Finally! An Update of Sorts!

It has been a little while since I have updated. I originally wanted to get about one post in a day, but it has been almost a week since I last wrote a post. Hence, today I shall write three different posts. Excited? Well, you should be.

Topic number one: The elite running scene.

The particulars: Chicago.

Holy. Monkeys.

The last 10 minutes of the Chicago Marathon was a battle for the ages between Kebede and Wanjiru. Wanjiru was dropped no less than 3 times as he attempted to surge past Kebede for the lead. Then came the final attack: Wanjiru dropped the hammer with less than a kilometer to go, leaving Kebede in the dust. In the last 500m, Kebede gave up almost 20 seconds to Wanjiru! Yes, you read that correct. 20 seconds! Rumor says Wanjiru finished the last 800m in 2:04-2:05, and I can very much believe that, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. Check out the video of the end of the race at NBC Chicago.

Perhaps even more ridiculous is the fact that the finish of the Eindhoven Marathon in the Netherlands was even closer, finishing in a virtual photo finish.



Finally, I would like to mention Molly Huddle won the women's US Road 10K Championship today, and Jen Rhines finished second. Why am I so ecstatic about this? Both women grew up in upstate New York. Upstate pride, y'all. Upstate pride.

An Interesting Link

In light of the latest Tour de France doping scandal, Professor Richard Lipton has written an interesting blog entry on the topic of drug doping in mathematics and mind sports. Check it out. It's a fun read.

Oh, and here is a special statement for the kids:

Harbinger of Doom

You are the harbinger of doom. You excite me just to bring me down. You promise ecstasy yet deliver pain. Supposedly, McDonald's has dedicated fryers. Supposedly, I should not have this stabbing feeling in my side. Like knives. And swords. And other sharp objects. However, I now know the truth. McDonald's, our long-standing relationship is officially over.

At least I still have one more guilty pleasure in my life.


Crisp. Refreshing. Coca Cola.

And I swear I was not paid to say that.

Hello Sunset My Old Friend

I would say it is about time for a run.

Attack of the Grammarians

Inspired by Vampire Weekend, my fiancee and I have decided to take a poll. The question: what are your thoughts on the Oxford comma: yay, nay, or who honestly cares? Of course, it is almost impossible for me to not introduce bias into the poll with a list composing of three or more answers (call the neutrality police, he already used the comma!). Nevertheless, we have gotten a fair amount of interesting answers so far, and we are hoping to wrap up the poll soon. I am hoping to do an analysis of the data based on area of study/career, age, and gender. Stay tuned for the results!

On the topic of grammar, I thought of a fun grammatical conundrum while discussing the issue of the Oxford comma with a few of my fellow graduate students. Consider the following all-around terrible sentence:

My favorite three meals are bacon, eggs(,) and cheese, spaghetti, meatballs(,) and marinara, and steak and potatoes.

Regardless of whether one uses the Oxford comma or not, it is a downright terrible sentence. Of course, we all know the solution (okay, maybe its not entirely obvious or even universally supported): use the all-powerful and little-understood semi-colon. Then we have:

My favorite three meals are bacon, eggs(,) and cheese; spaghetti, meatballs(,) and marinara; and steak and potatoes.

Mathematically speaking, we have a list of sets. To separate the individual sets, we use a semi-colon. Now, what if we have a list of sets of sets? Consider the following awful, awful situation:

We decided to break the nine kids into one of three possible combinations of groups of three:

Andrew, Brian(,) and Freddy
Sam, Jim(,) and Sue
Steven, John(,) and Julia

Andrew(,) Freddy, and Sam
Jim, Sue(,) and Steven
Brian, John(,) and Julia

Andrew, Sam(,) and Steven
Brian, Jim(,) and John
Freddy, Sue(,) and Julia

How would we enumerate this list of lists into one sentence? Now, I know what you are thinking. Why the hell would we want to do that? That is terrible style! However, let's just consider it as a case that is allowable in the English language. In this sense, I am seeking universal consistency. Do we need a new symbol to be able to separate items which are lists of lists? Shall we return to Latin?


And what if we had a list of sets of sets of sets? Dear God, what have I done?

And so the mathematician continues to consider the worst case which never appears in practice. *Sigh*. If you were at all interested by this, check out the huge field of linguistics. And read up on Noam Chomsky. Well, his work on grammar anyway.

I wasn't expecting company this morning!

This has got to be the first Preying Mantis I have seen in Austin, and it is quite a doozie at that (size of my fist!).

Oh Sweet Coffee!

Yesterday was a wonderful day for two reasons: (1) I got paid and (2) I ran out of my grocery store espresso blend. Why, do you ask, was (2) a contributing factor to the day's sense of wonder? Well, that is because I was able to head over to Anderson's to grab some legit dark espresso blend!


Now, I honestly should stop heading over to my local grocery store for my ground coffee. The blend is not terribly great, and the blade grind often results in subpar underextracted espresso. Nonetheless, I always seem to end up there due its convenient location (I can walk there). Anderson's, on the other hand, has a fantastic blend and a burr grinder (I really wish I could afford my own burr grinder to grind at home - maybe this will happen when I finally have my doctorate). Plus, their coffee is reasonably priced (the espresso blend is only $8.95/pound).

At home, I have the Mr. Coffee ECMP50 Espresso Maker. And let me tell you, for the price, the machine is legit. It is the only decent pump espresso machine I know of under 80 bucks. Don't let the price fool you though - it produces a fantastic cup of espresso with a nice layer of crema. Well, it produces a great cup if you do your homework. A few things I have learned to get the most out of this machine: (1) use a good blend of beans, (2) master the art of tamping and realize the correct amount of tamping may vary depending on the grind of your coffee, and (3) clean the machine as much as possible. I should also note that the machine is quite powerful (15 bars!) so it requires a bit of a different touch than your standard 9-bar espresso machine. Get the variables right and you just might surprise yourself with the quality of your shots. Case in point: the two shots I drew this morning with the Anderson's blend honestly tasted better than anything I have tasted in Austin. And that is without manual temperature control (unfortunately, as one would probably expect, this machine does not come with an adjustable thermostat).

The first shot right after being drawn. Note that the reddish hues.



The same shot a few seconds later, having settled. Note the golden tan layer of crema. Delicious sweetness.


The second shot awaiting me at my coffee table.



Naturally, the espresso can't by any stretch touch the best espresso I have had in Italy. However, I have honestly had worse espresso in Italy as well (yes, not all of the espresso in Europe is out-of-this-world good, contrary to popular belief).

For tradition's sake, I should probably mention food to finish off this post. I shall express my thoughts in terms of a simple equation: