bitter magnet

ok, so the past few days have been pretty insane/hectic, which is why i haven't written in over a week. On Monday (the 24th) I had to do my RQE (Research Qualifying Exam), and so I spent a large portion of the weekend preparing for it and making my slides. Monday itself was pretty insane, I was making last-minute edits to my presentation, scrambling around to find a projector (turns out there was a huge big screen TV there, so I didn't need one). It was also raining pretty hard (w/ thunder & lightning and the whole deal) and on my way to my office from SP I ended up getting my dry-clean only pants from Banana Republic totally drenched (of course, it only started pouring when i was walking outside).

After the exam (it took about an hour and a half in total) Michael & I went out for dinner at India Pavilion. Man, that place is so great. It's a far walk (near Western Ave) but it's worth it..the appetizers are so cheap there, and it's really excellent food. Michael & I split a coconut soup (delicious!) and then I had the "Meat Mix" appetizer, which consisted of two chicken pakoras, two fish pakoras, a meat samosa, and something called shami or something (made of lamb). At first I didn't think it would be enough food, but it ended up being fine (i also stole some of Michael's chicken curry dish). He ended up getting the full dinner, which came with chai tea (w/ some sugar, it tastes really good) and a dessert which we ended up splitting (was kulfi, this really tasty Indian ice cream with pistachios and interesting spices.)

That night we went back to Ashdown, and around 10:45 I went to the Z Center to work out (only for 10 min, since it closes at 11). After coming back to Ashdown, Michael and I ended up watching random TV, browsing the net and reading magazines. We stayed up pretty late (i was up till 3!). Weirdly, I woke up at 6:30am on Tuesday, and couldn't get back to sleep, so I just ended up eating breakfast. I tried to sleep again (and tried to make myself fall asleep again), but it was no use, so around 9am I headed into work.

I thought it would go back to SP and nap for a while, but i ended up working straight, from around 9:30am to 2:30pm (i didn't even leave my office!). I was quite surprised that I wasn't tired from just 3 hours of sleep (and not eating for 8 hours), and still had the energy to get a lot of work done.

Around 2:30 MIchael and I walked to the NW area for lunch, and he got some food from Bytes where as I got a $2 salad from the Star Market salad bar. We ended up eating in SP, since it was a bit cold and cloudy outside. We walked back to work and I continued to work, from about 3:30-6pm. I told myself i should take a nap before going to TNT practice, but it was 6pm before i knew it!

Anyway, so around 6pm i put on the Garmin Forerunner (that thing is so cool) and jogged over to the Commons. It was a long way, and i got there barely at 6:30. We ended up jogging along Tremont and Boylston, to the Fens, for a total of about 4.8 miles (so my total was 6.8). At first it was difficult, but after a while it was alright. The whole time I was quite puzzled as to *how* on earth i managed to have this much energy, after working all day and only 3 hours of sleep (and running 2 miles before the practice)!!

When i got back around 8, I went over to Ashdown and made some dinner (MIchael was making an enormous batch of Mashed Potatoes). At that point i started to feel tired, but it was around midnight that I went to sleep. I woke up this morning around 7:30 feeling refreshed (finally!). Although I got up quite early, i've been taking my sweet time to get read (now it's 10:30am, and so I should really get in to work...)

ok, so today i turn 26. woo-hoo. i'm not sure if i'm supposed to be happy about that or not... :)

So I didn't go in to work today. Instead, i woke up at 6:00am (ok cuz i went to bed around 11am) and around 7am helped set up everything for the "finals kick-off" bagel breakfast in the SP lobby. Although i couldn't eat any of the bagels, i did get some decaf French Vanilla from cafe SP, along with some strawberries.

Anyway, this morning I wanted nothing else but to celebrate with a Belgian waffle with maple syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. :) Sidney's Grille down the street had something to that tune and it sounded amazing, but I knew that if i would eat it, it would cost me big time (why would i want to spend my birthday in pain & digestive hell?) So Michael suggested that I try to find a restaurant that serves gluten-free or wheat-free waffles or pancakes. Hah-talk about searching for a non-existent needle in a haystack. After an hour of deliberating and google-searching, we found nothing. So around 9 we went to Star Market to purchase the ingredients for such waffles (eggs, etc).

So i tried making said waffles myself (using wheat-free flour - almond flour, oat flour, and soy protein powder), but somehow they became screwed up in the waffle iron (they totally stuck to the iron, and they looked really eggy). I was so pissed (and starving, by then it was like 10am and no breakfast). So I ended up re-doing it and making pancakes instead, which turned out pretty good (Michael said it was one of the best breakfasts he's had in a while). Yay!

So after that, we went out and got the Zipcar again, and headed off towards the Gap Outlet in the Arsenal Mall. However, when we got there, I realized that I didn't have the $15 off coupon that I had recieved in the mail for my birthday. We turned back but when we got back to SP, i couldn't find it there either!! I guess it must have slipped from my hand on the way to the Green St. Garage. Argh! I was really pissed because not only had I lost the coupon, but by going back and forth and searching for it, we had wasted essentially an hour of the Zipcar time (we had to return it by 1:30, and by then it was around noon).

We then decided that with our remaining time to go to Castle Island (since I had been there and I really liked it, I wanted Michael to see it). When we got there, Michael really liked it and we extended our reservation for another hour. We walked along the beach (it was great weather, not too hot) for while before heading back. I think we should go back there some other time, around sunset and maybe have a picnic or something. That would be great!

And when we got back, we had lunch at this cool place called Bytes, in the biotech courtyard. Only reason we went there was because we saw this sign for it by SP and saw how cheap the prices were ($4-$7 a plate). When we finally found it, we were surprised to see how small it was (it was a really small take-out counter). The guy that worked there was so nice..he was telling us that the place just became open to the public last month (hence us not hearing about it). He gave us a sample of tuna salad on a pita, and Michael ended up getting it (i got Chicken kabob w/ rice and salad). Anyways, our food was very tasty, and we were so glad to have found a cheap, good place to eat near SP (Passports, the restaurant in SP, is quite on the expensive side, and hasn't been open at convenient times lately).

This afternoon we decided to get a car for the day. We were going to rent a car from Budget, but since we decided to reserve at the last minute,the price went up. So we got a $45/day Zipcar (an electric Toyota RAV4, in the Green Street garage). It was kind of cool/weird driving an electric car..very quiet! You know you're not harming the environment while driving it, but it's a bit of an inconvenience knowing that the range is only about 80 miles (and if you run of out juice, you're really toast!)

Anyways, we monitored our mileage to make sure we were going to be able to get back. We went to a park in North Andover, called Harold Parker State Forest. It was really nice..tons of greenery and several (huge) ponds. I took a bunch of pictures. The only annoying thing was that there were so many damn bugs! We kept getting bitten by mosquitos and other strange insects left and right. Next time we go, we better have insect repellent.

After walking around for a while, we went searching for a place to eat. We ended up going to a Thai restaurant called Sweet Basil. It was excellent, I'm so glad we found it (we ended up asking some random people if they know of any good local restaurants, and they suggested it and gave us directions). We ended up splitting a really delicious coconut soup (was one of the best I've had). Michael had pad Thai (he said it was one of the best) and I had this curried chicken salad (was good, except the greens (watercress) were kind of weird, felt like i was eating plants or something. We then split a dessert, which was a chocolate cup holding coconut ice cream with whipped cream and jack fruit. De-licious...i'm glad we split it because it would have been too much for one person.

Anyways, since we reserved the car for 24 hours, we get until 1:30pm tomorrow. Hopefully we can make use of it in the morning...

just wanted to vent some research-related frustration...i spent some time today measuring different devices, to try to get some reasonable results. but no, all the devices of a certain design simply *refuse* to cooperate with me. :) argh!

anyways,other than that, today was a good day. it was michael & i's 21-month anniversary. we celebrated by going to Pad Thai in Boston, and later to Mc Donald's for a hot fudge sundae. I think the ice cream was the best part of the meal..it was so good (and for only 90 cents each!)

ack, i well i can't write much, i have to wake up in 6 hours (eek) to Needham tomorrow to do some experiments).

ok, it's HOT today (in Japanese: kyoo wa, atsui desu ne!) I really noticed it because I just spent the past ~2 hrs or so in the sun. We had our potluck party (from the Japanese Lunch Table), and we ate outside on the roof of E38. Other than the hot sun beating down on everyone, it was really great - good food, good company. Everyone there is so nice! The stuff that everyone brought was delicious..even the chocolate chip cookies that i made this morning (gluten free!) turned out to be pretty decent. And despite the fact that my Japanese is very limited (almost all the other students there have participated in the MIT Japan Program, which requires at least 2 years of Japanese before they live in Japan for the summer), i could still say a lot of things. People were discussing earthquakes, and I managed to say that there was a big earthquake in San Francisco, in 1989. Yeah, doesn't sound like much, but "1989" is not that easy to say in any other language besides English (you can't say nineteen eighty-nine, you have to say one thousand nineteen hundred eighty nine). Random tangent, but whatever..

Anyway, now i guess I should do some work. I didn't really do any work yesterday, since i had Japanese class, did some errands, and then I left around 6pm to go to practice for Team in Training. This time we were meeting at the Boston Common, so I jogged 2 miles over there from MIT (i figured the extra mileage would make up for not cross training yesterday). Anyway, i had expected that this time we would go for about 2-4 miles (like on Thursday's practice at the MIT track). However, to make a long story short, we ended up doing 7 miles (!), making it a total of 9 miles for me that day. I wasn't expecting to do so much, but i was glad that I could do it and not feel totally dead afterwards. I was totally lagging behind almost everyone, but i didn't mind because i didn't get lost (everyone stopped like 2 or 3 times during it, to let everyone catch up). Also, I knew that i had already jogged 2 miles, and that all but two of the others there were from the winter/spring season (they had been already training for ~15 weeks, & their marathons was coming up in June). Also, everyone there was really supportive, and the coaches were always checking to see if i was OK. They're awesome! :)

Also, the scenery was AMAZING-one of the best jogs i've had yet. We went to this place called "Castle Island" which is in South Boston. Yeah, you have to cross through a not-so-hot area to get there (there was all this machinery surrounding what appeared to be a dump) but once you get there, it's all worth it.It's basically a beach that you can jog around (~1.5-2 miles or so) and there's a lot of people walking around (mostly families, couples, roller bladers, people walking their dogs). It reminded me of a beach boardwalk. It was especially pretty since it was about sunset (around ~7-7:30). I'll have to go there with Michael sometime!

ok, i shouldn't even be writing in here, as i'm pressed for time (it's 11:30pm and i have a final exam in about 12 hours, but i haven't really studied).

anyways, today i went to the MIT track, for practice with Team in Training. Most of the people there were from the winter/spring season, who were going to do a marathon in June. it was really great, everyone there was really friendly and seemed really motivated. plus the running was good, i did three miles on the track and it didn't seem so hard at all. the only reason i stopped there was because it was almost 7:30 and i wanted to quickly get home since I thought that the final Friends episode was at 8:00pm (turns out it was at 9, but whatever).

so that's about it...when i got home i took a shower, ate dinner (cheese stick, turkey burger, plus a really good protein shake with frozen mango, yogurt, vanilla, coconut, and pineapple flavorings). michael and i watched the Friends episode downstairs in the Seminar Room on the big screen. afterwards, i had a snack (include hot chocolate, which was the best) and then got started on studying japanese. so i better go do that now. sayonara!

ok, and just yesterday i decided to change my marathon plans slightly..instead of doing the Nike Marathon in San Francisco, I've decided to shoot for the Maine Marathon (in Portland, ME). There were a number of reasons for this, namely 1) I had wanted to go to SF so my family could be there, but i'll already be seeing them in July (for the Wine Country Half Marathon) and then in September/October for my cousin's wedding. 2) The minimum amount required to go to Maine is a lot less ($1800); I'm not entirely sure I could raise the $3800 to go to SF (and i wouldn't want to have to drop out of the program as a result). Furthermore, if i raise more than $1800, a higher percentage of the money i raise will go to research programs/patient services, which is good. 3) Since the Maine marathon is 2 weeks earlier (October 3, as opposed to October 24), the timing fits much better (the July 11 half-marathon fits in perfectly, and also since classes start in September i'd like to be done with training earlier on).

And just random info: according to this site, Boston is 100 miles away from Portland, ME (straight-line distance). According to Yahoo Maps, the distance from SP to the marathon location is 107.8 miles (estimated travel time of 1 hr 49 min). So i guess it's basically just a 2-hour drive away, which isn't bad at all. That weekend, Michael & I can just rent a car (drive up there on Friday evening, then stay 2 nights and leave the afternoon after the marathon is over).

Oh, and the website predicts weather in the high 40s at the beginning of the race (7:45 am!) and high 50s-low 60s towards the end. For me, that's perfect, since anything above 55 for me is uncomfortably hot. In last year's half marathon, the weather was in the low 50s (slightly raining) and it was great.

Anyway, i'm so excited now, and i haven't formally begun the training yet (the first training session is Saturday, May 15).

ok this morning i ran in the 5k Run for Asthma, along the Esplanade. My timing wasn't as good as I had hoped (29:25min, or 9:30 per mile) but oh well. I did come in 20th in my division (women 20-25) and 68th overall (i think around 130 ppl participated). Anyway, it wasn't as easy as i had expected (I think the fact that the weather was a bit warm and i was really thirsty played a role). Also, despite eating a PowerBar (45 g carbs!) an hour and a half before the race, i still felt like i didn't have quite enough energy. Hmm, maybe because I ran 2 miles yesterday after the kick-off (generally i think you're supposed to take a rest the day before such a short race).

anyway, the race itself was good.. the goodie bags that they handed out were excellent..I got a T-shirt (they actually had a size small!) and a free box of Zoe's flax&soy cereal (has omega-3 and no wheat-yay!!), a free Pria bar, a Runner's World logbook, and some free coupons. Pretty good for the $20 entry fee..plus it's for a really good cause (to raise money for asthma research). There was one guy who spoke before the race, who was running in memory of his wife, who had passed away 3 years ago due to a really bad asthma attack (the ambulance couldn't arrive in time due to snowstorms). Very sad story...but by participating in these races, at least you have some sort of hope that you can do something to prevent these things from happening to other people again.

anyway, after the race (michael and I didn't stick around for the awards ceremony) i went to the marriott for the sp officer thank you brunch. i was really late (1 hour) since i had to go home first and shower/change , but it was still enough time to enjoy a tasty ham & cheese omelette with bacon and breakfast potatoes. :) it was barely enough time though, i had to ask for a plastic spoon for my yogurt since at 1pm everyone else started leaving (i wasn't going to be the only one sitting at a 30-person table, still eating!) :)

right after that, i took the T to Kenmore, to meet Michael at AMC Fenway and watch a matinee showing of Mean Girls. Yeah, i had wanted to see it earlier in the weekend, but we ended up underestimating our time to get there so we ended up just taking a walk instead (it was still nice). Anyway, the movie i thought was funny, it wasn't as "ditsy" and shallow as I had expected (Michael agreed). I thought it was hilarious how catty the "Plastics" were..basically overexaggerating the mannerisms of the Ms. Popularity that every high school has.

yes, in more ways that one! In about 2 hours i'm going to go run in the 5k Run for Asthma by MGH. I don't think i've done a 5k in that past 10 years or so, so i thought it would be good to do one and see what my time would be. i'm excited.

and yesterday morning i went to a kick-off meeting for Team in Training in Wellesley. It was really amazing, the people there were so nice (the coaches, organizers, mentors) as well as the Honored Heroes (blood cancer survivors), who were really inspiring. There was a 9-year old girl there (with barely any hair, she had just finished her chemotherapy) and she was saying "Thank you" to everyone for joining the program and helping raise money for leukemia.

Anyway, it sort of quelled any doubts i had about signing up for the program (i signed up on Thursday after an info session in Central Square) and it was kind of on a whim. I mean, I had been interested in doing the Nike Women's Marathon in October for a little while, but i when i saw how much money i would have to raise for it ($3,800) I was shocked! There was no way I could raise that amount! That's the main thing that freaks me out now (seriously, the running 26 miles doesn't sound so bad in comparison). I don't know that many people, and I don't know if i could just ask tons of people for money. However, deep down, i just really wanted to do it (i really wanted to do a marathon, and didn't want to do it all by on my own) and plus, if i actually was able to do it (raise $3,800), then that's four grand closer to finding a cure for leukemia! I don't know, I just like being able to do things that everyone says are impossible (like getting into MIT). Well, i hope all goes well with it...

BTW- yesterday night we had our SPEC "thank-you" dinner, at Anthony's Pier 4. That place is amazing!! It's really fancy and it's right on the water. It's perfect..Michael liked it as well. Anyways, the dinner was really great..it was good food (small caesar salad , scallops, lobster bisque, + rice pudding for dessert) and good fun!