I was a lot smarter in high school. I knew less, but I could learn more. My memory was better, my concentration was spot on, and I was motivated in school. Sure - part of my diminished “smarts” is my growing out of the traditional schooling process. But I do believe that I would have had an easier time with grad school math if I had taken it all when I was 16.
This brain stuff really concerns me - if the trend continues, I’m scared I’m going to have the mind of turnip by the time I’m 70!
The New Scientist has a rundown of 11 ways to flex your gray matter. Not surprisingly, diet plays a huge role in healthy brain function. You can tell the article was written by an English person, because they recommend beans on toast and marmite as healthy breakfast foods! But not without merit… the high ‘fibre’ in beans and the B vitamins in marmite have both been linked to improved cognition.
So what else?
Drugs.
Music.
Exercise.
Sleep.
Celibacy?
Read on…
I lost my blogging momentum while re-sorting my life after the move and all kinds of other crazy changes. But this article in Science Daily got me back in the spirit.
According to preliminary research done by Tufts, soda pop and other sweet drinks have replaced white bread as the main source of calories in the American diet.
This is almost as scary as the day I realized I had consumed more calories in beer than I had in food.
Link (from BoingBoing)
A few samples from my first 2 rolls with the lomo fisheye. These are digital pictures of 35mm pictures, so forgive their crapulence (and buy me a scanner!).
been busy with moving and work and life type stuff.
but one quick item of note.
in a word…
trogdor
yeah, Matt and Mike Chapman, creators and proprietors of the single finest website on the world wide web will be live in person at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown to present a selection of their finest work and answer questions. Tickets go on sale at 3:30 pm this Friday May 20. I plan to buy extra.
Thursday’s tempo run kicked my ass. But I did it. Rock.
Thursday, 5/13/05
Run: Interval Run
Time Spent: 6:35 - 7:05am (30min)
Total mileage: ~3mi
Followed this up in the evening with pizza and beer at the Parlor. I had intended on writing a review of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy this morning, but I never quite made it to the movie. Who wants to sit silently in the dark when there’s pizza and beer with good people and good conversation?
I’m not sure if it was the food or what, but I had very strange dreams last night. There was a barbeque involved. All kinds of people where there - people from work, friends, no family. Everyone was supposed to bring a little something to share. I spent all kinds of time cooking something fancy, but in the end, it was Dave’s Einstein Bros. bagels (with cream cheese and hummus) that stole the show. Smoking somehow played a part in everything. But that part is a bit of a blur. Another segment of the dream involved a most surprising and very inappropriate interlude with a work colleague. How annoying - you know, I actually wake up from dreams like that feeling GUILTY? And I’m sure that feeling will re-emerge next time I see this person, thus furthering my status as a social retard.
But I’m elated because it was a BEAUTIFUL morning for a bike ride through town. I saved a turtle that was trying to cross Riverside. Soon those trips across Riverside hell will be a thing of the past. Sunday is move-in day, and I can’t wait to be back in the hood. Meet me at the Flight Path?
A haiku - By Joe (thanks!)
(adapted for me)
Friday the Thirteenth
Anyone superstitious?
Watch out, a turtle!
Oh god I’m so tired I can barely type! Ok, I’m exaggerating. But this morning’s run kicked my ass. I did 5 intervals along town lake. It was muggy and gray and my shoes were still damp from Sunday. I did not jog home from the trail (hence the 40min workout time). But I got through my run, not quite like a rock star, but not quite like a potato, either.
That might have been my last interval run along Town Lake for a while. I’m moving back up to Hyde Park this weekend. Rawk.
Run: Interval Run
Time Spent: 7:00 - 7:40am (40min)
Total mileage: ~3mi
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There must be some kind of delayed insulin spike that occurs 48 hours after an ambitious night out at the pub.
Last Friday was my first happy hour with my new work mates. It didn’t compare to the legendary pub outings of my London career, but it made a damn good effort. I introduced everyone to Fireman’s #4, and felt warm in my heart when my colleagues reordered about 4 pitchers of the stuff. It really is the best beer ever, hands down. I ran into some old old math friends, friends from way back before things at UT went mostly potty. I ended up spending the rest of the night with them at Arturo’s sitting outside eating quesadillas and drinking red wine on the house. It was … really nice.
Needless to say, I woke up early Saturday morning feeling a bit rough around the edges and, in typical panicked form, txt’d Rachel, “fancy a run?” For a day spent hungover, it turned out to be a pretty bitchin’ Saturday. We had a nice easy run, followed by a smoothy. We hung around my place reading cookbooks and drinking coffee, took a bike ride around the neighborhood, I shot some pictures of this cool-ass spray-painted cactus just up the road, we went to Escapist Bookstore for their liquidation sale where I scored some cool stuff for el cheapo, and then Rachel let me do laundry at her house. But it doesn’t end there: we made a delicious broccoli tofu stir fry with peanut sauce, a recipe straight out of Molly Katzen’s “The Enchanted Broccoli Forest” Cookbook (a very significant estate sale score, along with her “Moosewood Cookbook”). The weather was great so we took lunch outside. We tinkered on our laptops for a while before watching the superb romantic comedy, Love Actually. When I got home, it was time for a snack, a little reading, and sweet sweet sleep time. I rock the hangover.
But back to that insulin spike I was talking about. Today I feel absolutely smashing. It’s been on the verge of raining all day. I finally decided it wasn’t going to happen, so I hit the trail and did a 60 minute run. Of course, the downpour started mid-way into it, but when I think of the runs I did through the icy rain of London’s winter, this drenching didn’t seem bad at all. It’s such a cool sensation to feel fast. The actual speed of my pace is insignificant; it’s the feeling of bounding energy that makes me glad I started running. It’s difficult to achieve that same feeling through any other sport. With running, you’re just “on” consistently for a prolonged period of time. The result is a sustained physical and mental awareness of the self. Maybe that’s what I like about working out - it puts me in my place. (I am suddenly reminded how much I miss working out with weights!)
Well, it’s Mother’s Day. Happy Mama’s Day! My mom got a bottle of bubbly and a mix CD. Here’s a little playlist I like to call “Yer Mom’s Mix CD”:
If I Had a Boat - Lyle Lovett
Enough to Go By - Vienna Teng
Fly - Nick Drake
Just Add Water - Tim Finn, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn
I’d Rather Dance With You - Kings Of Convenience
Ce Matin La - Air
Ikebana - Kevin Shields
Consequence - The Notwist
Days That Are Over - Sondre Lerche
In My Secret Life - Leonard Cohen
In My Own Mind - Lyle Lovett
The Land Of Plenty - Leonard Cohen
Private Conversation - Lyle Lovett
Good Morning Baby - Tim Finn, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn
Honey and the Moon - Joseph Arthur
Gravity - Vienna Teng
Language - Tim Finn, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn
Lullabye For A Stormy Night - Vienna Teng
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