Beginning of midterms...

Just finished the in-class portion of my micro midterm which was better than I expected. I should have started studying for it much earlier than I did (earlier than a week before... yeah that's grad school for you) to make sure I had all the logical steps and concepts down, but... well it's not the last test I'll take in that class. So that means I'm going to start studying for the Macro and Stats midterms (both in two and three weeks respectively) now. That and I have to do the take-home midterm which is looking like a beast. On top of that, there is the usual load of Macro, Math, and Stats homework to do. Yeah. Going to be a fun weekend for me.
Sadly I won't be able to make it to Erin and Eric's wedding, which I am really upset about. But it's on Sunday, in the evening, and I have class on Monday, as well as the fact that Monday is the due date for the take home midterm. Add to that the stats and macro due next week, and the 5 hour drive (or 2 hour plane ride) to and from Tulsa on Sunday, and it's just too much. I can't do it. Yeah. Not too happy about that. But I'm sure it will be a lovely wedding, and I'll just have to visit Eric and Erin at their new house when they get back. Best of luck to them.

Well I missed my bike rides all last week, but I had a very good excuse. One of those excuses that you don't run into very often. Brown eyes, black hair, great smile. A very good excuse for staying up late and talking, as opposed to waking up at 6 AM to bike. I didn't come down to Dallas to find a girl, or a relationship. In fact up until about two or three weeks ago I was dead set on not taking any girl seriously for a good long time. Just look at my previous posts. The Turks were a joke. An amusement. As were many of the other girls I've written about and met. Interesting people, funny stories, but I just didn't want to be with them. But this girl is different. I came down here to get a PhD, and that was going to be my life. And it still is why I came down here, and it still is the main goal for being here, and I'm going to stay down here until I get it... but there's something special about what's happening here. And I don't know where it's going, and I don't know what will happen, but I have to pursue it. I guess all this rambling is just to say that I really like this girl, and to not pursue this would be crazy. ... although in the situation with this girl, it's probably just as crazy to pursue it, but a good kind of crazy. With her... I have no idea. She surprises me every time, and they're good surprises. I don't know. I'm just excited that she's around, and I look forward to spending time with her and developing this relationship. And she's gotten me to dance.. and I enjoy it... that in itself is just... well... weird. Except for the happy dance... I have always enjoyed the happy dance.

I also like the fact that she admitted defeat on Friday during the cook-off. HAHAHA! I win! With my spaghetti, chica. With... my... SPAGHETTI! Oh yes, I guess I should mention this girl is the very same mexicana who bought me lunch, challenged me to a cook-off, and is mentioned in several previous posts. I would write more about it... but again, I just can't quite find the right words to describe it all.

So in other news, I'm back on the bike this week, and I'm thinking I'm going to join one of my fellow Econ students to work out at 10:30ish on MWF (or MW, or MF, or WF, whatever). Which looking at the schedule might mean I'll push the bike ride up (would be nice to ride while the sun is out) so I don't have a 3 hour block where I sit around in my stinking sweat, only to walk to the rec center and sweat some more. I think if I get up at 8:30 that should be enough time to get ready, and get to Katy trail by 9 PM. If my rides stay around an hour and fifteen minutes, that should also be good time to get to the rec center. That is a long work out.. we'll see how that works. But I can't sit on those dang bike machines. The scenery never changes, the music is annoying, the air is stale, and... it's just not my bike. I'd prefer the Katy or White Rock cloaked in early morning darkness any day. Although the heart monitor is handy. Didn't get over 180 yesterday, which.. I guess is good. If I remember correctly, at KU when I rode the bike machine I usually hit between 180 or 185. And yesterday was at 115-120 RPM on the hill program. Hahaha! Hills! ... yeah I'm still a whimp. So yeah.. heart rate is down... I guess that's good? I don't know. I've just spent so much time judging when I'm overdoing it by whether or not I can complete a sentence without having to breathe heavily, that the whole heart rate thing... eh, I guess its more objective and better. But I like my little odometer, and I like my bike, and I like the trails. So nuts to the rec center, I'm going outside. Plus, seeing as my friend and I are only going to work out for an hour... and I like my 1 hour bike rides... yeah... if I do this I need to rework my schedule a bit. But getting up later to ride is more practical now, seeing as it's not 98 by the time the sun rises. In fact today was beautiful. Cloudy, windy, with a bit of a chill in the air. I don't know why everyone on campus had sweaters. This is shorts weather! :) Feels good. But we'll see how well this works. I might just go back to biking at 6 or 7 AM again.

The brother and sister both seem to be doing well, which is good. Looking forward to fall break... even though I have a stats midterm the Thursday after Fall break... so I'll just be studying during Fall break.

"El hombreguapo" and one of our friends should be up here that Thursday, because they have their Fall break on Thursday/Friday of that week. That should be fun. Hope they don't mind the fact that I won't be there most of the day on Thursday :) Ah, hombreguapo's friend up here can take care of them for a bit.

I think that's about it for the week. Might add more later this weekend (like if I survive my long ride after slacking off for a week. Doing 100 km again... oh boy...)