Return of Content

Some times, you just need some time away from writing. Some times you just feel the urge to purge all regular content in order to kind of start over. Blah, blah, blah - here's something that's not a list of quotes or a cop-out post!

In order to kick off my "glorious" return to blogging, here are a few updates to advance/close out some unfinished business and some possible future content.

• The "Health Kick" series: I was attempting to drop 32 pounds in six months (by the middle of June - earlier posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), but I didn't quite make it. I dropped from 232 down to 205, which is pretty damned close. Since then, I've held pretty steady (208 at last check). I'm not too upset with missing the goal though - my resting heart rate has dropped almost 25% (Holy shit, I'm almost in decent shape now!) and had to replace about half of my wardrobe (which probably needed to go anyway).
• Running update: As of the last update, I was running on a treadmill and had personal bests for distance at more than the 5k range (5k in 27.5 min) and had my top mile down to under an 8 minutes. Since then, I slacked for a couple months, then started running outside in the KC heat and humidity. As of now, I've pushed back to the 3 mile range (28 min in 85+ degree weather) and had a mile time in the 8:10 range. Running outside is a different ballgame. Breathing is so much more difficult to manage in a non-temperature controlled environment. Unfortunately, after reading Kim's stories about shin-splints, I started feeling the ache in the shins as well(probably partially psychological) and decided to take a little time off before pushing any further and mixing in more elliptical/stationary bike time to try to prevent that type of injury.
• Work update: There's some semi-exciting news on this front finally! Right now, I'm writing this update from our nation's capitol, Washington DC, while I have some down time from after completing the second day at the Fall 2009 National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Last night, I presented some of my work at a poster session. Check it out... if you dare (if it's difficult to see, just download the image and keep zooming in, it's actual size is 40"x54").
  

• The beard: After the monumental Seven Beards in Seven Days series (For previous posts see Prologue, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Epilogue, Director's "Cut"), I've been pretty lame. I've only sampled a few different beards, and, surprisingly, I'm currently wearing something not included in the series.
  
• The Royals: A month after writing my annual Royals prediction post, I looked like a genius. They were sitting pretty at 18-11, in first place in the Central with a couple game lead. But then... the shitstorm. Since then, they're 28-61 and have a 5 1/2 game stranglehold on the cellar. Ugh. What the fuck, Royals? Talk about sucking it up.
• New content to come: There will be photos (and maybe, eventually, videos)! This summer has included the World Baseball Tour trip to Chicago and Milwaukee and the current D.C. trip - photos are on the way very soon. Oh, and tomorrow I will be attending my 14th Major League Baseball game of the year (in the fourth city!) as the hometown Nationals host the Colorado Rockies - photos to come on that as well. I'm working on a "What Does Andrew Do?" series that may include some videos of how I do some lab work. I think it might be interesting to show what kind of work I actually do in the lab as opposed to the nonsensical-to-the-layperson posters I've posted here before with no translation guides for non-scientists. Plus it would give me a chance to try some video production/editing. It might be fun... It might be more of a pain-in-the-ass than it's worth. But, I'm going to give it a shot.