(Not me:) but a great picture nonetheless)

So these last couple of weeks I have been writing and re-writing a couple of grants, as I said in my last post. Well, I finally got the first draft of the NIH grant done and will get comments on it back from my PI tomorrow. That’s pretty much it for school.

Yesterday I went on a 50 mile bike ride. I did the exact same loop a few weeks ago and surprisingly felt fine afterwards, save a few sore muscles. This time however was different. I was doing fine until I hit mile 35. I was running out of gas with fifteen more miles to go. I had no choice but to keep on going, so that is what I did. It was difficult and I had a very hard time constantly pedaling (for those who are unfamiliar with road biking that is what you do, pedal constantly). At one point in those last fifteen miles I stopped and got off the bike to stretch. A car was kind enough to pull over and ensure that I was alright. I told her that I was just taking a break. I got back on my bike and rode the rest of the way in. I think that the main problem was that I had not prepared nutritionally before hand and did not bring sufficient food for my travels.

As I often like to do, I will liken this bike ride to life. This journey we are on in mortality can provide us with stretches that are particularly hard to deal with. The hardships may come in a variety of forms. Whatever the case may be, I believe that, for at a few of those trials, they come because of our lack of preparation. I need only to cite the parable of the ten virgins to illustrate the point. Some tough days can be anticipated; these can usually be prepared for to one degree or another. However, some rough times may sneak upon us unawares. But let it be known that these trials can be prepared for just as those we anticipate by living the Gospel as well as we know how to. We need to keep it simple as Elder Ballard emphasized in the last YSA fireside. Read the scriptures, pray, ponder, re-read the conference talks, serve, repent etc. The simple things are what matters most. Some may say, “But I have issue A.” This matters not. Indeed ‘issue A’ may be very difficult but the simplicity of the gospel is not and, with patience, the with the simplicity of the Gospen ‘issue A’ will be overcome.

First we must have faith, “hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21). Second we must repent. Third we must keep our covenants. Finally we muse seek the Spirit. The Spirit will tell us all things what we should do (2 Nephi 27:3). Simplicity is the key, no if, and or buts about it. The truth is that I simply did not prepare properly for the bike ride; I needed more food, my body was screaming, “I need carbohydrates.” The question then becomes, “What is my spirit screaming for?” Praying and pondering for the answer to this question, no matter if we are a smooth or rough spot, and seeking out that which is revealed will increase our endurance during the rough times in our lives.

One of my favorite scriptures. It doesn’t make a bad song either :)

“In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.” Isaiah 54:8

Grants and a Road Trip

My research has been put on hold as I attempt to get funding through two federal agencies, the NSF (the National Science Foundation) and the NIH (National Institute of Heath). Both these require a grant proposal detailing what I propose to research as a graduate student. The NSF proposal requires a personal statement, previous research essay, and the research proposal, each are confined to two pages. The NIH grant requires a one page detailing the specific aims of the project and a six page research plan. I am done with the NSF one, I’ve gotten pretty good at doing these as this is my third time doing it and my last year of eligibility. The NIH grant is new to me and require much more detail on what I propose. This one is due on in three weeks. So for the next three weeks I’ll be attempting to write a well conceived proposal.

Last Friday my friend, Tennyson, and I took a road trip to the Cherokee reservation in western North Carolina; up in the mountains. It took the whole day as it takes 4-5 hours to bet to the reservation. It turned out that we left way too late and had to reschedule his appointment for latter in the afternoon. This turned out to be a good thing as we were able to stop in Ashville, a town I’ve wanted to visit since I’ve arrived in NC. It is a hippie town with a lot of small shops and restaurants, this is where we ate lunch. We ate at an Indian buffet; it was very good. We then traveled to the reservation. We had to climb a high pass where there was a heavy dusting of snow. We took the trip mainly so Tennyson could go visit the dentist on the reservation. It was great to see the reservation and the mountains of NC. I hope to go back there again.

Yesterday I took a bike ride; it was spectacular as the temperatures were in the sixties and the leaves were at their peak, reds, yellows, and oranges. On my ride I stopped to visit Dave and Jane at their home, which was nicely tucked away in the woods. Their home is very unique, like noting I have seen before. They have a central foundation up from which a steel pole emenates. The main house cantilevers from that pole in a circle. They then have an addition roughly in the shape of a soccer ball, very cool! Unfortunately I have no pictures to show.

These pictures are from the aforementioned road trip. Enjoy.

This was at a cool shop we stopped at that had a bunch of crafts and home-made foods.

NC Snow!

Costume shop, Ashville, NC.

Ashville, NC.

Halloween

This weekend was, as wee all know, the great holiday where we celebrate scary things and eating an abundance of candy. For those unfamiliar with this holiday one usually dresses up for the festivities. As such I dressed up as a zombie cyclist. Enjoy the pictures!

Zach

Wardrobe malfunction. Me and Hayley

Zach, me, Jeremy

Grants and the state fair

In school I have put my research on hold while I take up the proverbial pen and start writing grant proposals. I am writing my third NSF (National Science Foundation) GRFP proposal and it so happens that this will be my last year of eligibility. I am pretty much done with that one because I am using the same documents from last year save a few minor changes. I have also decided to take on a bigger proposal through the NIH (National Institute of Heath) though the amount of money is considerably less. I am doing this one mainly because it will force me to write down what I plan on doing for my dissertation. This will require a lot of thought on my part as well as thought as I discuss my project with Dave and Jane, my PIs. Further, this process will go a long way in preparing me for my preliminary exams, specifically the written portion. Overall, it is a very worthwhile exercise.

This weekend was a blast. I went to the North Carolina State Fair, which is always loads of fun. My goal is to go there every year that I’m here. We saw old-fashioned crafts, a gristmill (powered by a waterwheel!), huge vegetables, and many livestock. We went on Saturday, which was a beautiful day, sunny and the perfect temperature. There was a beautiful garden exhibit. I am bummed that I didn’t take my camera.

The food. We ate at a Methodist ‘diner’ where we had very good food (cheeseburgers, BBQ pork, onion rings, ham biscuits, etc. At the gristmill we had very good hush puppies for free! We then had to try some fair delicacies, deep-fried whatever. This year’s big feature was the KrispieKream cheeseburger where a KrispieKream doughnut was the bun. I did not try that! What I did sample was deep fried Oreos, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and cookie dough. These were not as bad as I though they were going to be, not that I am claiming they were delectable either.

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death” -- Albert Einstein

The Spill and YSA conference

Sorry for the long time between posts. I’ve had a lot of fun and unfortunately a pretty bad fall. The fall happened while I was going 20-25 mph on my road bike. My tire got caught in a crack, nay, a small chasm in the pavement and that was the end thereof. I am here to testify of wearing of one’s helmet. Without my helmet I’m pretty sure that I would have permanent brain damage. Luckily a passerby took me to the hospital. Luckily Duke was three minutes away and I had enough sense to insist that he take me to student heath rather than where he wanted to take me; the ER, yikes.

While the doctor was looking me over he asked me, “Start at one-hundred, take away seven and keep going.” I quickly responded, “100, 93, 86, 79, 72, 65…” by the time I made it to 44 he said enough and concluded I had no concussion or other mental damage. He also asked if I’d be getting back on the road bike. After I responded to the affirmative he shook his head. Would you expect anything else from me? I experienced the oft-repeated response of many cyclists after a bad fall; “I’ll heal. How’s my bike?” I am happy to report that the damage to my bike and body was all cosmetic. The bike shop realigned a few components and it was good to go. My body had a bunch of road rash as well as a rather deep abrasion on my hip. Not too shabby for going down on asphalt doing 20-25 mph.

This weekend we had a YSA (Young Single Adult) conference. We had a great turn out with people driving from as far away as Atlanta to attend. Friday we played games, had dance lessons, but mainly just socialized. Saturday morning we were split up into teams to do various service projects. Our team spread mulch on one of the many trails running through the Duke Forest. In the afternoon we had several workshops that we could choose to attend; I attended one on humility and one on the commonalities between Mormons and Jews. We then had Elder Gibbons (our area seventy) talk to us. The spirit testified that he was indeed a general authority; it was awesome!

I hope to have a more insightful\inspirational post next time. Until then…

The parable of the bike ride.

This week was nothing out of the ordinary; research, learn, sleep, eat, and bike. Therefore, I feel no need to rehash school related activities; I’ve done plenty of that in this blog. Rather, I’ll focus on the activity that I am growing to love more day-by-day, cycling. I put 100 miles on my bike this week alone.

LOTOJA took place on Saturday (the longest single-day US Cycling Federation sanctioned race) starting in Logan, UT and ending in Jackson, WY covering a grueling 206 miles. It’s hard to believe that it was a whole three years since I completed it tandem with Bryan Bornholdt. I am getting into biking so much now that I am considering attempting LOTOJA again in 2011, this time on my own bicycle. I feel I should share with you an experience I had on my ride Saturday.

In commemoration of LOTOJA I decided to cover 1/4 the distance of the real race, 51.5 miles. Considering the condition I was in I felt this was within what I could do but knew that it would push me. As I have yet to go such a distance here in North Carolina I needed to come up with a route that would take me that distance. Luckily, I found, what I will refer to as, ‘dairyland.’ Indeed, there is a road out there with the name ‘Dairyland.’ This wondrous mass of land is relatively close to my house (a sort 15-mile ride). Dairyland is to cyclists as Disneyland is to children. This is because dairyland is rural, thus there is no shortage of paved road with little to no traffic. What more can a cyclist ask for??

The commemoration ride had to be planned because, as previously stated, I had yet covered the said distance, but also I had not yet experienced the joys of dairyland and thus was unfamiliar with the roads there. Google maps too the rescue (I love Google maps). I used the directions tool within Google maps to set out my course and measure the distance. After trying several alternate routes I found the one that would put me at my desired distance of 50+ miles. I typed up the directions on my iPod so that I could have directions on the road if so needed. As I was in bed that night I gave my best friend a call, I call him dad, and I told him my plans for my ride. Since he was on the computer I had him bring up Google Earth and I took him though my route from memory with no major problems. I was pretty proud that I knew this brand new route from memory!

I woke up early; oddly reluctantly and excitedly simultaneously. Reluctant because it was 5:30 AM on a Saturday and excited because I was going to go on an awesome ride. In the words of Freddie Mercury; ‘ I love to ride my bicycle, I love to ride my bike!’ I knew the route to dairyland fairly well as most the route followed one of my usual loops. However, once I crossed into dairyland proper I was in new territory with nothing save my memory and directions on my iPod to guide me. I was fairly confident in the first 8 miles in the new riding country but then the road I was traveling on, supposedly Dairyland Road, started to turn in a way that I thought it shouldn’t. Did I miss a turn? Was I even on the right road anymore? I stopped to get a drink and look at my directions. Unfortunately, the directions were only text; I had no map. Thus the directions were of no assistance in identifying what road I was actually on. Luckily I was in dairyland, with cyclists aplenty, one of whom was slowing down for a stop sign near by where I had stopped and I took the opportunity to ask him if the road I was on was Dairyland. He told me it was and, although the road was turning in a direction that I thought was not right I had confidence to keep going.

I was back riding, confident with where I was headed as I had confirmed that I was on the right road and just reviewed my directions. As I continued for the next few miles I was looking for my next turn: however, it was not coming. I got really quite nervous as Dairyland Road ended in a ‘T’. When I saw the name of the road that Dairyland ran into I was relieved for I recognized the road, but it was not the road that I had been looking for. This was due to my mistake while writing the directions; I had left out Orange Grove Road. As I turned on the road I was confident that I was on the right road and knew the way back to familiar territory. But wait, wasn’t I just as confident a few miles back just to be surprised that I was looking for the wrong road? However, this time my confidence was true and I found my way back to familiar country and on to my house with exactly 51.5 miles under my wheels.

So, why do I tell you this long-winded story of a bike ride? As I do with a lot of life experiences, I found profound parallels with the Gospel. Are these parallels simply coincidences’? I think not. This experience taught the importance of reading the scriptures and the words of modern-day apostles and prophets. Not only reading, but actually knowing the Word. This experience also taught that here in mortality there are plenty of people to help you but you need to take the initiative and ask, as I asked help from my fellow cyclist. Also, our perspectives may not be correct thus consistent reading of the Word, or map in this mortal experience, is requisite to find our way home. Not only was Dairyland Road turning in an unexpected direction, I was looking for the wrong road! A map here would have cleared everything up. All-in-all I take away from this parable, if you will, that consistent sincere study of the Word is required for us to find our way home.

My route!

View 50 Mile Loop Durham NC in a larger map

School & Cycling

This last week was the official start of classes. As indicated in my last post, this means almost nothing for me; I’ll simply continue what’ve been doing all summer, research. However, I do have a tutorial class on macromolecular x-ray crystallography, which I started on Thursday. It was great; it was me and another student in the lab sitting and being taught in my PI’s (primary investigator) office for about two hours. This will occur weekly throughout the semester.

I found something exciting on campus this week and that is a shower near my lab! Why so exciting you ask? This means that I can take my rides (cycling) in the early morning and go straight into lab. My road bike has become an integral part of my routine, as it is practically the only real exercise I get, not to mention the only exercise that I can stand when there are no mountains to climb. On Tuesday and Thursday I took a ride in the country that lies between Durham and Chapel Hill. A lot of the land is owned by Duke and is known as the Duke Forest, none of which is developed. The rest of the land is made up of estates, horse property and sparkly spaced modest homes. Being in the middle of North Carolina, the land is thick with trees. In other words is gorgeous. (When I tell locals I miss the mountains they retort, ‘I bet its nice to have trees though.’ While it is nice to have trees, to compare having trees to having mountains is like comparing having a salad to having steak and potatoes; sure, salad is substance but surly not as rewarding and satisfying as steak and potatoes.) I also took a ride on Saturday in the same area but made a bigger loop. In all, I put 75 miles on my bike this week; I’m slowly getting back into shape.

I went on a date Friday. I was a half hour late though as I put the wrong address into my GPS. But she was cool about it. We ordered Italian food to go and had a picnic on the lawn of a LDS church. Afterwards I helped her set up for a YSA dance that she was in charge of. I met a lot of new people as most of the participants were from the Raleigh singles ward. It was a great time.

Below are a few pictures that I took with my phone as I was riding out in the country.