Another Southern California Weekend

This is actually from a few weekends ago.

Mission Juno - Work!

Even though it rarely gets mentioned on this blog, I do actually have a job.  Fortunately, SWRI (southwest research institute) made a really cool website about Mission Juno.  I worked on the mechanical design of the MWR antennas.  If you go to the website through the link below and click on "launch", it should bring you right to a video about MWR by the instrument scientist.  The background image shows the spacecraft and the antennas in yellow.  Also, you can find out more about the other instruments and the Juno spacecraft.  Enjoy!

Mission Juno - MWR

I was super lucky to get a chance to work on this project! 

P.S.  I just noticed I am one of the white coat people during the time lapse antenna build part of the video. 

Success and Failure: A Graph

I drew this on a pink post-it at work during a conversation I was having with one of my friends the awhile ago on gchat.  I think this post is in honor of the olympic trials marathon, or something like that.  Not that I run anywhere near that fast.  But some people I know do, and some people I don't know, but know of, do too.

friend:  yeah i meant to ask, what does THAT LINE represent?

me: idk

friend: the line where we....do what?

me: i think its when we forget we are afriad

afraid

or that limits exist

so we are at our limit, right

and then, forget about them, and choose to add more energy

now it gets scary

that is when you break tendons

or have near death experiences

or win races you never thought you could

but even the things you think are really really unbelievably awesome have a huge price

you might not see it yet

but that is why the line goes both ways

and even really bad things have a really good benefit, i think, even if you don't know it

 

Just another day at work.

Work Life Balance

Dear work,
    I was going to go to work on Wednesday, I swear, because I only went to work...minimally...last week.  I even put on work clothes.  You can see them in the photo.  I promise I meant to go to work.  Then I drove by work.  And surfed until 4pm.  Oops.  Sorry.  Didn't quite make it in that day.  In my defense, a surfer almost drowned and I was the first medically trained person on the scene.  I was going to get out of the water and drive to work but decided I should paddle back out after that.  Then a seal decided to try to "play" with me.  How could I disappoint him by leaving (ok maybe that's a stretch)?  Anyway, the bottom line is, I didn't make it in, so I am working today on my day off.  That's okay though because I ran and surfed so much this week I don't think I could do either today anyway.

           Sincerely,

              Julie

P.S.  Since I know you are dying to ask, the new wetsuit is awesome.  Things have changed since I bought my last 5/4 in 2006.  It's almost as good as my 6/5!

(no this is not a real email, I do want to keep my job)

Nook!

I have a LOT of blog updates to do but it takes a lot of time.  In a quick summary:  went climbing, went surfing, started doing track workouts again, went to Maine, and went to Yosemite.  Someday I'll get to all of that.

For now, I got a Nook.  I signed up for the GREs but wouldn't study because a GRE study book was too heavy to carry on the airplane (oh yeah I went to Rhode Island too), so Mom and I went to Barnes and Noble to get a nook.  I am generally not so psyched to get lots of new technology just for the sake of getting something cool (I am NOT an iphone fan as Josh knows quite well, except I do borrow his from time to time and the camera is pretty awesome).  So a nook was not something on my list of things to buy.

But it's awesome.  I think.  I can have tons of books on airplane flights and all I need to carry is the nook!  I didn't realize how nice that would be.  The downside is I spent tons of $$ on books.  People will say things like oh you should read this and normally I wouldn't because I'd have to find time to go to the library or buy it (I still love the library btw).  Now, I go online and the next thing I know I have a new book to read.  Eventually, hopefully, my rate of e-book buying will go down, but for now I am going to enjoy all the reading I started doing.  :)  Also, I don't like looking at lit up screens all the time.  Nook isn't like that.  E-ink is awesome.

Airplane rides (why do I insist of flying across the country so often) are a lot more awesome now!

Liquid Sun

Some surf sessions are worth skipping a track workout.  And leaving work way too early.

Perfect glass as the sun sets, turning the water into liquid sun. 

You know its barreling when the waves crack as the lip hits the water.

It was totally unexpected.  And beach was totally empty.  I guess nobody else knew either.  Sometimes, things just work out. 

Ending the night eating Peruvian dinner with my boyfriend and a bodyboarding friend.  Good day. 

I like going to work in the morning and smiling.  :)

New Running Shoes with a Little Help

Clearly I have been neglecting the blog again.  Oops.

So after Seattle, I did a 5k one weekend (early july?  JP Blecksmith Memorial 5k).   It was pitiful.  Now looking back on it, I realize a couple of things.  First, my legs were a lot more tired than I thought from mountain running.  It took a bigger toll on me than I expected (much much bigger...it took until mid-August to figure this out).  Second, I was injured.  Feet tendons were sad from too many mountains (someday, if I ever learn to write half decently and end up with a book, it is going to be called that..."Too Many Mountains").  I had sort of kept running, while being as careful as possible.  Third, pure mountain running is not the same as flat road running and the "training" (if you could call it that), didn't translate very well.  So just after the race, I got new running shoes.

I like lightweight running shoes with thin soles.  It feels good to run in them.  Until my feet fell apart from too many mountain descents without appropriate building up to it.  So I went to the running shoe store looking to get a new pair of pretty lightweight shoes (my shoes up until this point weighed under 6oz...suacony a4s and vibram five fingers) that were hopefully enough support I didn't have to stop running (yes, sometimes buying running shoes solves injury problems...mostly).  Fortunately, a friend from rock climbing who also happens to be a women's high school xc coach works at the store and is smarter than me.  I went into the store looking for a specific shoe.  Conversation went like this:
Him: "Ok I'll go get your size, I'll be back in a few minutes."
A few minutes goes by and he appears with lots of boxes...what?
Him: "You can choose from these."
Me: "What?  These are heavy!  Don't you have lighter shoes?  I'll get injured in these!  I get achilles tendonitis and plantar faciitis when I wear heavy shoes!  It took me all of college to figure that out!"
Him: "You are injured now, and shouldn't be running.  If you have to buy a shoe today, you need a more substantial shoe, so you get to choose from these.  And btw, take a week off, at least."
Me: "ugh."

But, his experience with working with stubborn women runners (this is a difficult to learn, very refined skill - he gets a lot of credit for it) was very apparent when he sadly laughed at me and said well come back when you aren't hurt.  The normal runner person next to me who also getting fitted for shoes must have been very confused, or maybe entertained.

The bottom line is I got more substantial shoes to wear (Saucony Peregrines) until my feet tendons heal.  Its uncomfortable to run in heavy shoes that seem awkward to me compared to my Saucony A4's, but I'll take that over not running due to injury.  My friend is smarter than me and running in the Peregrines is working a lot better and I can run pain free.  Feet tendons don't heal quickly (Becki informed me of this and now my experience is confirming her warning), so I'll probably be running in Peregrine's for awhile, and just racing in A4s.  Plus...I can't help thinking...if I get used to Peregrines...they'll probably be pretty helpful during a mountain 100 someday...