

So it's been a LOOOOOONG while since I last posted. Stuff has happened, things have changed, and in general it's all for the good. I haven't felt a "need" lately to post to a blog, nor have I really had the time. Now things have changed a bit, though. I think I'm going to take this blog in a slightly new direction, and I hope my "regular readers" will bear with me and still come to read it.

So here's what's up. My best friend is getting married in just under 5 months. I love the guy she's marrying, he's a wonderful man, and I can't wait to see them finally get married. Unfortunately, I'm to be the Maid of Honor in the wedding, and right now, physically, I'm not ready.

As most regular readers know, since 2002, I've had some problems, and have put on weight. I'm not the "small" (a relative term) person I used to be, and honestly, it frustrates me. I know there are reasons, and I know that a good portion of the reasons were mostly out of my control. But it's time to take back my body, and do something about it.

I've started by dieting, and have already dropped a bit of weight, so now's the time to get back into shape (physically and to some extent mentally), more like I was in 2002. Since I'm going to have to pose for bridal party pictures, I want to get everything trimmed down. I've decided that the best way to do this is to focus my gym time better. Currently, I'm swimming 3-4 days a week and biking when the weather cooperates (read, it's warm enough for me to not wuss out). Now I've decided, though, to take a further step to getting back to my old self. Tomorrow I'm calling the gym to look into personal training, and hopefully the guidance of a personal trainer combined with some serious work ethic will make me more in shape overall, help me drop more weight, and generally make me feel better about being in my best friend's wedding.

I'll be posting my progress here, now, in addition to whatever else I'm thinking about. Topics will probably include my workouts, beer brewing, politics, gadgets....well, really, whatever gets in my head. Talk to y'all soon.

I'm Still Alive

2006-03-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody! (response: Hi, Dr. Nick!)

Just wanted to let everybody know that I am still alive, despite not posting here for quite awhile. As it turns out, shortly after my last post, which was on 8/31/2006, I got a job interview, and less than a week later, I started a new job and promptly moved. Things have been absolutely crazy since then, and everytime I think to myself that I really need to update my blog, I get super-busy and it slips my mind.

Fear not, folks, I'm still here and I'll be posting entries more regularly now. :) But for now, I have to run up to the Columbia area. More soon!!!

New Orleans

2005-08-31T16:42:00.000-04:00

Katrina Flooding
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

My thoughts and prayers are with those in NO and their families, not only residents but rescue personnel and others touched by this disaster.

This picture is a shot from www.easternuswx.com, where it shows the flooding. If you follow the link to the flickr page, I've made a note on the page where I think my brother's place is. I'm hopeful that he was in an area high enough that his place isn't flooded, though he DOES live on the ground floor so I suppose is susceptible to looting, too.

If anybody has information on what's going on in the French Quarter (more specifically, the 3100 block of Royal Street), I'd be obliged if you'd share it with me. Leave a comment here or send me an email.

More on Lance Doping Allegations

2005-08-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

An article was posted yesterday at VeloNews with the title, "Top lab official wonders if delayed testing is possible," seems to confirm my doubts about yesterday's allegations that Lance Armstrong used EPO during the 1999 Tour de France.

The article includes statements from Doctor Christiane Ayotte, director of the Doping Control Laboratory at Montreal's Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Canada's top anti-doping laboratory). Her statments include:

"'We are extremely surprised that urine samples could have been tested in 2004 and have revealed the presence of EPO,' Ayotte said in an interview with VeloNews on Tuesday. 'EPO--in its natural state or the synthesized version--is not stable in urine, even if stored at minus 20 degrees.'"
"Ayotte explained that as part of WADA's efforts to 'harmonize' testing protocols among anti-doping laboratories worldwide, the Paris lab had created the model to allow the application of 'qualitative rather than quantitative' standards when interpreting test results.'That has to be the only explanation, because otherwise, I've been a liar all these years,' Ayotte said. 'I have been instructing everyone at all of the organizations not to expect to reproduce an EPO adverse finding if more than two or three months has elapsed since the sample was originaly taken.'"
"Ayotte said that procedure aside, the Armstrong story in L'Equipe also raises a critical ethical question raised by the release of such data, without the possibility of follow-up tests.
'I am very worried about the circumstnces about the way such information might have been leaked,' Ayotte said. 'We are fully allowed--and it is our duty--to investigate samples to make sure that if there is an adverse finding, it is properly reported. In this case, however, the director of the laboratory acknowledges that it cannot be deemed a doping offense because 1) the athlete has retired and 2) he is placed in a situation where there is no way to have the sample re-tested or verified.'
'It seems to me,' Ayotte continued, 'that this whole thing is a breach of the WADA code. We are supposed to work confidentially until such time that we can confirm a result. By no means does this mean that we sweep a result under the carpet, but it has to meet a certain set of requirements.'"

So, it seems this will probably never leave Lance, but without a way to prove any of it, I'm guessing he's going to have a big libel suit on his hands.

"ARMSTRONG LIED"

2005-08-23T16:02:00.000-04:00

That was the headline seen on the front page of a popular French sports newspaper, "L'Equipe." The article, in French, can be found here. For those of you who don't feel like running it through a translator or don't remember much French, the BBC ran an article about the allegations, entitled "Armstrong denies drug allegations."

Now, as everybody reading this probably knows, I'm a fan of Lance. I'm sure he was given steroids AND some type of EPO drug as he recovered from cancer, though I also believe he did not use any performance-enhancing drugs over his 7 consecutive Tour de France wins. Even if I weren't a fan of Lance, though, as a scientist, I'd have a lot of problems swallowing this new allegation (well, this new iteration of the allegations, as these allegations have been tailing him since he first won in 1999).

Here are my reasons for thinking that this article is just more "Lance-bashing" by the French press and that the allegations are unfounded:
A) They're doing guilt by association. The BBC says, "The paper said there were 'characteristic, undeniable and consequent' signs of EPO in what it claimed were Armstrong's urine tests, carried out by France's national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry. The laboratory said in a statement that it had 'conducted EPO tests on samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tour de France races'.

But it said it could not confirm that any tests it had conducted belonged to Armstrong."
The key phrases, in my opinion are, "...what it claimed were Armstrong's urine tests..." and, "...it could not confirm that any tests it had conducted belonged to Armstrong." I know that this is France, not America, but since when has guilt by association held up as "undeniable proof"?

B) He's been tested over and over and come up negative. I've read that he has had more drug tests than any other athlete, and anybody familiar with statistics knows it's MUCH more likely to get a false positive than a false negative. Multiple false negatives are virtually unheard of.

C) In addition, the BBC article notes that, "Tests on the samples were carried out in 2004 because cycling's governing body did not start using a urine test for EPO until 2001, the paper said." SO. The TdF testing group held on to the samples for 5 years before testing?!?! Who's to say ANY of the samples hasn't been contaminated some how in an effort to smear Armstrong or any other cyclist?

D) This is SO FAR after the fact that it seems ludacris to bring it up now except to fight his image. I mean, the race was in 1999, but the samples were not analyzed until 2004 and then they waited until after the 2005 Tour de France to try to discredit Lance? That just doesn't make sense. If this testing was done in 2004, why not mention it THEN as "credible proof" (albeit wooly in my scientific opinion) of his alleged doping activities? Why hold onto it through 2005's TdF? Lord knows the French have allegated that Lance has done this for a long time, I think they'd lust for "proof."

E) Note, this came up because of something posted in one of the forums I subscribe to, where somebody asked why we don't give Barry Bonds or anybody else the same benefit of the doubt that we give Lance when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs. As far as Bonds or any other athlete involved in denying taking performance enhancing drugs and actual testing for said drugs, well, for me, the proof is in the pudding, as it were. Bonds, as far as I know (and I admit I don't know much) hasn't been tested, yet categorically denies taking performance-enhancing drugs. Palmiero denied taking them, but tested positive. It seems that of all the people involved in this type of allegation, Lance has the complete package, having been tested more times than most other athletes and testing negative and denying taking performance enhancers.
It's one thing to deny taking these things. It's another to be tested. And it's wholly another to test negative. Lance has all three, which as far as I know, no other athlete tied to performance enhancing drugs has.

Maybe I'm just being optimistic here, but I find the entire thing wooly, particularly in the age of the sample (and unknown contamination, because I *WOULDN'T* put it past people to contaminate it, even if it was thought to be secure), the lateness of the publication of the result, and the lack of credibility admitted by the study authors. Personally, I think this is the kind of sour grapes that might be used in a good French whine.

UPDATE/EDIT TO ADD:
On one of the forums I read regularly (one within the online soccer management game, Hattrick), somebody posted this little bit on EPO, which I thought might be useful for anybody who doesn't know what it is: "Why people call EPO roids is beyond me....EPO isn't anywhere related to steroids. It boosts red blood cells so your muscles get more oxygen, hence allowing them to work better longer. It has nothing to do with making muscle grow faster."

This was later followed up by "It's a fancy way of blood doping. I mean, the "old fashioned" way of doing it is to take blood out a month or so before an event, then infuse it back in just before the event. So EPO just does that without the blood bank in the middle (i.e. it does it chemically)."

Discovery Is Home

2005-08-09T08:16:00.000-04:00

This morning, the shuttle Discovery touched down at 0812 ET at Edwards Air Force Base in California. It was as perfect a landing as was expected, and watching it on TV was a neat experience. The videographers used an IR camera so viewers could follow the landing from the orbiter being a speck in the sky all the way to touchdown, despite the darkess at EAFB. It was a beautiful landing, and I think I speak for most of us saying "Welcome home, Discovery, great flight!"

Shuttle Landing Delayed

2005-08-08T07:54:00.000-04:00

Shuttle Discovery's landing has been waved off for 24 hours due to low cloud cover. Though conditions are "technically" GO for landing, the officials in Houston do not feel comfortable with it, based on how unstable the weather has been today. There will be 2 opportunitiess tomorrow for a Kennedy Space Center landing and 2 opportunities for an Edwards Air Force Base landing.

KSC
1st for touchdown at 0408 CT
2nd for touchdown at 0543 CT

EAFB
1st for touchdown at 0713 CT
2nd for touchdown at 0848 CT

Discovery: No 4th EVA Required

2005-08-04T14:23:00.000-04:00

Well, the thermal blanket that had been a concern is no longer a concern. Engineers ran some simulations of what might happen with the "puffed up" bit of thermal blanket near the cabin and were unable to tell if it would remain in tact or would potentially fly off during re-entry. The possibility that it might fly off during re-entry and hit (and damage) another part of the orbiter sparked questions about doing a 4th EVA on this mission, to cut off the extra bit of blanket and therefore remove the problem all together. However, after testing mockups in a wind tunnel, engineers have decided that they don't think a piece of this blanket will fly off. Thus, the need for a 4th spacewalk has been eliminated, and Discovery is 100% cleared to re-enter and land on Monday morning. This is great news, now we just need for the crew to come home safely for the first mission since the Columbia tragedy to be an overwhelming success.

Finally, YES, the various administrators in the past (probaby Goldin, most of all) SHOULD have considered upgrading this fleet of shuttles LONG before now. But, NASA's budget is fairly miniscule (a fraction of 1% of your tax dollars go to NASA funding), and I honestly believe they took an attitude of, "Well, it's still working, so why bother." I'm not saying I agree with this philosophy, but with so many other things that NASA does, I'm sure that the "functional" status of the shuttle fleet was considered to be "good enough" and thus the previous administrators wanted to spend the money elsewhere. In particular, the late 80's and 90's were an era of many satellites and orbiters to study other planets (Mars, Jupitur, Saturn), as well as increased robotic exploration of Mars. Other science going on at NASA address space survivability. There are a number of experiments going on to determine what to do about consumables (including determining how best to grow plants in 0g and how to recycle wastewater). Also, there has been a lot of ongoing research on human factors for spaceflight. This includes physiological experiments, experimenting and engineering to figure out how to do medicine (diagnostics and treatment) in space (what would happen if an astronaut got appendicitis while on orbit?), and also studing hyman psychology and experimenting with it, all in preparation for longer-term space travel. In light of this, it may be somewhat easier to understand why, with a seemingly well-functioning shuttle fleet, the administrators have opted to do other things with their money than figure out what to do next. I'm not saying it was the "right" decision, but it may be understood why it happened.

"Easy" Fix For Shuttle

2005-08-03T11:00:00.000-04:00

In today's 3rd EVA (spacewalk) of the Discovery Return to Flight mission (STS-114), astronaut Stephen Robinson was able to remove the protruding gap-filler from two places on the orbiter's belly, thereby fixing one of the biggest concerns for NASA officials prior to clearing the vehicle for the scheduled re-entry and landing. The gap-filler was some material placed between a few of the tiles near the forward landing gear to ensure that the tiles did not hit eachother during the vibrations on launch. It serves no other purpose, which is why officials gave the green light to simply removing the material. Also on today's EVA, astronaut Soichi Noguchi worked on a some minor, scheduled things on ISS. Noguchi was also stationed in a position to act as a "relay" between Robinson and ISS should direction communication between the two have failed for any reason. Today's EVA lasted 6 hours.

Though an hour was scheduled for the repair/removal of the gap filler, it took Robinson "about 12 seconds" to pull out the protruding material. That is, the material came out quite easily and did not even require the improvised saw which was constructed for the EVA--Robinson was able to pick it out with his fingers. Today's spacewalk was a first for ISS and NASA: it is the first time that the ISS' robotic arm, SSRMS or CanadArm2, was used to hold an astronaut below the orbiter, and was the first time that work has ever been performed on the belly of the shuttle while in orbit. Cameras on the shuttle's robotic arm, SRMS or CanadArm, were used to give the astronauts in ISS, the flight controllers, and engineers, a better picture of what was going on during the "repair." It was as historic as the first shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, and further expands our capabilities for on-orbit repairs.

I'd like to step back and say something here, about the press coverage of this particular EVA, but before I can do that I think I should remind readers about my background briefly. I have a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering. My thesis, "Analysis of Robotic Grasp Requirements for Telerobotic Satellite Servicing," required in-depth study of what humans have done in space, and what they may have to do. With this understanding, I then analyzed how robots could do similar tasks, and developed a grasp taxonomy (classification scheme) for robots. My work on my thesis, combined with my experiences in robotics and working with robots in neutral buoyancy at UMd's Space Systems Laboratory, made me quite confident that this repair operation would be accomplished. That is, I didn't expect it would be necessarily "easy," but I knew that the engineers in Houston tried their removal methods in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at Johnson Space Center, and knowing what humans are capable of in space, combined with knowledge of how CanadArm2 works and its capabilities, I was confident that this would be a successful repair.

My frustration came in hearing the press talk about it. They seemed to harp on the "never been done before" aspect of it, which considering the very nature of spaceflight, seemed absurd, or as I so often put it, "making a mountain out of a molehill." Spaceflight is not easy. EVA is not easy. There is almost nothing "standard" or "routine" about it, no matter how many times we've been to space in ANY vehicle, there is always something to be learned and something new to be done. Though I imagine that even the NASA engineers and astronauts were somewhat unnerved at the first thought of what they'd have to do, there was a fairly quick realization and acknowledgement that it was certainly possible, and not necessarily as intimidating as it seemed at first glance. I'm proud to see what was accomplished today, and I hope that the press coverage of the success of today's activities will spur further interest in spaceflight and maybe even inspire the next generation (i.e. those in elementary, middle, and high school now) to consider engineering jobs and further our national investment in the space program.

The next big task for Discovery will be to come home safely. The re-entry and landing are scheduled for approximately 04:37 US Eastern Time on Monday morning. Though the tiles, gap-filler, and wing leading-edge reinforced carbon-carbon have all been inspected, repaired (in the case of the gap-filler), and cleared for re-entry, the vehicle is still not 100% cleared. Engineers believe that a thermal blanket below the crew cabin may have been struck by a piece of debris, "possibly a paper cover for one of the orbiter's thrusters," which has caused an 8" section of the blanket to "puff up" on the hull. Right now, engineers are attempting to determine if the blanket can rip off and possibly hit the shuttle upon re-entry. However, the engineering analysis on this topic is expected to be completed and presented to NASA officials within 48 hours, so I assume we'll hear the results soon thereafter. Full details on this story can be found at Space.com.

Confirmed: 3rd EVA on Discovery

2005-08-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

With tonight's status update briefing, it has been announced that the 3rd EVA by Discovery's astronauts will include a task to remove some protruding gap filler. It was noted that the gap filler is protruding in 2 places on the belly of the shuttle: in one place it protrudes about 0.9 inches, while in the other it protrudes about 1.1 inches. It is feared that these protrusions may disrupt the airflow around the orbiter during re-entry, which may cause increased heating on some of the protective tiles. It should be noted that NASA officials do not think that this protrusion was caused or is in any way related to the falling foam from the external fuel tank. Rather, they believe that this gap filler was "shaken" loose by the high vibrations on launch. This will be the first time that a repair of this nature has been attempted.

The full story at the BBC may be found here.

Discovery Astronauts Complete 2nd EVA

2005-08-01T16:06:00.000-04:00

Today astronauts completed a second EVA, this time repairing a gyroscope on ISS that has not worked properly since June, 2002. Gyros are used on ISS (and many other satellites) to maintain its orientation in space. The astronauts spent 7 hours, 14 minutes working, and the gyro is doing well now (despite an early glitch where a connector was not connected properly), according to NASA.

According to NASA engineers, they are not yet comfortable clearing Discovery for landing yet. There are two places where some "gap filler" material is sticking out between tiles, and it is feared that this material may disrupt the airflow around the belly of the orbiter on re-entry, causing extra heating on certain tiles "downstream" of the where the filler is sticking out, which may be more than those tiles are designed to handle. I've heard it said that the engineers want less than 1/4" of this gap filler to be exposed, though in at least one place, there is over an inch exposed. Flight administrators may call for this material to be trimmed down during the third EVA of this mission, though the issue is still being studied. In that case, one of the astronauts would work from the end of Shuttle Remote Manipulator Arm (CanadArm) and cut/file it away. The 3rd EVA is scheduled for Wednesday.

I am still awaiting word of the results of the analysis of the reinforced carbon-carbon on the leading edge of the wings of the orbiter. This information is expected later today or tomorrow.

A good link for following along with the progress of the mission and the status updates is SPACE.com's Return to Flight page.

Shuttle Discovery Status Update

2005-07-30T18:11:00.000-04:00

Lots of little upates.
First, on flight day 3, prior to docking with ISS, the shuttle's underbelly was displayed to the ISS cameras and crew, which noted the two areas of "damage" to the tiles and the thermal blankets. Today, though, Wayne Hale (Deputy Manager of Shuttle Program) has said that the engineering review is complete and that they have formally cleared the shuttle to land with regards to these areas. They successfully docked with ISS.
Second, the reinforced carbon-carbon is believed to be fine (and is continuing evaluation), and it is expected that they will get the "all clear" on that tomorrow.
Third, there is some exposure of "gap filler" material, which is ok, and they expect a full update on that for Monday.
If everything goes well tomorrow and Monday, then Discovery's heat shield will have the 100% GO for re-entry and landing.

Astronauts today completed a 6 and a half hour EVA (space walk) where they tested two different methods of repairing heat shield damage while on-orbit. Both tests went beautifully and, in some respects, might be considered better than expected (since these procedures for repair had not been tested in space before).

They've also decided to extend the mission by 1 day. Nothing really unexpected there. All in all, things look good so far, with two critical areas still to be cleared for re-entry and landing.

On another note, related to the entire shuttle fleet, it seems that Mike Griffin is quite optimistic about getting the shuttle fleet returned to flight quickly. He forsees a quick resolution to the foam problem, according to SPACE.com. I suppose we'll see about that...(I'm not sure I believe it yet).

Shuttle Discovery OK, BUT...

2005-07-27T20:28:00.000-04:00

...the rest of the fleet has been grounded, as will Discovery when she returns safely to Earth.

According to this article, because the external fuel tank on Discovery lost a section of foam, NASA has decided to ground the fleet. This grounding is supposed to be temporary, until they can figure out a way to ensure that foam can't fall off of the external tank. As is widely known, the shuttle Columbia was struck by a piece of foam from the liquid fuel tank on launch, which caused catostrophic damage to a section of the heat shield tiles, manifesting upon Columbia's re-entry. After the Columbia disaster, the fleet was grounded for two and a half years, and a large amount of money and time was dedicated to solving the "foam problem," making sure that foam couldn't fall off of the external tank again. Even though the foam in the case of Discovery appears not to have impacted the orbiter in any way, it still shows that the foam problem hasn't been completely rectified, and thus the cause for the fleet's grounding.

I, and a few of my aerospace engineer friends, see this as more or less a sign of the end of the shuttle program as we know it. Having spent so much time and money "solving" a problem and finding that the problem wasn't solved (and in fact may not be solvable), we expect the next focus of NASA's efforts to be more towards the design and build of a next-generation vehicle than to the repair and upgrades of the shuttle fleet. While this means it's an interesting time to be involved in the aerospace industry, it also means that we will likely see quite a bit of time between now and the next U.S. manned space mission--after all, we will need enough time to design said vehicle and then get it qualified for space, which is a time-consuming task.

What does this mean for the near-term goals of NASA with regards to manned spaceflight?
*More dependence on the Russian Soyuz capsules for ISS maintenance and supply trips.
*Probable abandonment of the Hubble Space Telescope--NASA is reasonably convinced in part due to a study by the NSF (National Science Foundation) that robotic servicing of HST is not possible. While I disagree, I would expect them to abandon hope of repairing it in lieu of planning a robotic servicing mission. Of course, if they DO plan a robotic servicing mission, I think my thesis will play an important role in the design of the robot's hands and tools.
*Vechicle design may place more emphasis on a capsule-style (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo) vehicle, which has been more reliable in the past.

Again, more updates on the Discovery itself as mission landmarks occur. It will be interesting to follow what happens with the entire fleet, too.

UPDATE!!! The BBC has a much more satisfactory article about the grounding of the shuttle fleet. Find it here.

Discovery Debris?

2005-07-26T18:44:00.000-04:00

It turns out that there was some debris that fell off of the external fuel tank during separation (when the orbiter was somewhere around 60 miles above Earth). The debris fall-off was picked up by one of the cameras on the external tank, and did not appear to contact the orbiter.

There was also a bit of debris that seemed to fall off near the tiles at the front landing gear. It is (right now) believed that this was a bit of tile from the front landing gear area, one of the hottest parts of the shuttle upon re-entry.

NASA engineers and administrators will be examining and analyzing the camera footage in the next few days, to try to determine the extent of the damage. For all they know RIGHT NOW, since we have never seen this part of a mission before (prior to this, the cameras were not in place), this could be "normal" damage that always occurs. The examination of the orbiter by the shuttle remote manipulator arm, by the astronauts on EVA (extra-vehicular activity), and by cameras and CanadArm2 on ISS will also help evaluate the extent of the damage, in addition to the ground-based evaluation of the shots captured during today's launch.

Well, we've got them up there. Now we need to get them home. Oddly enough, I haven't seen anything about this debris on NASA's website (at least, not in a quick scan), though both the BBC and CBS News have a (very little) bit on it. Seeing as I've got nothing better to do in general these days, I'll be following the mission and its key aspects, and post anything interesting up here.

Discovery Is In Space

2005-07-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

I don't care how many times I've seen a launch, either in FL or on TV, it's always spectacularly impressive. Today's launch was no exception, and things seemed to go as perfectly as could be hoped. Congrats to all those in NASA and the various contractors who worked so hard leading up to this Return to Flight mission! Now, let's make sure we bring them back home in 12 days...

Image courtesy of http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/122979main_launch.jpg

Shuttle Discovery: Take 2

2005-07-26T09:37:00.000-04:00

Here we are, 26 July 2005, and just about 1 hour til the scheduled launch of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-114). So far, all systems are go. The engineers still don't seem to know what has caused the fuel sensors to fail in the past, but for this launch have relaxed the "GO" requirement. Now, instead of requiring that all 4 sensors on each engine are working, it is only requird that 3 of the 4 sensors on each engine are working. As an engineer, it's a bit disturbing to me that the can't figure out what the problem is. Moreover, I fear that if today's launch is successful, NASA's administrators will be willing to overlook the fact that nobody has a clue as to what is causing the sensors to fail. THAT is bad engineering, plain and simple. I understand the desire to return to flight, but at the same time, some either alternative or work-around for the sensor failure problem should be addressed, and addressed soon. As of right now, 2 of 3 scheduled tests on the fuel sensors have been conducted, and both tests were 100% successful.

Follow all the return to flight coverage via NASA's Return to Flight page.

Mobile Game HoF

2005-07-25T13:00:00.000-04:00

It seems that the folks over at Mobile Magazine have produced a "Mobile Game Hall of Fame," their list of "the 50 best mobile video games of all time." I looked over the list and must admit that there are some I've never seen or heard of...but mostly those are before my time. I've included a few selections here of games I've either owned or played, as well as some of the things I've never heard of or seen. For the full list, be sure to check out the article here.

#50. Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo DS. Haven't played this one yet, though I really want to. I'm a little surprised, though, that a remake of a Mario game made it into the top 50.

#49. Space Trader for the Palm Pilot. I've tried to play this one, and probably would play a bit more if it didn't require so much reading just to get into the game and learn it. That said, of course, it's a free game, and one I actually intend to try to play at some point. I'm glad to see that mobile gaming doesn't just mean portable video games a la Nintendo, Sega, or Sony. That is, it's nice to see some Palm, PPC, and SmartPhone games represented. Get it here if you're interested.

#46. Metroid II: The Return of Samus for Gameboy. You know, I own this. I never got into the game, and certainly wouldn't include it on a list of the 50 best of all time...

#43. Mattel Baseball. According to the article, this came out in 1978. I was born in '79, but have never heard of nor seen it.

#25. Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Gear. I adored this game, and it really was the flagship game and series of the Sega line, at least in the early to mid 90's. I guess now Sonic is more of an icon, but this game was a true classic, and I'm glad to see it was placed at 25.

#23. Geocaching. I guess, to be honest, that this is a "mobile" game since it's something you do outdoors with your GPS. It's kind of like a treasure hunt, where you can go to the geocaching website and get coordinates of places to go hunt for various caches. Though I have a GPS and enjoy hiking and the outdoors, this just doesn't strike my fancy. I guess it's just not my thing.

#21. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap for the Gameboy Advance. I HATED THIS GAME! I've adored the Legend of Zelda series since it first came out for the NES, but Minish Cap was the first game in the series that I truly did not enjoy. While there was a new "trick" for Link to learn, the trick of shrinking, I found the gameplay to be tired and repetitive and got bored with the game. The side-quests were long and annoying, not so much tricky as tedious, and most of them were pale copies of similar quests in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (one of my favorite all-time games, Zelda or otherwise). This is also the first Zelda game I didn't bother to beat. After playing through all the dungeons (which were effectively all the same with the same types of "puzzles" to figure out), I finally got to the final boss and was forced to beat him in at least 6 iterations. I got bored after the first 4 or so, and just said "Screw it, I'm bored." There are only so many times you can do the exact same thing over and over before you decide it's just stupid. Can I emphasize how much I hated this game?

#19. Pokemon Red for Gameboy. I admit, I never played Pokemon Red, but I do own Pokemon LeafGreen, which is a surprisingly great RPG. Sure, there are "kid" elements, but when you get past the "kids only" image, it's a well thought-out game that includes many sub-quests and a long story line--one that happily doesn't finish even after you beat the "main part" of the game.

#12. Tamagotchi. I'm a bit ashamed to admit I owned one. I think that's all I'll say about it in particular, though you may notice how there are similar (and quite popular) games out now for the computer and Nintendo DS, including the Sims line and Nintendogs.

#11. Simon. I had a "travel" Simon, which my brother, sister, and I played quite a bit on long car drives and when visiting the extended family over the holidays. It was a great game, but I think it was a little loud for most parents' tastes. If it had included headphones or a headphone jack, I think my parents would have let us play it longer. ;)

#8. Solitaire for the Pocket PC. Though this refers to the PPC version, I think many people use their computers and PDA's for excessive amounts of solitaire. It's an addictive little game, and is (I think) one of the most popular games for the PDA in general, with an abundance of versions of it to try.

#5. Mattel Football. See my comment for #43.

#4. Bejeweled for smartphones. I think that if people haven't purchased some sort of solitaire game for their PDA, then they probably have purchased a Bejeweled game (or clone). I've whittled away the time in many doctor's offices, car repair shops, and other long waiting lines playing some version of both of these games (and Bike or Die!, which didn't make this list).

#1. Tetris for Gameboy. I heart Tetris. I heart puzzle games. Tetris and Dr. Mario were the reason that I rarely got to bed before midnight when I was in elementary and middle school. Tetris (and other games of a similar nature...currently, Super Puzzle Fighter) is always a game I come back to for hours of challenge and entertainment, especially if I'm just trying to free my mind for awhile. Tetris for the Gameboy is the reason we had to buy my mom her own Gameboy--she kept stealing mine or my brother's whenever she wanted to play, and then would hound us to see if she could get a better score than we did (and if she did, you can believe we would work at it until we set a new high score for her to beat).

Any comments on any of these? Or perhaps there's one on the list that you can't believe I didn't mention? Be sure to let me know. :)

Italian Takes Stage 19

2005-07-22T11:23:00.000-04:00

giuseppeguerini
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Italian Giuseppe Guerini took his second-ever stage win in the Tour de France today, by making a superb break going into the final kilometer of the stage and dropping the other 3 riders who were in his breakaway group. This is the second stage he's ever won in the Tour de France, his last stage win coming in 1999. I believe it is also his first win in any race since 2002 or 2003. Because he rides for T-Mobile, his win should keep T-Mobile on the top of the team standings, while the top 5 in the general classification will remain unchanged.

All that's left for this year's TdF is tomorrow's individual time trial and then the final stage, the ride into Paris and under the Champs-Elysee. As a side note, I'll also post yesterday's top 3 finishers, since I neglected to report on it yesterday...

Stage 18 Top 3 Finishers
1. Marcos Serrano (ESP), Liberty-Seguros, 4:37:36
2. Cedric Vasseur (FRA), Cofidis, +00:27
3. Axel Merckx (BEL), Davitamon-Lotto, +00:27

Stage 19 Top 3 Finishers
1. Giuseppe Guerini (ITA), T-Mobile, 3:33:04
2. Sandy Casar (FRA), Francaise de Jeux, +00:10
3. Franco Pellizotti (ITA), Liquigas-Bianchi, +00:10

Top 5 General Classification After Stage 19
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 81:22:19
2. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +02:46
3. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +03:46
4. Jan Ullrich (GER), T-Mobile, +05:58
5. Francisco Mancebo (ESP), Illes Balears

(Image from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/photo_galleries/3913751.stm)

Discovery With Stage 17

2005-07-20T11:17:00.000-04:00

paolosavoldelli
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Another Discovery Channel rider takes a stage! Savoldelli, a new rider to the squad (formerly of T-Mobile) has won stage 17 of the 2005 Tour de France. This is great for Team Discovery, gaining more points for them in the team standings. Though Lance has yet to win a stage this year, two of his teammate's have now, which must be especially nice in Lance's final Tour.

Updates to the standings a bit later, as the peloton was at least 20 minutes behind the stage leaders at the last time check (actually closer to 24 minutes, if I remember correctly). I'll post the standings shortly!!!

Top 3 Finishers, Stage 17
1. Paolo Savoldelli (ITA), Discovery Channel, 5:41:19
2. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (NOR), CSC, +00:00
3. Simons Gerrans (AUS), AG2R, +00:08

Top 5 in General Classification After Stage 17
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 72:55:50
2. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +02:46
3. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +03:09
4. Jan Ullrich (GER), T-Mobile, +05:58
5. Francisco Mancebo (ESP), Illes Balears, +06:31

(Image from http://team.discovery.com/bios/savoldelli.html)

Fun With Google

2005-07-20T10:21:00.000-04:00

In honor of the 36th anniversary of the lunar landing, Google today is having some fun with their logo (as they often do when there are anniversaries of note). So, today, be sure to:
Go to www.google.com
Click on the Moon in the logo
Zoom in all the way on the resulting picture
Smile

If going to google.com doesn't work, you might want to try this link and do the zooming bit (i.e. zoom all the way in). Either way. Kudos to Google for today's fun. :)

Stage 16 Results

2005-07-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

Been a crazy day, I spent almost 2/3 of my waking hours in the car or doing things otherwise away from my house and computer. Needless to say, I can't say much about stage 16, because I didn't get to see much of it.

Top 3 Finishers, Stage 16
1. Oscar Pereiro (ESP), Phonak, 4:38:40
2. Xabier Zandio (ESP), Illes Balears, +00:00
3. Eddy Mazzoleni (ITA), Lampre-Caffita, +00:00

Top 5 General Classification After Stage 16
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 66:52:03
2. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +02:46
3. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +03:09
4. Jan Ullrich (GER), T-Mobile, +05:58
5. Francisco Mancebo (ESP), Illes Balears, +06:31

TdF Stages 13, 14, 15

2005-07-17T12:01:00.000-04:00

Today's stage 15 was a great day for Lance's long time teammate and right-hand man, George Hincapie. He has never won a stage in the Tour de France, and today came out fighting. As a part of the lead pack just 27 km into the stage (out of just over 200 km total for today), I'm sure George didn't have any real hopes of holding on for the stage win. Whether or not it was expected, though, he certainly did, earning himself a first-ever stage win and also the first win for a teammate of Lance's since 1999. George definitely had a banner day today, leading into tomorrow's rest day. Congrats out to George!

I haven't been reporting on the TdF lately, which is purely a result of trying to re-read the Harry Potter books prior to the release of book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Thursday I re-read book 4 (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Friday was spent with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book 5) and Saturday, I went to Barnes & Noble at around 9:30 a.m. to pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I was able to finish the book in about 8 hours of disjointed reading, and am now back in full action to cover the final week of the Tour as they race into Paris. In case you weren't following the stages very carefully, the results from stages 13 and 14 were as follows...

Stage 13 Top 3 Finishers
1. Robbie McEwen (AUS), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:43:14
2. Stuart O'Grady (AUS), Cofidis, +00:00
3. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Davitamon-Lotto, +00:00

Stage 14 Top 3 Finishers
1. Georg Totschnig (AUT), Gerolsteiner, 5:43:43
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, +00:56
3. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +00:58

And, finally, today's stage 15 results, as well as the overall General Classification after today's stage. There's been a little bit of a shake-up at the top, as Lance now has over two and a half minutes on the second-place rider.

Stage 15 Top 3 Finishers
1. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 6:06:38
2. Oscar Pereiro (ESP), Phonak, +00:06
3. Pietro Caucchioli (ITA), Credit Agricole, +00:38

General Classification Top 5 After Stage 15
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 69:09:59
2. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +02:46
3. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +03:09
4. Jan Ullrich (GER), T-Mobile, +05:58
5. Francisco Mancebo (ESP), Illes Balears, +06:31

(Image from http://www.roadcycling.com/news/article496.shtml)

Bastille Day at Le Tour

2005-07-14T10:36:00.000-04:00

DavidMoncoutie
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

This year's Tour de France has been relatively frustrating for the French. The French riders haven't done very well overall in this year's Tour, and that upsets the French fans on some level. It seems almost appropriate, then, that on Bastille Day--a holiday in France similar to Independence Day in the US--that a Frenchman should win. Indeed, today's stage 12 victory went to David Moncoutie of the Cofidis team.

Some important withdrawals of note, between yesterday and today. Jens Voigt, winner of stage 9, was unable to finish within the time limit in stage 11, so has been eliminated from the competition. Tom Boonen, who was the sprint leader (green jersey) as of the end of stage 11, apparently woke up this morning with a very swollen knee and was advised by the team doctor that riding today could cause long-term damage to his knee, so he did not start. He'd been in a few crashes over the first week of riding, and I think those crashes finally caught up with him. Finally, Manuel "Tricky" Beltran, a Discovery Channel rider, was in a crash during today's stage and was forced to withdraw from the race with a head injury of some sort. This will be the first time since 2001 (I believe) that Lance's team will not finish with all 9 riders, so I imagine there will be a little sadness and disappointment with the Discovery team tonight. Unfortunately, randomness in cycling is part of the nature of the beast, and sometimes random crashes do happen and require riders to pull out.

With Tom Boonen out, the green jersey will now go to Thor Hushovd of Norway (Credit Agricole). Lance finished with the peloton, about 10 and a half minutes after Moncoutie crossed the line. It seemed almost as if most of the leaders stayed back with the peloton today, knowing that today was a good day to recover from yesterday's mountain stage. The leaders of today's stage were far enough behind Lance and the other top riders in the GC that it was no threat at all for Lance et al to take it easy and finish 10+ minutes back.

Stage 12 Top 3 Finishers
1. David Moncoutie (FRA), Cofidis, 4:20:06
2. Sandy Casar (FRA), Francaise des Jeux, +00:57
3. Angel Vicioso (ESP), Liberty Seguros, +00:57

General Classification Top 5 After Stage 12
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 46:30:36
2. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +00:38
3. Christophe Moreau (FRA), Credit Agricole, +02:34
4. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +02:40
5. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Illes Balears, +03:16

(Image from http://www.capture-the-peloton.com/Races/Luk03/Luk03_1.html)

Discovery Delayed Until...?

2005-07-13T18:12:00.000-04:00

According to an article at CNN, the launch of Discovery is going to be delayed until at least Saturday. According to an article at the BBC, however, the launch has been delayed until at least Monday. NASA's Return to Flight page agrees with the CNN page, that the next chance for a launch is Saturday. Either way, all this really means is that they're not sure what is going on with the sensor, and where the problem lies exactly. It may lie in the sensor itself, which would require moving the shuttle back to the VAB to fix. The problem may lie in the wiring to the sensor, a problem which can be fixed while it's on the pad, or the problem may lie in the telemetry FROM the sensor, another problem that can be fixed while the shuttle is on the pad. Hopefully by tomorrow they'll have a better idea of what the problem is exactly, where it is, and how to fix it, and a new launch date and time will be announced.

Shuttle Discovery Launch Delayed

2005-07-13T13:35:00.000-04:00

Today's scheduled return to flight for the space shuttle Discovery (STS-114, scheduled for 3:51 PM ET) has been scrubbed. Though weather was becoming a concern, they had to scrub the mission because at least 2 of the low-fuel sensors on at least one of the three shuttle engines was malfunctioning. Each engine has 4 of these sensors, and all must be working for the mission to be a go.

Depending on how easy it is to fix the sensor problem, Discovery MAY be able to launch tomorrow, sometime in the 3-4 PM ET time frame. If it can't launch tomorrow, Saturday will be the next opportunity, and after that, Tuesday. They can't launch on Friday because if the mission can't go off tomorrow, the fuel in the shuttle will have had a chance of degradation and will need to be replaced. This would happen on Friday if Discovery doesn't launch Thursday. You can follow the coverage of the return to flight over the next few days by going to either NASA's main site or to the Return to Flight page.

UPDATE!
CNN is reporting that it was only 1 sensor in a set of 4 on one engine that was faulty. Either way, it was about 2 hours and 45 minutes before launch, and, without knowing exactly why the sensor was malfunctioning (and if it was/is a problem that might occur to the other sensors, too), they didn't want to risk it. MSNBC is currently reporting that if the sensor itself is faulty, then the shuttle will have to be rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). If that happens, the next attempt won't be until 9 September (due to the relative position of ISS and the launch window to be able to dock with it). More details as they become available.

(Image directly from http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/118270main1_114_crew_port_330.jpg)

Vino Takes Stage 11

2005-07-13T11:30:00.000-04:00

AlexandreVinokourov
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Bouncing back from a disappointing stage 10, one of Lance's main rivals, Alexandre Vinokourov came out today with a vengence and was able to take the stage. Though Vino's lead was as large as 3+ minutes at times, the final time gap between Vino and Lance was only 1:15. Vino started his attack in the 28th km, and neer let go. He did come down to the final sprint with the Colombian Santiago Botero, but managed to pull out enough energy for the win.

Top 3 Finishers, Stage 11
1. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), T-Mobile, 4:47:38
2. Santiago Botero (COL), Phonak, +00:01
3. Christophe Moreau (FRA), Credit Agricole, +01:15

With Vino's win (and subsequent time bonus), he's moved up a bit in the GC, though Lance remains on top, 38 seconds in front of Mickael Rasmussen.

GC Top 5 After Stage 11
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 41:59:57
2. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +00:38
3. Christophe Moreau (FRA), Credit Agricole, +02:34
4. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +02:40
5. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Illes Balears, +03:16

Lance's main competitors, including Basso, Vino, and Ullrich are in 4th (+2:40), 12th (+4:47), and 9th (+4:02), respectively.

(Image from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/photo_galleries/3064041.stm)

Valverde Takes Stage 10

2005-07-12T15:39:00.000-04:00

alejandrovalverde
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Today's stage at the Tour de France brought with it what most analysts and enthusiasts expected: a charge by Lance Armstrong and the Discovery team to show their dominance in the mountains and put some time between Lance and his main competitors.

What wasn't expected was the performance of some of the younger riders, including stage winner Alejandro Valverde. I personally didn't expect Lance's main competitors to fall out as they did, either, but that's a testament to how hard Lance was pushing.

The stage started fairly typically--a few guys tried to build a lead for themselves, while Lance et. al. stayed with the peloton. Soon enough, though, before the last climb of the day (a category 1 climb), the peloton caught the leaders, and from there, the Discovery Team took over. They lead the pack, setting a fairly quick pace. One by one, riders started dropping off the back of the peloton, and eventually Lance had the front of the peloton, along with Popyvich, Hincapie, and some of his main rivals.

Cranking along, Lance eventually broke out into a lead with Alejandro Valverde, Mikael Rasmussen, and Francisco Mancebo. Towards the end of the climb, though, it became just Lance and Alejandro, and Valverde was able to out-sprint Lance at the top for the stage win. Lance got the same time as Valverde, and Rasmussen and Mancebo (from Valverde's team) came across the line 9 seconds later.

Of course, the same could not be said for Lance's main competitors including Ivan Basso, Alexandre Vinokourov, and Jan Ullrich. Basso finished the stage 1 minute and 2 seconds behind Lance, having been a part of the main lead group for most of the final climb. Ullrich took over a minute more, crossing the finish 2 minutes and 14 seconds behind Lance, while Vino didn't cross for more than 5 minutes after Lance did.

Top 3 Finishers, Stage 10
1. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Illes Balears, 4:50:35
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, +00:00
3. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +00:09

The large lead that Armstrong's pack gave themselves lead to quite a bit of a shake-up in the general classification.

GC Top 5 After Stage 10
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 37:11:04
2. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +00:38
3. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +02:40
4. Christophe Moreau (FRA), Credit Agricole, +02:42
5. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Illes Balears +03:16

Of note, Jan Ullrich is 8th, 4:02 behind Lance. Vinokourov is 16th, 6:32 off of Lance. Finally, Beloki is 21st, 8 minutes and 31 seconds behind Lance. Things are looking good so far, early in the 2nd week of this year's Tour.

(Image from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/photo_galleries/3106908.stm)

TdF Stage 9: Jens Voigt Takes Yellow Jersey

2005-07-10T10:56:00.000-04:00

jensvoigt
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Today's stage 9 saw the King of the Mountain, Mickael Rasmussen, jump out to an early lead and then hold it for the entirety of the stage. He began his attack in the first 5 km, and was able to hold his lead to win the stage by just over 3 minutes. Congrats to Mickael!

Perhaps of more importance, however, to those following Lance's progress, is that today he gave up the yellow jersey to Jens Voigt of CSC (pictured at right). Voigt joined the group chasing Rasmussen, and formed an intermediate group, finally crossing the line 3 minutes, 4 seconds after Rasmussen. Going into the day, Voigt was 1 minute behind Lance, and since Lance finished another 3 minutes behind Voigt (with the main pack, +06:04 off Rasmussen), Voigt will wear the maillot jaune on Tuesday's stage 10. This isn't much of a worry to the Discovery Channel team. Voigt is known more as a sprinter than a hill-climber, and I think that Lance et al expect that he'll tire himself out and that they can get the yellow jersey back in the mountains. The team still considers Lance's biggest competitors to be Vinokourov (1:26 behind Lance) and Ullrich (1:36 behind Lance).

As expected, David Zabriskie pulled out of the TdF today. Though he did start, he pulled out early in the stage. This isn't exactly as a surprise--with his injured ribs, he can't breathe very well, making long-distance cycling a difficult prospect. Hopefully he'll bounce back from this injury and have a good finish to the season, and we'll be able to talk about him again in next year's TdF.

Top 3 Finishers, Stage 9
1. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, 4:08:20
2. Christophe Moreau (FRA), Credit Agricole, +03:04
3. Jens Voigt (GER), CSC, +03:04

General Classification Top 5 After Stage 9
1. Jens Voigt (GER), CSC, 32:18:23
2. Christophe Moreau (FRA), Credit Agricole, +01:50
3. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, +02:18
4. Mickael Rasmussen (DEN), Rabobank, +02:43
5. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), T-Mobile, +03:20

(Image from http://www.halfdan.dk/Cykel/profiler/jens-voigt.htm)

Stages 7 and 8 of 2005's TdF

2005-07-09T21:33:00.000-04:00

I've been sort of busy these last couple of days, and haven't had a chance to do as thorough updating as usual on this year's Tour de France. Today's stage 8 was a first glimpse of what the mountains might be like--it started with four category 3 climbs, and ended with a category 2 climb. Unfortunately for the Discovery Channel team, the final climb was a bit disappointing. Lance had to go it alone, as the rest of his team was either too tired or just not paying attention to what was going on, and got dropped on the climb. Hopefully, they'll figure out what went wrong today, fix it tomorrow, and get some good rest on Monday, which is the rest day.

Other notes of interest today include:
-Pieter Weening was able to win the stage by an insanely small margin over Andreas Kloden: 0.0002 seconds. A photo finish and computer timing chips on each bike had to be used to determind who won the stage. What is nice about Weening's win is that he was one of the ones who started an early breakaway in today's stage, and for the first time in this TdF, one of the people in the initial breakaway actually captured the stage.

-On a bit of a sad note, David Zabriskie really struggled today, finishing in last place, 51 minutes and 12 seconds behind Weening. This time was within 1 minute of the time he needed to finish by or else be forced to retire/withdrawal. It's obvious that his ribs, injured in the crash during the team time trial and aggravated in one of the stage 6 crashes, are really bothering him. Let's face it, when you have injured ribs, it's hard to breathe as deeply as you need to, and that just saps your energy and ability to do endurance racing. I expect that he'll probably drop out soon (I actually have my doubts as to if he'll even start on Sunday's stage 9). As it stands now, he is 179th out of 180, 1 hour, 1 minute, and 13 seconds behind Lance.

-After today's stage (and the disappearance of most of the Discovery Channel team in the last climb), the top 5 in the GC is a bit different than it's been in the past. Results from the last 2 stages and the GC as of the end of stage 8 are below.

Top 3 Finishers in Stage 7
1. Robbie Mc Ewen (AUS), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:46:00
2. Magnus Backstedt (SWE), Liquigas-Bianchi, +00:00
3. Bernhard Eisel (AUT), Francaise Des Jeux, +00:00

Top 3 Finishers in Stage 8
1. Pieter Weening (NED), Rabobank, 5:03:54
2. Andreas Kloden (GER), T-Mobile, +00:00
3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Illes Balears-Caisse D'Epargne, +00:27

General Classification Top 5 After Stage 8
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 28:06:17
2. Jens Voigt (GER), CSC, +01:00
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), T-Mobile, +01:02
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, +01:07
5. Ivan Basso (ITA), CSC, +01:26

After Crash, Bernucci Takes Stage 6

2005-07-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

LorenzoBernucci
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

The weather for today's stage really set the stage for an interesting finish. 600m in front of the finish line, a combination of the wet road, a 90 degree corner, and crosswalk paint yielded some precarious conditions for a final sprint. As might be expected, this did in fact cause a bit of a wreck right before today's finish. Some riders were able to slow down enough to take the turn without falling, and some actually unclipped and put a foot down to stay upright, but many riders did completely wipe out at the turn, and many riders were held up a bit because of the pileup at the turn.

In the end, Lorenzo Bernucci of the Fassa Bortolo team was able to stay upright and power down the straight after the turn, taking the stage. According to the rules of the TdF, because the wreck happened in the final 3km of the stage, everybody in the main pack (that was about 7 seconds back from the leaders) will get the same time--that is, the winning time plus 7 seconds.

Stage 6 Top 3 Finishers
1. Lorenzo Bernucci (ITA), Fassa Bortolo, 4:12:52
2. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), T-Mobile, +00:00
3. Robert Forster (GER), Gerolsteiner, +00:07

Today's result shakes up the top of the general classification just a bit, as noted below.

Top 5 General Classification
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 17:58:11
2. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, +00:55
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), T-Mobile, +01:02
4. Jens Voight (GER), CSC, +01:04
5. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, +01:07

Of note, Ivan Basso is currently 9th in the GC, at +01:26, and Jan Ullrich is 13th at +01:36.

(Image from http://www.capture-the-peloton.com)

Delayed TdF Stage 6 Coverage Here

2005-07-07T10:18:00.000-04:00

I've switched over fom OLN and the TdF to watch CNN and see what's going on in London. I'll probably post results from today's TdF stage here later, but for now, my thoughts are with those in London and their friends and families.

Robbie McEwen Takes Stage 5

2005-07-06T11:56:00.000-04:00

robbiemcewen
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

I didn't actually see today's race (yet, I plan on watching the replays on OLN), but a quick look at the TdF site and VeloNews says that Robbie McEwen (pictured at right) took this stage, edging out Tom Boonen. Sorry that there's not much else I can say, but not having seen it, it'd be hard to comment with any credibility.

Top 3 Finishers:
1. Robbie Mc Ewen (AUS), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:46:00
2. Tom Boonen (BEL), Quick-Step
3. Thor Hushovd (NOR), Credit Agricole

Lance finished with the main pack, meaning he will also get the stage-winning time, leaving the top of the GC unchanged.

General Classification Top 5:
1. Lance Amrstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 13:45:12
2. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, +00:55
3. Jens Voight (GER), CSC, +01:04
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, +01:07
5. Jose Luis Rubiera (ESP), Discovery Channel, +01:14

(Image from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/photo_galleries/3913751.stm)

TdF: Zabriskie OK

2005-07-05T17:30:00.000-04:00

According to this article at VeloNews, x-rays on Zabriskie showed no broken bones, and it is expected he will start in tomorrow's Stage 5. Watching it live on TV, it looked like all of a sudden, he just spontaneously fell. One minute he was in the paceline, the next he was skidding sideways and falling. People assumed he clipped a wheel in the paceline, though now it seems that the blame is being placed on a skipping chain. From the VeloNews article,

"CSC roared down the final, twisting descent into Blois through a series of sharp S-turns but the team split coming through the final corner. A small gap of perhaps 15 feet opened between the leading riders and Zabriskie, Roberts and Ivan Basso.

Zabriskie stood out of the saddle and glanced over his right shoulder. And then disaster struck. His front wheel slipped out and the yellow jersey went careening to the asphalt.

The actual caused of his crash wasn't certain. The roads were dry and it appears Zabriskie didn't puncture, and Roberts said Zabriskie didn't clip a wheel. "I'm not sure what happened, whether his chain jumped or his foot slipped. We were accelerating after coming through the corner and maybe it threw him off-balance," Roberts said. "It's just bad luck for Dave. It's an awful situation for him."

Zabriskie fell hard on his left side, narrowly missing the fenced barriers and a French policeman standing just inside the course, who was forced to jump out of the way when Zabriskie's red bike went clanging past.

Roberts and Basso narrowly avoided crashing into either Zabriskie or his bike. The two frantically chased back on.

"It was a miracle that Luke and I didn't crash into Dave's bike," Basso said. "We have to accept what happened and it's too bad for Dave. Now I am 1:26 down on Armstrong, but this Tour doesn't start for me until the Alps."

Zabriskie got a bike change and rode alone across the line, his yellow jersey ripped and torn with blood on his elbow, shoulders, hip and knee. Team doctors gave Zabriskie two stitches inside the team bus. Subsequent X-rays showed no broken bones.

Later, the young American said, "I'm not happy with what happened but that's life. I'm extremely disappointed because we were very, very close to winning the stage and I was close to keeping the yellow jersey."

Riis said, "I don't know how it happened. We had six seconds on Discovery with two kilometers to go. The others waited to see what would happen and I yelled at them to keep going to the finish as fast as they can, not to wait. If Dave hadn't crashed, we could have won the stage."

Seems to be pretty unlucky for Dave, as he'll be one sore rider in tomorrow's stage. I'm glad to hear, though, that he's mostly alright and will be pushing on.

TdF Stage 4: Team Time Trial

2005-07-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

discchan_logo
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

It was a crazy day of team time trialing today at the Tour de France. As is becoming a familiar routine, Team Discovery started out fairly slowly, but sped up considerably as they raced through the course. They started second to last, with Team CSC starting last, 5 minutes behind them.

This wasn't exactly a surprise, as it was expected that DSC and CSC would be battling it out for first place in the TTT. The big surprise, though, was that CSC's Dave Zabriskie, wearing the yellow jersey, took a spill almost literally within spitting distance of the finish (with 1.5 km to go).

At the finish, though, DSC finished 2 seconds faster than CSC. Zabriskie's crash means he won't get the same time as the rest of his team, thus Lance takes over the overall lead of the TdF, and will don the yellow jersey.

Top 5 Team Finishes
Discovery Channel 1:10:39
CSC +00:02
T-Mobile +00:35
Liberty Seguros +00:53
Phonak +01:31

Top 5 in General Classification After Stage 4
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel 9:59:12
2. George Hincapie (USA), Disocvery Channel +00:55
3. Jens Voigt (GER), CSC +01:04
4. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC +01:07
5. Jose Luis Rubiera (ESP), Discovery Channel +01:14

(Image from http://www.mikecreed.com/)

UPDATE!
Because of the crash, there is a rumor circulating that David Zabriskie has broken some ribs and may have to pull out of the TdF. I'll try and get confirmation on that. If it's true, it's sort of sad. Zabriskie was having a great start to his Tour, and to have to pull out for such a weird crash...

Stage 3 of Le Tour

2005-07-04T11:16:00.000-04:00

erikdekker
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

In today's stage we saw Erik Dekker (Netherlands, pictured at right), of team Rabobank, take the lead in the King of the Mountains competition by a point. He will wear the polka-dotted climber's jersey in tomorrow's Stage 4. Dekker showed a lot of heart, taking the lead with 27 km to go and pressing as hard as he could to retain that lead, especially in the last 5 km, when his lead was only 5-10 seconds. Inside of 2 km, he was caught by the peloton, though. All said and done, though, he put forth an amazing effort.

After an insane and incredible sprint finish, Boonen takes his second stage of this year's TdF. David Zabriskie finished in the main pack, as did Lance Armstrong, so Zabriskie retains the yellow jersey, while Lance remains in second. Lance's other main competitors also finished in the lead pack, so leading into tomorrow's Team Time Trial Stage 4, the general classification remains mostly unchanged.

Because of some rough actions in the final sprint, Robbie McEwen, who technically finished 3rd in the stage, was stripped of his 3rd place finish, and instead Stuart O'Grady was given the 3rd place.

Stage 3 top 3 finishers:
1. Tom Boonen (BEL), Quick-Step
2. Peter Wrolich (AUT), Gerolsteiner
3. Stuart O'Grady (AUS), Cofidis

General Classification after Stage 3:
1. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 8:48:31
2. Lance Amstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, +00:02
3. Laszlo Bodrogi (HUN), Credit Agricole +00:47
4. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), T-Mobile +00:53
5. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel +00:57

(Image from http://www.rabobank.nl/info/execute/node?node_id=262607&tab=4)

TdF, 2nd Stage

2005-07-03T11:16:00.000-04:00

TomBoonen
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Tom Boonen, of team Quick-Step, has won the 2nd stage of the 2005 Tour de France. Both Lance and Jan Ullrich finished with the lead pack, +0:00 off the winner. David Zabriskie also finished in the lead pack, so will retain the Maillot Jaune for tomorrow's stage 3.

The top 3 finishers for Stage 2 were:
1. Tom Boonen (BEL), Quick-Step, 3:51:31
2. Thor Hushovd (NOR), Credit Agricole, +00:00
3. Robbie McEwen (AUS), Davitamon-Lotto, +00:00

General Classification after today's stage:
1. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 4:12:27
2. Lance Amstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, +00:02
3. Laszlo Bodrogi (HUN), Credit Agricole +00:47
4. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ), T-Mobile +00:53
5. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel +00:57

Of note, now Jan Ullrich is 12th in the GC, at +01:08.

(Image from http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/The-thao/2004/07/3B9D4675/)

David Zabriskie Takes the Yellow Jersey

2005-07-02T13:20:00.000-04:00

David Zabriskie
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

It wasn't Lance that will wear the yellow jersey tomorrow. Instead, it will be another American, David Zabriskie, who rides for CSC. (though is a former USPS teammate of Lance). Final results will be coming soon, as soon as I can find them at the official TdF website, the OLN site, or VeloNews. Photo is from the Lance Armstrong website, and is admittedly an old photo.

UPDATE!!!
Preliminary Results:
1. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 20:51.84
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 0:02
3. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, 0:53
4. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 0:56
5. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun), Credit Agricole, 0:59

Tour de Lance?

2005-07-02T12:26:00.000-04:00

lancelogo
Originally uploaded by terpkristin.

Le Tour de France starts today, meaning that today Lance starts his quest for a seventh straight TdF win.

As a cyclist, a fan of cycling, and a Lance supporter since the early 90's (when he was just an up-and-coming young American and, frankly, was a bit of an asshole), you can bet I'll be watching daily and updating here.

Currently it's almost 12:30 PM ET and I imagine Lance won't be starting until a little after 1 PM ET.

I'll have the day's final results posted here sometime after the day is done.