North Carolina is not a Continuous Function

Hi folks. I am sincerely sorry for not updating my blog sooner. It so happens that I have actually written a post explaining the fun I had during Christmas and the event that ended the break and the fun. However, out of paranoia, perhaps, I am choosing to wait to share that post until later in February.

This semester, besides research, I am taking on another tutorial-based course (statistical thermodynamics) and I am a TA for another course (macromolecular structure). The tutorial class is by choice where as the TA assignment is not. At Duke, graduate students in my department are required to TA one course. For some odd reason they assigned me to TA the macromolecular course (this was written in the most sarcastic tone…believe me). The TA duties, as of now, revolve around copying class handouts and grading the weekly assignments. Grading is not fun; no wonder math professors higher undergraduate math majors to grade assignments!

Statistical thermodynamics on the other hand is an absolutely fascinating class. Since it is tutorial based, the class, all 5 of us, get to dictate how fast we go. We are now taking time to get the proper mathematical foundation needed for the rest of the course. For me, this means learning math that I have not had before, differential equations. To learn such things I have found that reviewing basic calculus requisite. Luckily, calculus is roughly analogous to riding a bike; once you learn it a quick review brings it all back again. I find math amazing and fascinating. As I learn these new mathematical methods I keep on thinking, ‘You know if I wasn’t doing this PhD gig, I‘d totally go for a second bachelors in math’.

We are learning how to find an extreme on a 3D-surface; how cool is that?!! I know you’re all dying to know, ‘How can I do that?!’ I highly recommend you watch a video or two on Lagrange multipliers; there are a few good ones on youtube.

So Friday night Jeremy put an idea in my head by asking, ‘Road trip?’ You see, we both had no plans for Saturday and the weather was supposed to be phenomenal. I has heard of this place called ‘Hanging Rock’ here in NC and had always wanted to go. I went home and researched the matter. After finding out the Hanging Rock was a state park with numerous hiking trails a mere 2 hours away, I was sold. At 11 PM I texted Jeremy and we planned on a 7 AM departure. The drive there was uneventful. The state park was beautiful, complete with a lake, campsites, hiking trails and a hidden pond. The terrain was relatively rugged; mind you, the ‘relative’ term refers to the state of North Carolina. In fact, that is where the title of my post comes from; ‘North Carolina is not a Continuous Function’. This is analogous to saying that there are actually cliffs in NC. We hiked to the highest point in the park; a tad over a whopping 2500 feet (sarcastic tone). At the top there is an old fire-watch tower; it’s pretty cool. Jeremy brought his camera and I’ll be sure to post the pictures ASAP. Until then, enjoy Jeremy’s panoramic video from atop the watch tower.

Hanging Rock Video

NIH Grant, DONE!!!

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while. Suffice it to say that I was preoccupied; I was writing a ‘big’ grant for an NIH fellowship. Big relative to this stage in my ‘career,’ if you will; I’ll be writing much bigger grants in the future. It was due yesterday and I was able to get it in with a whole 11 minutes to spare! The final product was a 42 page PDF! Luckily I did not do it on my own. I have to thank Dave and Jane, my PIs, Marsha Brooks, our staff assistant, and my three referees (those who wrote reference letters; Sean, Joanie, and Terry). Now I can get back to doing graduate stuff, a.k.a research. I am excited to get back into the research, It’s difficult but the challenge comes with numerous learning opportunities. It is my personal belief that learning, personal growth, and happiness are synonymous.

For Thanksgiving, I went to NOVA (a.k.a. northern Virginia) where my brother’s (Shane’s) family were kind enough to host me. It was a great dinner but the best part, as always, was to spend time with some family. I went up there the next week where I watched my Aggies play Georgetown, we didn't win but it was fun to see them play nonetheless.

I will work on my research for a week and a half and then I’ll be heading to NOVA yet again to spend Christmas with Shane’s family (thanks Shane). That is unless I find $600 dollars on my way to school, in that case I’d go back to Utah :).

Not much to this post because all my time has been spent on this grant. Until next time...

(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…