Summer's Ending.

As the first week of school is creepily approaching, I am both excited and nervous to begin my senior year. The classes that I will be taking throughout the year will (most likely) be the hardest ones of my undergraduate career (Physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, etc). Nonetheless, I am thrilled to think that in a year from now, I would already have started graduate study! My application process has been going quite well. I have my Statement of Purpose done (well my "template") and I have made my CV. I just have to ensure that my GRE scores get shipped to the schools and that my letter of recommendation writers submit their letters. My research has been going pretty smoothly (lots of failure, but hey, that's organic synthesis). My job starts up next week and i'll begin TA'ing next week as well.

I am feeling great about school and life right now and I am feeling on top of the world.

Thanks for enjoying your daily Trashtalk and have a good day!

NT 

New Digs.

Tomorrow it will be a week since I have moved into my new place for my last year at CWU. My place is nice! I'll post a profuse amount of pictures (profuse was one of my GRE vocabulary words, so I thought I would use it)! I'll give you a virtual-no imaged tour before you scroll down to look at the pictures. The exterior of the house is comprised of light-green paneling with a pink (yes... pink) upper half. It looks likes the house a watermelon fanatic would live in. There are four parking spots assigned to us (Lucas, Erik and myself) for our motor vehicles, yet Lucas is the only one with a car. So those will sit there emptily for the year.

As you walk into the house, you have three choices of direction. If you travel to the left, you will first face a decent-sized closet in front of you, then travel towards the downstairs bathroom. The bathroom also has our washer-dryer combo and has a "backdoor" to the downstairs room (which is mine). If you continue up the stairs upon entrance to the house, you'll eventually have to make another decision of left/right, either Lucas or Erik's rooms.

On the left hand side is Lucas's room, which has a vaulted ceiling and a window on the south-facing side of the house. One neat thing about his room is that he has access to a rather large attic that can house lots of stuff! I believe it runs to the front of the house, but I am not sure. Venturing to the right at the top of the staircase leads you to the master bedroom, which also has high ceilings. This room has a north-facing window, which conveniently allows views of the 3/4 bathroom that he has in his room. There is no door to the bathroom; it literally changes from carpet to linoleum as you turn the corner that is in front of his window. It could be slightly awkward for anyone who is outside looking up at the window, but luckily, there are blinds.

Traveling to the right upon arrival, you are greeted with the living/dining room. It is a pretty spacious area that has a large window, which faces the driveway. Heading towards the back of the cottage, you'll run into the kitchen is decent in size (nothing compared to my kitchen in my place last year). Although I will mention that the appliances (more specifically the stove and oven) work 100x better in this place than my place last year.

Once you have seen all the glory that the kitchen has to offer, you can walk through the door on your left and you will enter my room. I have a fairly decent-sized room, but i'll let my pictures do my talking.

My running wall

I finally have a closet!

My bookshelf :)

My "desk" haha

Its

Dresser and tub

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and have a good day!

NT

Birthday!

Today is my 22nd birthday! (Hooray!!!) Now if "all things went according to plan," I would have actually been born in the end of October (Halloween was my expected due date). That is a difference of 85 days, almost three months of valuable fetus-growing time that I missed out on. My mom, as well as the rest of my family members and medical professionals that I tell my birth story too, categorize me as a "one in a million" child and when you are that tiny, it is easy to see why.

I was officially born at two pounds and three ounces and fourteen inches in length. To put that in size comparison, go to your fridge and grab two sticks of butter. Also, grab a ruler (standard 12inch ruler) and add two more inches. It's crazy to recollect on how small I was and how lucky I was to live.

Standing up! Well not really haha

 My outward appearance is not the most pleasant in these photographs. When I look at myself, I frequently consider myself Benjamin Button (because he looked all wrinkly when he was born because he was born old). Notice how my eyes are shut. No, it wasn't because it was bright outside. My eye lids had not developed yet so technically, I was blind.

Too much work to stand up. 

Tubes for days!!

This is one my personal favorite pictures because it really shows the condition I was in when I was born. Breathing tubes, feeding tubes, checking my vitals, everything.

This was my home for three months

Sibling love :)

 This picture to the left is probably one of the first sibling photos ever (now that I think about it). My brother (who had just turned three in this picture) is feeding me with a syringe.

My mom and dad! 

Dr. Richard. 

This is one of the doctors/nurses who saved my life that day. His name is Dr. Richard (hence my middle name).

I hope that everyone has a great day! Live everyday as if it may be your last because you never know what could happen.

NT  














EDIT: I found out this morning that my good friend's sister was killed yesterday (8/7/2013) by a drunk driver last night and I would like this post to not only be a celebration of my life, but also hers as well. Although I did not know her personally, if she was anything like her brother, she would have been a charismatic, witty, and overall amazing person.

Moral of the story, don't drink and drive. It is really easy to call up a friend and ask for a ride home, don't put yourself and everyone else at risk of injury because you are too lazy to call a friend. Thoughts are going out to you and your family bud.

GRE update and potential school list.

As I have mentioned before in previous posts, I plan on attending graduate school and I think I have decided which schools I am going to apply for! But before I can send off my applications and enjoy the agonizing wait period of either acceptance or denial, I must first take the GRE. The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is a standardized test given to future applicants of graduate schools. There are three main sections: verbal, quantitative, and analytical. The verbal and quantitative sections are comprised of ~40 questions each. The verbal section focuses on vocabulary and comprehension of passages, while the quantitative section is all math-based (like the math you would have seen on the SAT's). The analytical portion is merely two 30-minute essays, one being an argumentative and the other being an "issue-based" essay.

I started studying for the GRE last week and so far things have been going well! Being a math guy, I do not have too many problems with the difficulty of the math, but I tend to make slip-ups here and there. I wish I had the same amount of confidence on the verbal section as I do on the math, because I would be sitting pretty if I did! My vocabulary bank does not have a lot of cash in it, but slowly and surely, I am depositing a few dollars here and there in order to help increase my score. I am taking the test three weeks from monday, so wish me luck!

My list for school is narrowed down to four. I know that does not seem like a lot, but I have faith that I will get into one of the Ph.D programs I am applying for.

Go Cougs! 

School #1. Washington State University 

To be honest, I love the feel of a college town. There is no rustle&bustle of a city and everyone seems to take more pride of the campus. My sister is an alumni from WSU and I know she would be thrilled to have me follow in her footsteps. Also my undergraduate research advisor is a 4x WSU grad (Two bachelors, a masters, and his doctorate). His advisor STILL works there (he has been there since 1957!) so I am potential looking into his lab or another professor's who does research on inhibitors for various cancers.

School #2. University of Washington

Go Dawgs!

Being raised in Washington, this is the school that every "intelligent person" plans on attending. Whether they get their undergrad there, their professional degree (MD, PharmD, DDS, etc), or attend graduate school there, UW has a noted reputation of being one of the best schools in the state. Now if I get accepted there, do I choose reputation over familiarity (not that I know Pullman extremely well)? Do I want to be the only native English-speaking kid in my class? (That was a joke people...). Nonetheless, I know that I would receive an outstanding education there, but I do not know if I want to live in the city.

School #3. University of California, Davis

Go Aggies!

Now this is my "longshot" school. There have been two other students from CWU that have attended their graduate chemistry program because they, similar to UW, have a reputation of being successful when it comes to publications and financial assistance. My one draw back is the location; it is in California! My girlfriend would feel obligated to move to California with me if I decided to attend UC Davis. I do not want to keep her away from potential job opportunities [in WA] because I want to spend more time in school, but it'd be pretty hard to not see her for long stints of time. I am going to apply there and whatever happens, happens.


School #4. Central Washington University

Go Wildcats!

Now you may be asking yourself, why would he want to attend graduate where he got his undergraduate degree? Why wouldn't he want to travel to another school and get more experience? I do want to attend other schools, but I need to stay realistic and if other schools do not want me, then I will stay at Central and get my Masters (rather than a Ph.D). Now that is even assuming I can get into the graduate school program here (which I think I could, but I want to keep all options open). I love Central and I love the faculty that we have there. I know most of them fairly well and would love to continue my passion for chemistry in the place where I first fell in love with it.



Guess what everybody?!?! My birthday is in three days! I am going to be double-deuces (22) haha.

Anyway, thank you for reading this and have a good day!

NT

College Majors.

As the senior year of my undergraduate school slowly approaches, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on my college experience. Being a science major, I would say that over 50% of my friends are science-related majors. Physical science, not social science (those don't count). With that in mind, I wanted to make a list of majors that I have not, and never, will understand. I watched a video on Youtube that discussed the "Most useless college majors" and that was the inspiration for this post.

NOTE: I AM NOT INTENDING TO DOWNPLAY ANYONE'S MAJOR/CAREER PATH WITH THIS BLOG POSTING. THESE ARE SIMPLY MY PERSONAL OPINIONS AND IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE ABOUT MY LIST, YOU CAN LEAVE A COMMENT AT THE BOTTOM.

#5. Psychology.  

Why this on the list: Psychology is considered a "soft" science, grouped with others like sociology, anthropology, geography, etc. Unless you want to go into academia, I don't often find having a degree in a "soft science" being very marketable.

Jobs you can get with this degree: Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Counselor, etc.

While I think that the skills you learn as a result of your degree are valuable (such as critical thinking, identifying behaviors, counseling, etc.), I don't think that psychology degree's themselves are rather difficult (Its like Criminal Justice, which isn't on the list, but its like #6).

#4. English/Humanities

Why this is on the list: Other than being able to write long papers without any grammatical errors, can you tell me another benefit for having an English degree? I actually just finished up with my summer class on Latin American Literature (which was very enjoyable!) with my professor who has a Ph.D in English. I can understand a dissertation for a science-related field (a research project), but what constitutes a dissertation for an English major? Write a really, really long paper?

Jobs you can get with this degree: Writer/Author, Journalist???, English teacher, etc.

#3. Anything ending in "Studies"

Why this is on the list: At my school alone, we have so many different types of "studies" programs. Some of those include: Women, Any race you desire (Asian, Native American, Latin American, etc.) Family, etc. I have quite a few friends who have completed or are in the midst of completing their Family Studies degree. I don't even know the point of that is? I mean you grew up with a family at one point or another, am I right? The other types of studies, such as the different geographical areas, what can you really do with that? "I spent four years studying Women Studies, now I can be a better woman because I understand them," as if you did not understand them before?  

Jobs you can get with this degree: Family counselor, social worker, etc. 

I feel like the job market for people who have obtained these degrees is not very hot. I think that this degree could be a great asset as an accompanying degree (or like a minor). But I think the integrity of this degree is similar to that of wet paper. 

#2. Recreation & Tourism

Why this is on the list: Aside from my #1 most ridiculous major, I whole heartily do not see the purpose of this. "Congrats on your Rec/Tourism degree! You can serve me drink on the plane, or you can be the entertainer on the cruise I am on." At the end of this past school year, my Professor (for Transition Metal Chemistry) took us all out for drinks and we were talking about other degrees. Someone had mentioned Rec/Tourism and everyone laughed because that degree is seriously a joke. Scanning over the classes required for the major, I noticed that they all have to do with "helping people," as if that is hard? Here's a concept: Get a job that requires human interaction. There is your degree right there. 

#1. Interdisciplinary/General Studies

Why this is on the list: A college degree is suppose to prepare you for a future career, correct? Well, how does knowing little about unrelated topics useful to anyone? It may help you out on Jeopardy because that is the only way you are going to make money from a Gen. Studies degree. As I was looking through various images pertaining to Gen. Studies, I came across this little nugget (See the graduation cap). At the University of Michigan (which is great institution!), they surveyed their athletes on campus and found that athletes (which make up 3% of their undergraduate population on campus) make up almost half (49%) of the General Studies undergraduate degrees. What can we infer from this? That a lot of athletes are choosing General Studies for their major. Why is this? Because this degree is EASY! As a former student athlete, I can attest to the time commitment athletics takes throughout the course of just a single week!

At the University of Michigan (which is great institution!), they surveyed their athletes on campus and found that athletes (which make up 3% of their undergraduate population on campus) make up almost half (49%) of the General Studies undergraduate degrees. What can we infer from this? That a lot of athletes are choosing General Studies for their major. Why is this? Because this degree is EASY! As a former student athlete, I can attest to the time commitment sports takes. I understand that your passion is sports, but when your are at college, you are a student athlete! Not an athletic student. The webpage that this image is associated with (can be found here: http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/academics/stories/index.ssf/2008/03/athletes_safe_harbor_is_genera.html) has another interesting image of a General Studies students' transcript. It was noted that the student's GPA in the four independent study courses they took was a 3.91 and a 2.68 for all of the other courses they took. Not too surprised.

I would like to thank anyone who is reading this and please feel free to leave comments!

Have a good day!

NT 

Vacation.

Two weeks ago, my sister and I left from good 'ole Washington to my home state of New Jersey to visit my Dad and my other relatives that there. My dad's whole side of the family lives over there and sometimes I wish that they lived closer (or that I lived closer so that I could see them more frequently than once every year). Nonetheless, the time that I spent there was unforgettable and I cherish every minute that I get to spend with my family.

My sis and I on the way to NJ! 

We left from SeaTac around 3pm and the flight (scheduled for a little under five hours) went by so quickly! With the combination of my working on homework, reading my novel for said course, and my Ipod, I was surprised when I heard the captain say "...prepare the cabin for descent." Arriving in NJ at around 11:30pm (eastern time) we had to endure another hour and half of driving to get to my dad's house.

The first few days of our trip were spent relaxing down at the shore, enjoying the sunny days and the warm ocean. The eastern seaboard was in the midst of a horrendous heat wave with temperature in the upper 90's. Combing the high temperatures with the even higher humidity percentages made everyone feel like a roast pig at a luau.

The first day of "family time" came on sunday when we were planning on going over to aunt Lisa's to have a BBQ. On the RSVP list was: the four of us, my aunt Lisa and her kids (DJ and Lauren), my uncle Martin and aunt Debbie and their son Greg (who also brought his girlfriend Melissa), and my aunt Diane and uncle Tony. My grandpa also came to the BBQ and brought his "girlfriend." afternoon and evening was pleasant and filled with laughs, jokes, and great food.

The Treich clan

As with all family gatherings, everyone asks you the typical "How are you doing? what are your future plans? blah blah blah."Coming up to the conclusion of my college career, I was telling everyone that I was planning on attending graduate school (which I still am!).
During this BBQ I had an interesting conversation with my cousin Greg (the first person from the right on the second row). He graduated from RPI this past spring with a degree in Chemistry and is going to grad school for Materials Science in the fall. When I am at home, I don't tend to talk about what I do at school because most of them probably would not understand it, but it was great to talk with Greg because he could relate to practically everything that I had to say. He gave me great advice pertaining to the grad school application process, as well discussing what type of projects he want to work on.

My uncle Martin (Greg's dad) works as a executive at a pharmaceutical company (I think...), so when i told him my interest in pharmaceuticals, he began to tell me about his work (which I didn't mind). One of the interesting things that came up during our conversation was this website called LinkedIn, which is basically a Facebook for businesses. This website allows everyone to create a profile and depending on your "friends" (called connections on the website), allows you to chat and interact with one another. This website is designed so that people can connect with executives from other business for potential employment opportunities. So where does my uncle come into play? Well he said that if I create a profile, upload my resume (and all of the other jazz), he would try his best to get my a connection somewhere! I will definitely take him up on his offer after graduate school.

Fast-forward to wednesday morning where my sis and myself began our epic road trip to Boston! I was the driver for two reasons: one, I love driving and two, my sister hates driving. So naturally, it worked out!

On the road again! 

Our trip to Boston involved several pit stops along the way. Our first stop was New Haven, Connecticut, the home of Yale University. Being a Gilmore Girls fan, my sister was excited about walking the hallowed halls that Lorelai herself walked through (at least that's what we can believe!). The school is right in the heart of New Haven and the university buildings blend right into the local apartments and eateries.

The next stop on our trip northward to Boston was a little town of Springfield, Massachusetts. What is so important about this town? This town houses the Dr. Suess Memorial Park that houses several statues of famous characters from his books including Horton, the Thing's, and of course, the Cat in the Hat. Prior to our trip, we both were doing research about where we should stop and what attractions we wanted to see along the way. While the memorial was interesting and a fun little pit-stop on the way to Boston, the town itself was rather lower class.

Yale Bulldog!

Cat in the Hat

The North Bridge in Concord

The last stop before we arrived in Boston was in Lexington/Concord (appropriately home to the battles of Lexington and Concord). During the Revolutionary War, the British troops marched (on land) from Boston, through the town of Lexington and into the town of Concord. This trail (at least the portion from Lexington to Concord, which is about five miles) remains present to exhibit the same path the British soldiers marched nearly 240 years ago! Their is a national park that stretches the length of the trail and travelers can stop along the way to look at various landmarks (we didn't stop at too many places because a lot of the attractions were not open to the public).

After all of our shenanigans, we finally arrived in Boston and found the way to our hotel (which was an arduous process). After being in the car for five-ish hours on the way up, we did want to drive around Boston to find a place to eat. To solve our hunger problem, we walked across the parking lot to 99's (kind of like a TGIF's feel to it!). I had a delicious cod fillet BLT (minus the T) and my sister had a chicken wrap of some kind (can't remember exactly what). After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and decided to call it a night (after watching Big Brother of course). We decided that we were going to start tomorrow bright and early because we were going to explore the city of Boston and make our way over to Harvard University.

Touring one of America's oldest cities brings a sense of nostalgia to everything. Walking along the Freedom trail, which contains some of Boston's and America's most iconic landmarks, enhances the level of nostalgia 8974938714 fold! Boston is a phenomenal city that combines rich history with contemporary style. The entire "trail" (really just a red line painted on the street" is roughly two and a half miles. We did not walk along the entire length of the trail, but we walked a good portion of it! After we had our fill of history, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and made our way on the "T" to Cambridge, MA.

Harvard Square

Harvard University is one of the best institutions in the world. It has been the college of seven U.S. presidents including JFK and our current president, Barack Obama. In order to acquire the full Harvard experience, we decided to go on a student-led campus tour (something that we did not do at Yale). Our tour guide was named Sara who is a psychology major (I'll have a rant on that in another blog) and minoring in math. She proceeded to tell us that she knows six languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and one other), which blew my mind! Nonetheless, our tour consisted of us two, 14 people from South Korea, one kid from Russia, and another couple (not sure where they were from because they didn't talk). Needless to say, the tour was very informative and I appreciated all of the little tidbits and facts that Sara was able to tell us.

After the tour, we decided to go over to the Museum of Natural History which housed an exhibit about glass flowers. To be honest, I wasn't too excited about the flowers prior to seeing them. After I witnessed the craftsmanship of the flowers, my mind totally changed. There were over 800 species of flowers on display and I can honestly say that I looked at every single one. In addition to the flowers, the exhibit next store housed hundreds of rock, mineral, and elemental samples. Being a chemist, I was looking at the chemical makeup of all of the rocks and tried to imagine the crystalline structure based on the formula (some were easier than others)

Glass flowers and leaves

Say that name five times fast

Giant hunk of Sulfur!

We left Boston on friday morning and started making the drive back to the Millburn, NJ. We had to pick up my dad along the way because he went on a business retreat with his co-workers and we took his car haha. On the way back, we got stuck in traffic and were in the car for two extra hours longer than it needed to be. All and all, our road trip was a great success and I will definitely visit Boston again in the near future!

Sunday morning was an action packed day. My dad decided to rent a pontoon boat and us four, Lisa and her family, and grandpa joined us for an afternoon on the water. The water was AMAZING! It was a perfect temperature and it wasn't too choppy (even with all of the boats and jet-skis in the water).

Overall, our trip was everything that I would hope for! I got to enjoy time with my family, travel to a new place, and just relax where I have so many fond memories. I do miss my family in NJ and I would never trade a second of my time there for anything else. I have frequently been asked the question "Which do you prefer, Washington of New Jersey?" To tell you the truth, both states have certain characteristics that fill me with happiness. So my answer to that question is "I do not prefer one over the other because they are both homes to me."

I know this was a long blog, so I would like to thank everyone who has the time (and patience) to read this!

Gizmo.

My girlfriend would be the first to tell you that I am not a fan of smaller dogs. She would only say that because I have made fun of her dogs ever since I met her (back in 2009??? wow that's a long time ago). Back on point, today my Dad, Mary, Jess and I went over to my Aunt Lisa's house for a family BBQ. All of the aunts, uncles and some of my cousins were going to be there: Uncle Martin and Aunt Debbie with Greg (and he brought his girlfirnd too), Uncle Tony and Aunt Diane, Aunt Lisa, DJ and Lauren. In addition, my grandpa came to and brought his girlfriend (which was slightly awkward, but it's all good!).

Lisa has had this dog, names Gizmo, for quite some time (at least ten years) and today she told us that he developed cancer and that he was very sick. I could tell immediately that he was quite sick because he was very skinny (you could see his whole spine) and he was very slowing moving. Even in his condition, he still walked over to Jess and I and said "hello." She went on to tell us that he was going to be put down tomorrow and that today was going to be his last day. When she told me that, I began to reflect on when I first met the little guy.

I first met Gizmo in upstate New York when we were at Uncle Steve's (Lisa's former husband) cabin. The cabin was gorgeous and it was on a great piece of property. Gizmo joined us that year because it was their new dog (their first pet too I believe). He was quite the ankle bitter at that time (he constantly bit my ankles and feet throughout the whole trip). But he was always full of spunk for being such a little dog.

Since today is his last day, I wanted to take the moment to think back about all of the good memories I had with him and hope that DJ, Lauren, and Lisa will be ok.

This is my cousin DJ with Gizmo, one of his best friends. RIP

See-Saw.

This past school year has had its share of twists and turns. I have changed my major and changed career paths twice, which I know isn't unheard of. At the start of last year, I was dead-set on being a high-school science teacher. I had two years of in-classroom experience and I had taken (arguably) the best education course I had ever taken that quarter (Thank you Dr. Q). As I started to become more interested in medicine and pharmacy, I made a quick-decision to go into pharmacy because it combined my passion for science with my inherent nature of helping people. For a while, I thought that was a great compromise (I mean, not to mention my paycheck would be like 3x that of a teaching salary). With the interest in pharmacy came the possibility of graduate school, more specifically pharmacy school. During early spring (say like March), I was able to do a job-shadow at the local pharmacy in town (E-burg). Although I only spent a few hours there, I had a feeling that this was not my scene. It wasn't fun and if there is anything that I have learned about jobs, if you do not enjoy it, then do something about it.

So I did something about it. I switched my "plan" from pharmacy to organic/medicinal chemistry. I enjoy organic chemistry; I am good at it and I know it and, surprisingly, well enough that I can explain it to others (My boss trusts me to teach it to other people!). So as of today, I plan on going to graduate school to pursue a degree in Organic/Medicinal Chemistry. Now the $1,000,000 questions are...

1. Where do I go to graduate school?

2. Do I pursue a Master's program or a Ph.D. program?

3. Should I bypass graduate school and go back into education?

I'll be thinking about these questions for the next few months before I take my GRE (which is two months btw) and I also need to think about how my decision will affect myself, Amanda, and my family.

Seattle Marathon: Rock and Roll...down a cliff

Yesterday's race was an experience to say the least. There where several moments throughout the race where I legitimately wanted to drop out of the race. The amount of pain I was in during the latter parts of the race was so severe that we (Kyle and myself) had hard times simply walking. But I think that the most beneficial little nugget of knowledge I learned from yesterday's race was to always keep your goals in mind (Our goals happened to be the following: 1. Finish the race and 2. Drink beer)

We arrived at our corral about five minutes before the race officially started. Everyone was representing their newly acquired gear from yesterdays expo: compression socks, hydration packs, and other goodies that add "mental reassurement" that they will run better. Nonetheless, it took about twenty minutes for us to reach the start line. Frank Shorter sent off each corral onto the streets of Seattle (Side note: I got to meet Frank Shorter personally at the expo and got his autograph. I also got to meet Steve Scott, got his autograph, and he gave me some coaching advice about how to improve my strength while running).

As we began our adventure from the EMP towards Lake Washington BLVD the roads were relatively flat, which allowed for some difficulties in pacing (Throughout the first half of the race, all of our miles were between 8:40 and 9:10). The first ten miles were quite nice, except for a small bathroom break that I had to take a little past mile eight. We ran along Lake Washington BLVD where there was an absolute gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier. This portion of the run (from miles seven through eleven) was a loop that only the participants of the marathon completed (gotta add the extra 13.1 miles somewhere right??). As we left the loop and approached the halfway mark, my legs started to talk back to me and they were not saying nice things. It was at this poing in the race where I wanted to quit.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the fact that the last half of the race consisted of spurts of hobbling, mixed with lots of walking and stretching, and a dash of disappointment.

Factor #1 I had not trained. Often this is the largest reason for the inability fo succeed during a race; lack of preparation. I had not done any run over nine miles in the past six months (remember, this is a 26.2 mile race).

Factor #2 I did not how to handle mid-race hydration (I looked like a fool trying to drink water/Gatorade while jogging), nor how to consume those disgusting GU gel packets.

Factor #3 I underestimated the marathon. There is a reason why 4.1% of runners in the 2012 Boston Marathon did not finish the race. It could be due to the two factors I listed above or entirely different reasons.

Nonetheless, I will not underestimate another race again. I learned valuable experience that cannot be taught in a class, or absorbed from a another runner's horror stories. The experience of nearly falling at something has to be learned; otherwise, how will you realize when you have failed at something?


This is us post-race (I am the one on the left in the green singlet).

Marathon.

So I am running this little race on Saturday and I should probably start running so I can finish it. Don't want to embarrass myself on the course.

Summer!

It's that time of the year again, summer vacation. The never-ending Facebook posts about attending graduations and the thrill that finals are done with are slowly fading away. The weather is becoming more "user-friendly," which is always a good thing. I moved out of my house last week, which was kind of a shock to one of my roommates. I could tell that she was pretty upset, but I hope that she knows that although we may have ended on a sour note, I would not have traded that experience for anything. It is surreal that I only have one more year of my undergraduate career, one more year of being a student (that is until graduate school starts!!!). Speaking of graduate school, I am going to register for the GRE tomorrow and will take it at the end of August. I plan on applying to WSU, UW, UC Davis and a few other schools. I will have to get a several letters of recommendation, which I will probably ask for when I arrive back to school (or earlier so I can have those before I take the GRE). I plan on going to school in either organic chemistry or medicinal chemistry, depending on which school I get accepted to. If I do not get accepted into a Ph.D school, I will also apply to the Master's Program at CWU, where I will continue to work under Dr. Fabry. For right now, I will continue to post blogs throughout the summer! Oh on a side note, this time next week, I will have finished my first marathon (and certainly not my last). See ya later!

Stop.

Stop succumbing to physical pain and listen to your head.

Stop being a pansy.

As I was on my run today, I was mumbling these thoughts as I had to stop quite frequently during my run. I would like to say it was because I wasn't as hydrated as I should have been, but then I can't blame anyone else for my laziness. Slowly, but steadily, I will get back to (and surpass) the form I was in last year and get back down to 155 lbs.

The countdown continues...

4.2 miles today...

160 days...

Rain.

Running in the rain. Simplistic. Rugged. Euphoric. I went out on my run today and immediately began to feel water land on my jacket and head. I miss running on the westside because of this. On the eastside, its either really hot or really cold, but in Puyallup, it's a comfortable medium.

My run today consisted of a mile WM, then some hill sprints, then a long-ish cooldown. I felt strangely comfortable during my WM mile (6:59), which is the fastest I have ran a mile in quite some time. My hill sprints brought me back to my HS days during XC practice, running up the hill by my high school, driving my knees with every explosive bound. My cool-down reminded me of my sophomore year of college, when we would run 2-3 mile cooldowns to ensure that all of the lactic acid has been flushed from our throbbing legs during an intense workout.

My countdown continues...

3.5 miles today

161 days...

Obtuse.

Looking ahead on the trail, while making sure my footing is sound with each stride I take, I glide through the woods as if nothing was in my way. At least, that is what I imagined myself to be doing. In actual reality, I looked like a huffing and puffing, shirtless guy struggling to run. As I mentioned in my last post, I have not ran in at least a month (that is if you don't count me running to the bars from Amanda's house in jeans and Vans, 1.25 miles surprisingly!). Nonetheless, I decided to go out and try and get back into it. I always feel slightly guilty when people call me a "runner" because I had not been running all quarter.

Starting today, I will promise myself to run everyday. I will promise to take of my body the way I am suppose to, such as eliminating fast food, limiting my alcohol consumption, etc. I have my goals and I have my tools. All I have to do is build it.

Countdown to XC season...

August 26th, 2013.

163 days...

Spring Break.

Today is my first official day of Spring Break vacation! I feel like this quarter has brought a combination of realization and assurance into my life, within the occasional hurdle here and there. Over the past few days, I have been contemplating about my future career plans, resulting in an eventual switch from my prior major/career path (Education) to Pharmacy. I think that my decision to switch majors was due to my interest in pharmacology/medicine.

Because of this, I have decided that I want to attend graduate school (Either Master's or PhD, depending on which type of program I get into). I am going to apply to multiple programs and evaluate my options from there. I plan on staying in-state. If I do not gain acceptance into a PhD program, I would most likely obtain my Master's from either CWU (my current school) or WSU. I haven't told my family about my most recent choice in attending graduate school, but I think that if I get provided financial support, they would support me in my decision (at least, I can hope for that).

In addition to my graduate school information seeking process, I desperately need to start running again. I barely ran all quarter and I think it was due to my lack of afternoon availability. My spring schedule has all, but one, of my afternoons open, which I will use to get in regular/consistent training for my marathon that I am doing at the end of June. I plan on running the race with my friend Kyle, the same guy I ran the half-marathon with last June (See Rock and Roll post for details about that race).

Nonetheless, I am excited for the conclusion of this year. I am slowly getting ready to enter the "real world," which both excites and partially frightens me. I am privileged that I have great friends, amazing family, and the opportunity that I can do whatever I set my goals to (within reason that is).

But for now, I am going to enjoy my time off!!!

See y'all later!!!

Perspective.

When I tell people that I am a Chemistry major, they say things like "Oh wow! You must be really smart" or "I was never good at Chemistry." You would be surprised how often I hear the latter. But when I tell people that I am Education major, they say things like "Oh good for you" or sometimes they produce an awkward silence. Last week I was at a "late" reception for my Uncle's recent marriage (BTW, they got married on leap day, I mean who would wanna get married on a day that is only there EVERY FOUR YEARS?!?!? Just my 0.02). Anyway, my aunt was introducing myself as an Education major who wants to be a teacher. To my knowledge, she did not mention any specific subjects that I would wanna teach. When the woman she was talking to, who liked like a weirdo, looked at me as my aunt was introducing me, she gave me a blank stare and said "Good for you." Good for you? What does that mean? Stupid, idiotic person. What job does she have that is SO much better that she thinks she can degrade teaching? Its people like this that make me say "I am a Chemistry major." But the great thing is, I do not care what she thinks.

Consistency.

When I was on the XC team this past fall, I was in the best shape of my life. Now that I am not running XC, I feel like I am missing out. Recently though (within the last few weeks) it has been my goal to become a more consistent runner, in terms of my training schedule. To help me with my goal, I have been keeping a training log throughout the duration of summer, which I feel has really helped me stay on track. This past week has been my most consistent week with a embarrassing 26 miles this week. I am hoping to increase that to ~30 miles next week, which is still minute. I am going to be building my base throughout the fall and winter, in an attempt to have the best season of running I have ever put together.

21!!!!!

Woo hoo!!! I hardly get excited over birthdays, but today is different. I am at the age where I can do pretty much anything I want (legally of course). Although I still can't run for president quite yet, I think that this year is going to be lots of fun!

Rock and Roll.

I love the feeling of waking up super early and going on a nice run; one that just wakes your body up naturally and makes you feel one with your surroundings. Turns out I was not the only other person who had this on their agenda. Today was the Seattle Rock and Roll Half and Full marathon events. I'll be the first to admit that I did not seriously train for this event. However, I did get the opportunity to run the race with my friend Kyle, which was a lot of fun. Having run this race since its inauguration, Kyle knew the general layout of the course and was a fun partner to have throughout the race. We arrived there an hour before the race started and already there were thousands of people doing their various pre-race rituals. After walking up and down the street where all the corrals were located, we got settled into our designated about ten minutes prior to the start. As we approach the starting line, I suddenly get the discomfort of having to relieve myself (I HAVE TO PEE!!!). So about five minutes before we reach the start line, I run out of the starting line and find a lone tree. I quickly race back to the start line with plenty of time to spare.


Mile 1: 9:42. We were practically shuffling through the crowds of people and enjoying ourselves amongst our fellow runners. Relatively flat with a slight uphill.

Mile 2: 8:48. Dropped the pace down by like a minute, most likely because it was all downhill. At this point, we both were feeling good (I would hope so...), but we decided to hold this pace for a while. Body felt good and I was just on a slog.

Mile 3: 8:47. Still feeling great. We had a gradual climb during this mile, which was nothing too big. I felt proud that I kept the pace that close even with the uphill. Kyle constantly told me that we were running his pace, as opposed to mine. Soon though, we'll be running my pace.

Mile 4: 8:53. Another gradual downhill mile. Can't remember what this mile was, but my shins started to hurt at this point. I haven't been on my feet for this long in a while. Time to get back into shape!!

Mile 5: 8:51. Super flat mile. Just clicking through the miles and trying to remain on our pace.

Mile 6: 8:49. Had a slight incline during this mile. This was where we got to run along side the waterfront (I believe). Gorgeous view. The leader of the marathon race ran along side us for a brief time; he was flying!

Mile 7: 8:46. The majority of this mile was run along the coast of Lake Washington. Amazing views! It got a little congested throughout this mile because they narrowed the road due to the splitting of the marathon people with the half-marathon people.

Mile 8: 8:36. This mile had some significant ascent to it, but nothing that we could not handle. Not only that, but the whole mile was practically in a tunnel. Kyle began picking it up cause he liked passing people, which was fine by me. I really gotta poop!!

Mile 9: 8:25. I think this was the mile that I passed my friend's dad (B-Valley). He had a Nike PreNationals shirt and I recognized his face immediately after I passed him. Nice to know another familiar face was running today.

Mile 10: 10:12. I know what your thinking... Why so slow?? Well I had to take a pit stop, otherwise I was going to poop my pants! Kyle went on ahead of me, not wanting to wait for me haha. I don't blame him; I would have left him too.

Mile 11: 8:08. I wanted to catch back up to him, so these next to miles were all about making up some time.

Mile 12: 8:12. Seeing the "mile 12" sign, I knew that I needed to pick it up because I wanted to close at a decent clip.

Mile 13: 6:56. This mile felt the best out of all of them, probably because this is closer to the pace I normally run at. The finish line was at the top of a hill, which was nice because I love owning people on hills.

Mile 13.1: 1:53:53. Overall, the race was a lot of fun! I enjoyed that I was running with a good friend. I know what I wanna accomplish this summer, in terms of getting mu mileage up. Who knows? Soon a half-marathon will be a typical long run for me! A year from now, I will (hopefully) be completing the full marathon with Kyle. Gonna break four hours there and get him to be a 3:.xx.xx marathoner.

Just an ordinary day.

Raise you hand if you grew up without a father figure, one who taught you how to play catch, ride a bike, and was always there for you. In addition to that, keep your hand up if you had lost a male parent, due to divorce or death. Keep you hand up if you think that Father's Day is idiotic because fathers should be celebrated everyday, not just the third sunday in June. If I was with my group of friends, I would be the only one still with my hand up. My parents got divorced when I was very young, three I believe. I do not know why they split up, nor do I really care because there is nothing that I can do to change things currently. Up until I was 13 or so, my siblings and I would travel to New Jersey to visit him for a month or so. He would fly out here (to Washington) on various occasions, such as graduations, and times when he felt like "its been too long." Besides my sister's recent graduation, the closest I have come to my Dad was seeing his name on checks in the mail. Granted I love him. He always tries to keep in touch with me with various phone calls and I know that he cares deeply about me. When we moved to Washington (January 5th, 2000), my mom quickly met Dale, whom would be my future stepfather. He joined our family with a daughter of his own (whom at the time was seventeen; her name is Kirsten), a stern attitude, and an non-relatable persona. It was that persona, in combination with his "smart-alec" attitude that made him hard to get along with. He never talked about his past, probably because he wanted to forget about it, but I do know that he did not grow up the most financially stable household. Growing up in Oregon, he joined the armed forces (Navy) after he finished high school and served during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, I am unsure of what he did next. From what I can piece together, he moved up to Washington, got a job, found his future wife, had a child, and disconnected himself from his family back in Oregon. With my Dad still living in New Jersey and Dale sitting on the entertainment center, I can't really say that I am celebrating Father's Day to its true potential. I will call my Dad in a little while to say "hello," and I will be going over to my Aunt's for dinner with her, my Grandad, and my siblings. But today, on this supposed Father's Day, I feel like it is just an ordinary day.