Monthly Archives: January 2006

I’ve been having so much fun lately, and, keeping with the recent trend, I’ve been really busy too.  This past week or so, my days have all been 8:00am (7:00am on one) to 12:01am.  This evening, for the first time in a long time, I stopped and thought about where I’m at.  Austin, TX?  University of Texas?  UT Cycling Team?  A career in Anthropology in the making?  Meaningful relationships?  I speak Portuguese?  When did all of this happen?  I almost lost track of things for a second…

I love staying busy.  That’s been my entire mode of existence lately; busy busy busy.  School’s been keeping me busy; my hobbies have been keeping me busy; and the rest of my time has been taken up by those other essential things I need to exist (i.e. food and sleep).  

School.  School is getting back into gear rather quickly.  Over the weekend I read around 200 pages for one of my Anthropology classes, Race in Brasil; and then proceeded to write a paper “critically summarizing” the reading.  I turn that one in tomorrow; hopefully they’ll like it.  My other classes seem to suck up a lot of time too; Portuguese as always, my second anthropology class is very reading intensive too, government surprisingly requires a decent amount of outside work this semester, and linguistics seems to take up a fair amount of time as well.  It’s all well within the realm of manageable though.  In fact, it’s manageable enough of allow me to continue doing the other things I enjoy.  It doesn’t get much better than that…

Speaking of hobbies, my role within the UTCC (University of Texas Cycling Club) was officially expanded this evening.  I am category captain for the Men’s C; which means organizing rides and motivating my fellow C racers to get out and train.  I’m super siked.  I’ll also be filling one of the officer vacancies; I hope I can really contribute to the club in that department as well.  From the looks of things at the moment, it seems like they’re really going in the right direction; I’m glad that I’m becoming more involved in such an awesome organization.  Personally, my training has been going strong, although last week was lacking somewhat.  Oh well…I think I needed to throw a “rest/recovery week” into the mix anyways.  I went riding Sunday morning in the rain and 45˚F weather; it wasn’t as pleasant as I initially imagined.  And, seeing how the bulk of my coursework is due on Tuesdays, I took today off.  I’ll try to pick up where I left off tomorrow afternoon with a good two hours after class.  Sweet!

These last two days have been amazing in every aspect. This semester’s started off with a bang; a big bang. I always like a little craziness in my life; keeps me busy and keeps me on my toes. But it’s been the perfect amount of craziness, and always accompanied by the perfect amount of down time afterwards.

Yesterday I had class from 9:00 to 12:00; all three bunched together in a quick and dirty three hours…just how I like it… I love having certain parts of my day condensed, like an intellectual energy bar; it doesn’t fill you up and gives you just enough to get the job done. I had quite the appetite yesterday too. Since class was done at 12:00, shortly afterwards I ate lunch at the cafeteria, cheap and all you can stuff down your throat of course. I then proceeded to jump on the bike for two hours; which was great by the way. But cycling isn’t just expensive because of the equipment involved, it’s expensive because of all the food it takes to keep you going. After my ride I was hungry again. So, its 3:30pm and I’m off to Chipotle with Vanessa. Big ass burritos. After the feast my stomach is of course very content. But wait, there’s more. 7:00pm and I’m off to dinner at Marsha’s place; kick ass beef stew and salad and potatoes with Vanessa, Sam, Sam, and yet another cyclist. And believe me, no matter what; it’s impossible to say no to food like that. So I ate…again… And, I must say, that was some high quality stew….

Today was a really awesome day too. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Anthropology days on my class schedule; they’re also Portuguese days too, which I can’t complain about either. I am in love with my Anthropology classes. Those classes aren’t a chore for me; I can sit down and read 150 pages of the course material at one time and never lose interest. I think I’ve finally found my place in academia. So naturally, those two classes brighten my day from the beginning. After class, around 3:30pm I head off for a bike ride; a little bit of hard work. I went down and up the big hill on Mesa road; under three and a half minutes to get back up. “Race shape” I’m gunning for under three minutes, but we’ll see about that later. Since I was quickly running out of daylight, I blasted out a few laps around the Shoal Creek loop and headed home. But the ride was still way too short, so after dinner I hit the gym with some friends of mine. Squats, leg presses, leg extensions, and some other “make your legs burn like hell” exercise in the weight room; and then a little over an hour in the racquetball court. That definitely picked up where the ride left off and successfully pushed my legs out of their comfort zone.

The most important thing about the last two days hasn’t been the food, the intellectual energy bars, the burning legs or the anthropology orgasm; I’d be happy without any of that because most importantly, the last two days have been filled with laughter in the company of the coolest people in the world. I’m smiling…and we’re up to four days straight now…

It’s always a game of tug of war between the words on the tongue and the butterflies in the stomach.  Then the words trip and stumble over the thoughts they’re stepping on and the match is lost.  All is lost.  

The problem isn’t the strength of the butterflies, or the power of the words.  The problem is the rough playing field.  The thoughts are never smooth enough to give the words a sure footing.  

For those still looking, we all wish we could find that feeling; the feeling that gives you no apprehensions and thoughts of doubt.  With a stable footing, the words are so strong they’d rip the rope to pieces.  They’d sail freely out of the mouth, and steal the heart of the only one who matters…every single day…

Patience…

Classes started today, and I must say I’m impressed with what I’m seeing so far.  Portuguese is going to be fun; my new professor seems really exciting and should keep the seven of us entertained.  He made fun of me today for my Portuguese accent, as opposed to his Brazilian accent.  I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say at first, but after a few tries it finally made sense.  We’ll be able to understand each other a little better after a few weeks.  Both of my Anthropology classes were today also.  I think Cultures in Contact will be really interesting; my professor, the chair of the Anthropology department, seems really good as well.  Race in Brazil was the highlight of the day though; it definitely lived up to the anticipation and I’m hoping it will serve as the “launching pad” for the rest of my anthropological studies.  It’s also worth mentioning that the class has no tests!  For a person who enjoys writing, those are two highly welcomed words.

I applied for a job today as a barista at Téo: Espresso, Gelato & Bella Vita on 38th street; hopefully I’ll be hearing from them soon.  I spend enough time around coffee shops, so I think after a little training the position will come as second nature to me.  They also seem really willing to work around my schedule and are open in the evenings, so the impact on my academic and cycling lifestyle should be minimal.  

I’m excited.  I’m happy.  I’m smiling.  It seems like I’ve been smiling for two days straight now.  I hope it sticks around for the rest of the week, and I hope it’s contagious too.

I feel like I’m getting sick; a great start for the semester seeing how classes start tomorrow morning. Maybe I shouldn’t have worked so hard last week/weekend. I think the 250+ mile week after my four weeks off was a little much; sure was fun though. Speaking of my bike, I put a new tire on the rear this morning; and after some dedicated testing this afternoon I’ve concluded it’s sticky. I’m going to kill myself on this thing…

My roommate came back today; I guess that means I have to wear clothes now…bummer… I like my roommate though; I just don’t like sharing a bedroom with someone else. I’m apartment shopping and job hunting though; it won’t be too much longer, especially if this semester goes by as fast as the last three.

Today was a little strange because everywhere I went it seemed like girls were staring at me. That’s not a completely unheard of occurrence, but today it seemed to happen a little more than usual. Interesting….very interesting…

The ecosystem on my desk is on its fifth week of life and it’s going surprisingly strong. All of my Hawaiian Opae ula shrimp are still alive and very active, and the snails are doing a spectacular job of keeping the glass clean. I’m such a nerd.

If you didn’t notice, recently I redesigned the website layout; I hope you like it.

Today was epic, and its only 3:00pm. England time woke me up early (which I’m beginning to enjoy more and more) around 7:30am. It was my intention to hit the bike this morning, and, after checking my e-mail, I see a ride advertised by Kyler for 9:30am. I’ve always enjoyed my rides with Kyler. He always seems very knowledgeable when it comes to cycling; he’s easy to have a conversation with; and, being a much more experienced rider, he always makes me work my ass off. This morning it was just the two of us; no one else to keep the pace at a moderate level. We were flying; at least by my standards. 65 miles and 3.5 hours later I was spent. On top of getting some really good training miles in I also gained huge amount of information about racing, training, and everything else involved with cycling. I’m so anxious for the season to get into gear.

I love cycling because it gives me an excuse to be self-conscious. I like to watch my leg muscles get bigger, my speeds increase, and my strengths and my weaknesses improve. I wish everything in life gave me such apparent indications of success, or at least one thing in life…

Classes start on Tuesday. I’m excited. Finally studying something I enjoy…I hope…

Still single; too picky and too patient I guess. Oh well. I still have a few other things to make me smile when my unlucky relationship status gets me down; they seem to be working very well at the moment.

After twelve hours on a plane, two planes actually, I am finally back home in Austin! Vanessa, Sam and Marsha came to pick me up at the airport last night; I hadn’t slept in 23 hours and I think I was a little out of it… I got to my room, took a shower, and passed out. I was up at 9:30 this morning and was on the bike shortly afterwards. It was the official “get Daniel’s lazy ass back into training” ride. I did a little over 40 miles out west on 360 in the beautiful Texas weather. After that stellar Rose Bowl performance my UT Cycling jersey seemed to attract a lot of honks with longhorns out the windows… I’m looking forward to continuing the official “get Daniel’s lazy ass back into proper shape” week.

My three days in Florence, Italy were wonderful. Two out of three roommates in my hostel were Australians and the other was from Algeria. It was a lot of fun trying to communicate with the Algerian guy; he spoke French and Italian and I speak English and Portuguese, with a very cloudy bit of French from High School. I tried to tell him that learning Portuguese pushed all the French out of my head, but I couldn’t remember the French translation for “remember”. So I said “Portuguese” and made the hand gesture of something going into my ear, and then said “Francais” and made the hand gesture of something going out of my ear. Classic. It’s amazing how well people can communicate without any spoken language similarities. I spent a lot of time with the two Australian guys and the three Australian girls who were staying below us. They were definitely from a partying breed though, and I really wasn’t in Italy to get wasted every night. I got a chance to see some of the most famous artwork in the world; at the Uffizi and the Plazza del Pitti. Parts of Florence are like artwork too; overall a very picturesque city. My plane arrived/departed from Pisa, about an hour from Florence by train, so while I was in the area I stopped by the leaning tower and took a few pictures too. Here’s a small portion of the pictures I took while I was there…

This is the painting on the dome of the Dormo in Florence; the fourth largest cathedral in the world.
A look inside. You can’t really get the full view because the space is too big for the camera lens.
One of the three doors of the Dormo. Again, you really don’t know just how big it really is unless you see it in person.
This painting is above the door pictured above; on the outside.
A view of the front.
These sculptures are near the Uffizi museum. Unforunately there are no cameras allowed inside the Uffizi though.
This street is near the Uffizi. You may also recognize it from the movie “Hannibal”.
The river that goes through Florence.
One of the many very, very narrow streets.
Two of the three famous buildings in Pisa.
And the most famous one of them all…

I have 84 other pictures from my Italy trip; let me know if you want to see more…

Sorry I haven’t been able to post anything new in a while. I am in England; it’s cold, boring, rainy, and all of my friends and my bike are on the opposite side of the world. Whew. Besides that, I’m doing well; just enjoying some time off with my family. January 6th I’m going to Italy for three days. Tuscany. Alone. Awesome! I don’t have enough time to write a whole lot, so I’m going to fill the rest with pictures. Pictures from England. Cold, wet, rainy, get’s dark at 3:30pm England. Enjoy.

This is some snow from a few days ago…too cold for Daniel…

The English country-side…not too bad, eh?

This is from a pond down the road from my house.

Same place, but my artistic side is coming out this time…

Happy New Year’s everyone. I’ll write some more when I get back in Austin, January 10th at 9:20pm…that’s if I can peel myself away from my bike long enough…