still no power, still no warm food, still no cold food. i wrote some letters to family by candlelight last night. i guess millions in the DC area are still without power (the energy company reports it by "customers" so you can multiply that by 2 or 3 for the actual number of people affected. for example, my house is "1 customer" but "6 people.") my roommate was gonna have a party tonight for her birthday but i'm not sure if its on or not, the whole "not being able to see people" would miss the point of a party.
i ran long today, 106 minutes (which may be my all-time record) through some parks and on trails. there were a ton of trees still down and i saw a few smashed cars and houses. that absolutely sucks (thank God for the near miss on your mini, still justin!). there was tons of mud and water and leaves and branches on the trail but it made for a nice obstacle course.
glad to see marr's an indians fan, at least we can all collectively hate the yankees. props to charlie, whoever you are, for starting the whole discussion. giants and skins tomorrow justin, and the skins have been looking good the last two weeks, i think it'll be a good one.
the panda is calling my name and telling me to eat its chicken.
music: none, because i have no electricity
quote: "i drove from colorado to california in one shot this week. i only stopped to sleep for a few hours in a hotel parking lot in vegas." my friend scott and his move out to pasadena
we didn't have school again today, though i don't have classes on friday so it didn't really matter. i lost power at my house yesterday at 11am and its still not back on yet (i'm on campus now). they say that we may not have power for a few more days even.
the hurricane was lots of rain and wind, this morning i took a run and found some power lines down on the road and trees blown over, limbs and branches everywhere. i thought to myself, "wow, it looks like a hurricane went through here." and then, "oh. a hurricane did go through here."
thankfully, most thankfully, the storm was not as intense as it was in carolina and college park is far enough inland to avoid the storm surge and the waves. some of the eastern shore and around the chesapeake got rocked. DC has lots of flooding too, which is a little lower in elevation than here. i guess about 5 million people are without power around the coast, most of the DC area is dark as well.
so yesterday, we did what everyone does when there's no electricity: we played disc golf in the pouring rain, though we only managed a few holes before the wind was too much. then we played a long game of spades and egyptian rat screw until there wasn't any more light. i took off for jim's house where they had power and we watched some of 'daredevil' though they lost electricity around 9pm and cut the movie short, though it was probably for the best. in the words of robin, ben affleck is not an action hero.
so that's my hurricane isabel story.
if you've been to andrew's page recently you'll find a reference to another guy charlie's blog who tell it like it is. one of the entries had to do with loyalty towards sports teams and the location of where you're from, the blog was entitled "the clothes that wear the people."
here's my response:
i go to the university of maryland. i root for them i guess, though if they played ohio state or bgsu i would definitely go for the buckeyes or falcons. and even though i spent four years of my college career at bowling green, i am rooting for ohio state to beat them in their football game tomorrow. i'm a buckeye through and through, i can tell you the basketball team's starters since 1991 and probably the quarterbacks and tailbacks to the late 80s. i think thats ok and i think everyone can agree that there's not much to debate here on loyalty.
but the issue charlie raises is about teams that we have no affiliation with. and i think its ok to do that. for instance, i have a U. of arizona hat, not because they're a sweet basketball team, but because my older brother goes to school there. i have a LA dodgers hat because i've followed them a little bit, and i took a trip there this summer. so i'm not from california, i can't name the state bird, and i don't like arnold. but why can't i wear that hat? i like the colors. it fits very well. LA has some history and some good seasons under its belt (kirk gibson?) but other than that i could care less about the team. if i lived out there, would i follow them? you bet. but because i live in the east instead, am i a poseur? i don't know, maybe. do i care? no.
i always wondered about the edwardses, why they pick their teams: justin has the astros and giants, the astros i understand; mike has the astros and jets, again i understand the astros, brad has the red sox and the hurricanes, stephen has the royals. so what that they're not the indians, tigers, or reds; the browns or bengals or lions. i tried to follow the tigers (refer to earlier blogs) but they're just too bad. and maybe i'll follow the orioles or skins, but not the ravens. or maybe i won't care too much.
i see the point being made, though- i've seen a few ohio state national champions shirts out here, but i don't get worked up about it. maybe they went to school there (churning out 15,000+ graduates each year) or maybe the like the coach or think maurice clarrett's got a case with the nfl. or maybe they think scarlet and gray is a god color combination. or they just like being a bandwagon fan, jumping on to be on the winning side.
anyway, that's the end of that rant, its all taken in good argumentative taste i hope. i've a ton of grading to do so looks like i'll be on campus for a while. maybe pick up a warm meal, too. at least the lights are on!
music: second season, five iron frenzy for whatever reason and "its my prerogrative"
quote: "ah, you don't have power either?" -robin, strolling in to the TA office where i am, followed by professors coming into their own offices. now i see the logic behind "back-up generators."
well, there's a hurricane coming to maryland. though isabel is predicted to make landfall in carolina, forecasters are still predicting some heavy winds and lots and lots of rain over the next day. we're already under the hurricane's cloud cover, and it looks like the rain & wind should start tomorrow around noon with the most intense stuff later on at night.
its weird, the stuff i used to watch on tv is happening here: people stocking up on water and batteries and flashlights.
the federal government, state government, and elementary schools are all closed for tomorrow. as for the U., there's been no word yet, only a promise that we'll know at 6am. one of my classes was canceled because the metro system is also planning to shut down at 11am, and so some commuters would be stranded if they usually take the metro in (which many actually do). in light of that, i expect no school tomorrow, though my homework is nearly finished.
so to celebrate getting a class canceled, i ate at chipotle with jim and 10 other people after some intense worship, and we discussed ideas on how to make college park cool. i think my idea won out, a big coffee house (big enough that an acoustic guitarist can play and some people can still have quiet study) with an art studio on the second floor, complete with a darkroom, some easels, and canvas on the walls. membership would be yearly, and you can do whatever you want in there - kinda like bgsu's art building. if you'd like to invest, please send cash or check to me.
the terp runners ran a track workout today, where we ran four sub-70 quarters before we were kicked off by the soccer people for the upcoming match. maryland soccer is #1 in the nation right now.
oh, and 44 lacrosse players were suspended for "fall ball" (not the regular season) for underage drinking and hazing, guys and girls. the same thing happened at bgsu but no one got caught. i imagine maybe for rugby or other club sports, too.
music: "rocked you like a hurricane" - we sung at chipotle
quote: "everyone who lives here is beautiful" - a roommates friend, a compliment i've not heard before
well done andrew. and yep, i know about bifurcation mike, you should say hello to tong sun for me. have you gotten to the point where he's cool yet? it took me a while to appreciate everything he taught me, maybe because i did the crossword in class, even though he's hands-off and not very exciting. i'm very greatful to have had his analysis series last year.
anyway, today was the first 13-hour day of the year. i'm sure they'll be more to come, so i'm not boasting or anything. i threw the ultimate around a little and headed to terp runners, a running club of students. i went with the long group today, and we ended up going hard at sub-7 pace. our group of five became four and then two, as my new friend alvin and i took off and kept a strong pace for the whole 8-9 miles. he actually could have beaten me badly but we stayed with me, for which i'm grateful. and we ended going up the main hill on campus, about 50-100 feet elevation change (you can see the tops of surrounding trees) in about 1/4 mile. i was pooped.
as i was biking from through campus i saw a friend and told her i had been out running. she said, 'good, because i was wondering what that white stuff on your face was.' when you run, you sweat, but when there's a little wind, the sweat dries, leaving a salty residue all over, but for some reason it only shows up really good on the face. i looked in the mirror in the engineering building (where my office is now my locker) and i looked terrible. the salt-snot-spit mixture was all over my face and neck. but it makes for a good story.
but the run wiped me out and now i'm exhausted. sleep should come easily tonight, and the body will feel good.
on a side note, how many of you out there are still runners? i know michael, justin, kelly, andrew, ben and a few others were into running regularly (or just the night runs). are you keeping with it? i really hope so, its done wonders for me physically, and mentally. its a good time to pray and think, too. and as paul said, to make your body a slave to yourself. and i think r.e.m. could change 'nightswimming' to 'nightrunning' and have almost the same effect. if there's one thing i wish to bequeath to anyone, its to enjoy running for what it is, the simplest of sports. its also an instant bond with anyone else, similar to someone in the same major or of the same faith. the sub-culture is fun, too.
music: only in dreams, weezer (with a sweet version by mock orange)
quote: "you understand this all, yes?" our substitute grad student for 684, who blazed through a computational fluid dynamics lecture with 15 minutes to spare. of course, none of us understood it, for each topic covered could have been its own seperate lecture. and the grad student spoke with a thick accent and had teeth that stuck out at such an angle that he looked like a chipmunk with his mouth open or closed. write bigger and talk slower. that's how you get the point across (refer to a. tenbrink's blog if needed)
let me say that michael and justin, though i haven't talked to you in a while, i'm an adamant reader of your blogs and i'm very excited to hear some of the new music you've been working on. your blogs are always interesting and, well, you rock, and keep the good stuff flowing.
i helped a few more people out during office hours and got some homework done too (anyone else use a chalkboard for doing homework? mike? it rules) and frisbee was fun this afternoon too. following some of andrews advice i started to really seek out some interesting people; you know, students who are more than just the beer-drinking, dumb, uniformed stereotype that most major universities hold. anyway, i met a guy who graduated with a film degree from usc and is now a grad student in english (he was impressed with your equipment and films, justin, and commended texas as a sweet school too) and another guy who is way into running. we were thinking about training for a marathon in a two months.
anyway, the point andrew made that i alluded to earlier is that i'm here, i don't really know anyone, so basically why not seek out the best people, the interesting people, the ones who are actually like me and want to do something with their lives. again, not the stereotypical people. because i'm starting from scratch out here, i might as well try to find friends that will build me up and will affect me positively - rather than those who sometimes bring me down and drain me instead. i have both the kind at home (though if you're in ohio and reading this, rest assured you're in the first group), but i need people like that to help me survive here. plus, maybe i can be a positive influence on them - both for me and for God. what else am i doing here?
it poured again today, and when the street turned into a river (no sewer systems: all the rain washes into creeks and streams via the street), four of my roommates and i ran outside in our clothes and played in the rain. cold, yet warm and refreshing.
i really hope everyone at home is doing well and i think of you often.
music: reggie & the full effect "thanx for stayin"
quote: "An approach to combine some of the best features of upwind differencing and central differencing is to bias the scheme in the upwind direction. To examine the accuracy of such upwind-biased schemes construct a Taylor table for a mixed forward formula approximation to the first derivative." - this was a homework problem, as yet unfinished. but its due on thurs.
i was determined to run a sick run yesterday, so i did, about 12 miles, in the pouring rain. like, i had to wring out my socks when i was finished, my shoes are still wet. but it was great, and i saw a FOX crossing the Anacostia river trail in front of me. he was kinda redish but just moseyed along to the other side of the trail and there he went. when i got back from the run my new kicks were waiting for me on the doorstep (unfortunately it wasn't my doorstep but the neighbor's, he had to bring it over) and there you go.
i hope osu beats bgsu because ohio state has much more to lose than bowling green does to win. i mean if bg wins, then they're gonna be the big target in the MAC, and maybe they'll be ranked until the lose one game, and then maybe they'll go to a crappy bowl. but they haven't even played like 10 MAC games so its way too early. at least people here would know where i'm from though if they won!
i played bass this morning at my campus church and it was so much fun, everyone was way into the music & message that it made my whole morning great. i'm really liking this church - though i wish there were a few more grad students around. so far i've only met a handful.
i talked to my parents & tim tonight while i was sitting in front of the library, by the largest grass-lawn mall in the nation with giant trees and buildings lining the fountains. i watched the moon rise, and for the first time in a while, i really felt like i belonged here. sometimes it feels good to be missed. sometimes though i'm the one who's doing all the missing.
its crazy because only this afternoon i was wondering how i'm going to get through some of the down time. i prayed that God can make this my home very fast. maybe in a few months.
music: reggie & the full effect, smack and katy
quote: "summer lovin, had me a blast..." jim, singing while i was sound checking the bass to the tune of grease
