Sunday, May 5, 2013

I Live in Iowa: Week 106

A busy busy week! Sunday started off with a half marathon, which has already consumed too many words. The rest of the week drowned in a sea of early mornings and tired evenings.

After running the half I drove back to Dubuque, rather sleepy, and crashed on my couch the rest of the day. Although it was such a nice day that I did pump up the bicycle tires and get out for a few miles on the bicycle for the first time in 2013. I would like to do some fun stuff on the bike this summer, nothing serious, but maybe try to bicycle across Iowa in one day. It's only 350 miles and I did 200 alone in less than 12 hours.

Monday started with me at work before 6 AM. We had some time sensitive work to do and it had to happen before first shift Monday. Thus I was at work more than an hour before first shift. Wednesday led to waking up at 4 AM so that I could catch a ride to Davenport to be there before 6 AM. Plus, as part of my rest from running I decided to take a hiatus from coffee. However the adrenaline of the week woke me up well before 6 every day.

Another interesting thing happened this week. I was presenting results and I was criticized. Mostly legitimately but but of our conclusions were the same. It was strange we were almost arguing about the results, yet we were clearly on the same page about the solution. Usually discussions like that end with both parties agreeing on the next step, but neither of us had that authority. It was a meeting I got out of and thought, 'it was good to communicate, and for me to have more feedback, but no forward solution was decided.'

Concerning the time I spent in the factory this week I observed people. Engineers in the office do not always act the same in the factory. It seems that there are three distinct aspects to engineering which often manifest different personality traits. Those aspects are the office, the factory, and the customers. For example, decisive people in the office might not be decisive at all in the factory. Same for in front of customers. I strive hard to be the same person all the time. I want to present a consistent image of myself. I will probably write more on this because I think it is significant.

Running my mileage, including the half marathon was around 30. I had quite a few 1-2 mile days as I continued the quest to run every day.

My van finally broke down Friday. I was leaving work and halfway through an intersection it quit. I had it towed to a garage and the news is not good. I didn't pick up the phone when they called Saturday, but they didn't even leave a message about the problem. That can't be good. I am afraid a bearing might be out. Hopefully just a fuel pump or filter or something.

I didn't answer my phone Saturday because I was trying to go sky diving. Not this tandem baloney, just me and my parachute. My sister and I took the class but it was too windy for student jumps, so we hung around the airfield watching the experienced people jump. A bit of a let down, but I feel much more safe about the sport now.

A log week to be sure. This one may be longer.

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