spacekadet

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...

Posted by monica at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by monica at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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)

Posted by monica at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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!).

Posted by monica at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Posted by monica at 09:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by monica at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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?

Posted by monica at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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

Posted by monica at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

typoGenerator is a random generator for 'typoPosters'. a typoPoster is a poster, created from images and letters/text that doesn´t have any sense, just to look good.

Try it yourself: link

Posted by monica at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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":

Posted by monica at 07:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday (5/4/05): Easy run with Rachel.
Total distance: ~3mi

Thursday (5/5/05): Tempo run.
Total distance: ~3mi

How exciting. About a month and a half ago, I tried the whole running 5 days a week thing. It REALLY hurt, in a bad overtraining kind of way. I had to cut back.

This was the first week that I was able to do the 5 days of running without feeling like I was killing my body. My legs are sore, but sassy. And no ankle pain!

Posted by monica at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

... but the company from the Austinist are delightful!

Last night I checked out the Austinist Happy Hour at the 3-week-new Opal Divine's location on South Congress. I felt a little sheepish for a.) being the 3rd person to arrive and 2.) showing up all sweat-nasty after biking allllll the way up the South Congress hill of doom. Okay, so the hill wasn't bad, in fact, the ride was a delight. But I still haven't sorted out how to get around Austin by bike without feeling like a nasty sweat bag for the subsequent hours AFTER the bike ride while at my destination. I need some kind of a Fresh Kit...

Is that all?? This is only going to get worse as the summer sets in.

The happy hour was fun and I'll probably go back again. I met lots of cool people to whom I probably owe a couple of drinks.

Reasons why you should stick with the original Opal Divine's and avoid the Penn Field location altogether:

Posted by monica at 02:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Austin City Limits festival, held this September 23 - 25, has finally released their lineup. This will be my first year participating in ACL, and I'm totally psyched. The bill looks great, and I can't wait to discover some new music, as well as hear some juicy live nuggets from some amazing artists...

Posted by monica at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Tracey and Jesse are getting married this July 8! This is so awesome because they are two of the coolest people I know AND I got the day off AND their wedding is in one of my favorite places of all times, Nawlins!

So if you're free and willing, you should totally head out there that weekend and come party with me up and down Magazine St., and at the Funky Butt, and at Johnny G.'s and... damn, that weekend just isn't going to be long enough.

I'm also taking applications for a wedding date. Inquire within.

Posted by monica at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaking of the Eels, if you still haven't discovered their new album, "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations", here's a nice little offer to up the ante:

You can buy the CD bundled with a groovy Eels t-shirt for just $24.95 off their online store. The shirt comes in yellow (preferred) and grey. I'm a size Youth Medium. hint hint ;o)

Posted by monica at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

another tuesday and another interval run at an absurdly early hour of the morning. lesson of the day: i need a watch. the run was all fine and good, but i dislike not knowing how long i've been sprinting or recovering. i think i could make my workout infinitely more productive with the addition of a time-telling device. i may even splurge and try a heart monitor. i like the idea of being able to immediately gauge my fitness level and workout intensity. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Runners World has a brief article on HR monitors.

sometimes not having a watch is nice, though, for the mere pleasant surprise of finishing 3 miles in less than 30 minutes.

Aside from occasional timely cluelessness, the run was a solid, high energy, jaunt, with a quadruple runshot spread out at approximately 400m intervals.

Time Spent: 6:50 - 7:20am (30min)
Total mileage: ~3mi

Meanwhile, Mr. E has been keeping me company along the way and throughout the day with the Eels' new album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. It's a pretty intense double feature - two whole albums of reflection, often quiet, sometimes raucous. I like it. It's style harkens back to my favorite Eels' album, Electroshock Blues. Like the EB, I suspect it will take many listens before Blinking Lights truly sinks in. But the ride is wonderful, and I'm patient.

Posted by monica at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. It's fascinating, funny, sad, and occasionally eerily familiar. Whatevs - I think it's neat.

Update (15 April 2007):

Old news, but news nonetheless: post secret is now a book. You can read an excerpt from it here