Fermilab Triathlon!!!

This year I am participating in the Fermilab Triathlon put on by the Graduate Student Association of Fermilab.
This is their 9th annual event, however my first (last year I went to Thailand during this event).
The event is broken into three parts as followed:

• 800m Swim in the FNAL pool.
• 20km Bike on an out and back loop on FNAL roads (see below for race route).
• 5km Run on a great loop course consisting of both paved roads and prairie paths (see below for race route).

What has me excited about this is that I am a terrible swimmer...but the chance to get to do it in a pool in the relaxed environment of the Fermilab Village. Then it is on to a bike path that I've ridden a number of times including a loop around the accelerator ring and then a jog around the lakes and houses in the Village where I got to live and run for an entire year.

Now since this is my first serious race of this sort I'm not expecting to do very well...in addition I am riding a my fixed gear bike....there is no way I can beat someone who is on a serious race bike...but I'll bet I make someone look twice at how much they spend on their bike!
Even more than all of this...the GSA puts this on FOR FREE! All you need is a Fermilab Id and the willingness to have some fun!

Two Things I'm Reading Right Now

So since I am desperately trying to finish a PhD in particle physics and my research goes in spurts where I have weeks like the last one (60+ hours of work) followed by weeks like this one (stumped on a problem that has me baffled) I find myself with some odd time to catch up on reading as well as research. So I thought I'd post two of the things I am reading right now.

1) Dark Matter: A Primer by Katherine Garrett, Gintaras Duda
This seems to be a nice introduction to the story, case for, and current research in the phenomenon known as dark matter. The reading is a bit dense for the non-scientist, but someone with upper level undergraduate or beginning level graduate knowledge in physics should be able to follow and enjoy what seems to be a well layed out paper on the subject with lots of good references to follow up with.
I try my best to troll http://arxiv.org at least once a week. It is a great way to stay on top of what is being published in my field
(http://arxiv.org/pdf/1006.2483)

2) Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Beynus

I'm only ~100 pages into this book and I'm already pretty hooked. This books seems to be all about the idea of extending our research into the problems that we face with industrialization, pollution, and expanding population by taking points from nature instead of trying to control nature.
Answering problems of energy, agriculture, and other wide subjects by asking, "How does nature manage to feed/power the entire bio-sphere without people intervening? And, where do humans fit into this plan?"
I'm always fascinated by people that take on the tough questions by asking the simple ones...and this book is all about it.

So, there it is...the things I do in addition to research that take away from me ever getting done in time ;-)

Chicago Naked Bike Ride!!!

Biking is one of my many passions. Being naked...not so much. However, when my wife told me about the Chicago Naked Bike Ride this weekend I couldn't help but join in.

Needless to say it was a lot of fun!!! Around minute 4:39 you catch a glimpse of me and my wife riding by...near the tall bike and the completely naked man with orange hair. Now we didn't go totally nude, instead I was in boxer briefs (looking like a normal cyclist in stretch shorts) and Heather went in her 'newly weds' bikini.

With slogans like "Less Gas, More Ass", "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, that oil spill has got to go!" and the ever simple "F--k BP!" the ride was full of scenes of fun and freedom. While I do support biking instead of cars, and going nude to make a point...I don't necessarily agree with blaming BP for our oil spills. At least not so much as most of the riders did. Instead I blame us, our dependence on cars / oil based products / and the agriculture we've grown around oil based pesticides and fertilizers.

Now, I don't offer any solutions (yet...I'm still educating myself on the problem at large and my own contributions) nor do I think riding naked around Chicago really solves anything. But if you are going to make a statement you might as well have fun with it...and this was fun