A Bit of Bad Luck

I Love To Ride My Bicycle

Been quite busy lately. Incoming frosh with field hockey has taken a lot of work and man do I love paper work. Plenty of papers to work on, with my favorite being the biomechanics of bounding. How is there so little information on human bounding and so much information on quadriped bounding. I also had a bit of a bike incident. Note that's not a picture of me, but I for one can't be sure to tell you I didn't do that.

Drake Relays Update

Drake Relays
Originally uploaded by The Gazette.

The Drake Relays is a huge track meet where the best of the best come to race. Not only does the meet surround itself with the current outstanding athletes in its field but it also is filled with amazing history that can never be repeated. The intimacy of the athletes and the fans make it one of the most unique events in sport. The pinacle icon of the Relays is the Blue Track. The track unfortunately is more of an egg shape due to surrounding streets (press cancel to not print) and the inner stadium making some deem it innappropriate for world class meets.
In order to remedy all these situations, I believe Drake has done its best to meet the demands of those who believe the track needs to be updated to meet todays standards while also keeping its unique history.

In Case of Rain

In case of rain at the Relays where there also is no power, and you run out of ligters or matches I have just discovered you can start a fire with chocolate and a pop can. (you'll also need something to burn. Apparenly chocolate is an abrasive, so if you rub the concave bottom portion of a pop can until it is shiny you can use it to focus light onto the kindling and start a fire (similar to a magnifying glass). Macgyver thank you very much.

Weather Ball - Red as fire - temperature is going higher.

Louisville
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

Well, I made it back from Louisville and believe it or not it feels like the tropics here compared to ole Kentucka. Louisville was extremely busy this weekend with a football spring game, a huge track meet, the field hockey tourney, and Thunder Over Louisville a huge airshow and fireworks show (the biggest in the nation so said one of the fieldhockey players from the area)The field hockey team did alright getting 3rd after losing to a USA regional team. I got my own locker room at the football stadium, and only tv apparently, but what do you expect when the Nappy Roots(I don't even know one of their songs) have the locker room before you. Not everyone made it back healthy, with a few injuries hitting the team. The trip was plenty long with it being over 8 hrs with restaurant breaks, but overall it was a great experience. I made it back into work and have been listening to and watching the Old Capitol Criterium races. A few of the Iowa football players have been taken in the draft, let's just hope a few more make it as well.

Busy as a Bee

Cpt. Kirk
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

As I have said before spring ball has ended and I am no longer with football. To commemorate the event I give you a picture of me listening to Cpt. Kirk himself as I'm next to the flag. I'm now with field hockey and travel begins tomorrow with a tourney in Louisville. Travel might sound nice, but 8 hrs(note the map and zoom in). At least I get my own room.

new shoes

quick note on these. check out these.

Vehicle Maintenance

Oil Pressure Sending Unity
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

Oil Change
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

It's been busy on the home front. I am finally done with spring football and made it through without too much of a raucous. Unfortunately, on trying to make it to football on time, I went to start the car and was faced with a dead battery. I must have managed to turn on one of the dome lights and not noticed. One of the lights is dead, so i would not have known and it just drained the battery over the course of two days that I didn't use it. Grant and I got it jump started, but I just wanted to run over things to make sure things were A-Ok. I remembered I hadn't changed the oil in about 4 mos, so I decided to change the oil, flush the coolant, pretty much the works. Everything went alright until I went and looked at the oil. It was as thick as molasses and overall looked horrible. The resident mechanic, Grant, said it was due to Penzoil. I didn't want to drive it much in the condition and Jiffy-Lube was closed, so I picked up a filter and Quakerstate(I apparently am a Quakerstate kind of guy now) at Walmart and went to change it. So at about 5 pm yesterday I started the working on it. When I got underneath and started wrenching I realized that I really am not as strong as an airwrench but after 20 min of pulling finally got the oil pan drained. Then came the oil filter, now i have no idea how, but it was on so tight no hand, rubber filter wrench, or other jerry-rigged contraption made a bit of difference. Grant, who was now gone, suggested over the phone to put screw driver through it, and torque it. Still, didn't do the trick, and I now had a mess, and a filter that had no casing. We then went to Paul's Discount (nice classy farming outfit) and got a tractor oil filter wrench, and went to town. That did the trick, but because of the lack of light and size of the wrench, it was discovered the oil pressure sending unit was lost in the battle. Finally at noon today all of the oil changing issues had been solved. So after starting it up I hear a hissing, sucking sound and note that the vacuum hose has been rotted away and air is flowing like a river. So back to Paul's, Auto Zone, and O'Reilley's to find the right hoses, EPV valve, and carb cleaner to get it to work. So this oil change ended up taking 16 hrs and Shellie did have the right to be a little perterbed to be spending her afternoon waiting for me to get everything buckled up, but it's back and better than ever. But I guess now I might have to head to Hy-Vee and pick up some kitty litter to clean up the oil.

Other More Important News

My brother is now back from overseas and is in Texas. His girlfriend, who I don't know if he would be able to do much without, is sending him his cellphone through UPS so he should have it in a couple days. Christy you are a godsend.
I also was able to button up a few more things for the athletic training webpage by getting a few more pictures taken of clinical instructors. Unfortunately, I won't be able to upload them in a while as I do not have administrative clearance, clarence.
Last night, a friend of mine came into town to see his girlfriend, so it was a nice change of pace. We ended up going out and had a couple of refreshments at Joe's Place where a couple of roommates work. All in all, a pretty productive/unproductive weekend, as it depends on who you're asking. My suggestion is to not ask Shellie.

Spring has sprung

Dandelion
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

Flower
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

Its spring in Iowa City. Haven't updated in a while, but I am plenty busy. Spring has sprung and that means tests, spring football, and tests. It's not exactly the best weather, but the nature seems to love it. Springball is done this Saturday, but the following Monday, I start fieldhockey. Kinnick Stadium renovation has been flying along. They have put up the posts that will hold the scoreboard. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of it, but the Fieldhouse parking lot that was started last summer, started at the same time. Construction has not finished the ground floor, so congratulations to those working at Kinnick. Currently, I can't wait for summer and then I'll be working only at camps. Not much news other than that. I'll be studying this week and only peeking out of the books for a bit of nature.

Firefox

I use firefox as a browser as it is much more secure, easier to use, tabbed browsing, and the plug-ins. I just now checked out the website on internet explorer. It doesn't look anything like it does on firefox. If you don't use firefox yet, I highly recommend the change just because of the security, lack of viruses, and lack of spyware.

A Little Late

Line at the Vatican
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

A little late, but here was the line at the Vatican for the viewing of the Pope. The line was apparently over 12 hrs long. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been at football for over 8+hrs a day. Today, was media day so we had plenty of visitors. Yesterday, we had Kirk Herbstreit and ESPN, doing pieces on Iowa, Kirk Ferentz, and Drew Tate. I have no idea when things are being aired, but it should be interesting.
::update on google maps::
I found that I haven't had a lot of time to travel, but found that I can pretty much see all of the states' great sites through google's map search check out sites ranging from Mt. Rushmore to the Whitehouse. A site has linked 100's of great sites.

Google Maps

Originally uploaded by mathowie.

Sioux City, seen by Google Maps
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

Google has a great new map feature that lets you swith between a graphical map view and the satellite view of the area. I thought it would be interesting to do some thing similar to the 1st picture (click on the picture to see what I'm talking about". Unfortunately, the 2nd picture is what I get (I sure hope my memories aren't that blurry).

Interesting Academic Quotes

Due to the inability to provide an interesting graphic, I thought it would be interesting to share some quotes I have heard in the classroom.
in regards to a thought about innoculations "actually, no."
in regards to a break on weekends "we are a 7 day a week program."
it's humorous to see how certain quotes taken out of context really seem mean, but at the time, were extremely humorous.
Also finished implementing the search function in the athletic training website. now it's just general upkeep w/ the site.

Living like a Frosh

Awesome Super Soaker Man
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

So today I decided it was time to live like a freshman again. Not entirely all by my choice, but it was fun none the less. It started out by eating with Shellie at Hillcrest Market Place, one of the University's cafeteria's. Not only was it nostalgic, but it was all you can eat.

1st course was Mediterranean Salad with feta cheese, kalamata olives, onions, romaine lettuce, and topped with vinegar and oil, a cheese soup, and an egg roll taken from Shellie.
2nd course was barbeque wings, cheesy mashed potatoes, and tater-tot casserole.
3rd course was a roasted turkey sandwich on wheat with provolone, lettuce, and tomatoes, with a side of roasted chicken breast, and some potato wedges.
4th course was the same salad as in the 1st course, a banana, and some ice cream.
The meal was served with Diet Coke. All in all I found it to be a fanciful feast.
Round Two of living like a freshman occurred after night class. As I was walking out, one of the students was attacked from behind and an endless stream of water violated him. The supersoaker had struck again (you didn't think the picture was for naught did you?). I had to give it a laugh, only in college.

Drake Relays

Don't You Love the Relays

Originally uploaded by drakerelays.org.

I found out I won't be able to watch the Drake Relays again this year because I will be with Field Hockey in Louisville (see calendar for more details), but I did find out that the Relays are going to be streaming live again. I have so many memories of the Relays. Two quick memories of being young and seeing "the stars". I got the autograph's of the Baylor 4x400 team that ran a 3:01 as well as the alternate who didn't run(I wanted to be thorough). I also got Connie Price-Smith's autograph who outweighed me by 150 lbs (and thats being conservative) and was at least 12" taller than me by running down on the track and asking for it (you used to be able to be alot of things at the Relays as long as you acted official). I also got Carl Lewis' autograph on a Drake Relay's Program, but no one has a clue where that went after we got home on Sunday.

Exercise Bike

Same Bike But in 70's Gold
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

My roommate is going to replace his Lazy Boy with this. Now i am not one to prejudge or anything, but I think this may go up with other dumb things my roommates have bought as a spur of the moment thing. These include: a weight bench, a bird (see previous note), a kayak, a 54" widescreen hdtv (the only thing that was stupid about that one is that he took it back), a flail (that he tried to take on a plane as a carryon), a harley davidson, a gateway computer, a gloch, and a $500 bike. But who knows he may actually use this thing when he's watching tv. if so, whatch out lance armstrong, not even your livestrong bracelet will save you.

Gmail Accounts

A side note (notice I can't seem to keep one solid train of thought lately), Gmail accounts, think hotmail but for google, now have over 2GB of storage. That's over 80 times what you get w/ hotmail. Right now i use my for storage for papers and projects for school. Unfortunately, it's still private, but i have 50 invites. Email me if you would like an account.
::note updated calendar::

Weather is gorgeous

Konigsee Germany
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

The weather is gorgeous outside. Not necesarily as nice as it was in the picture, but somewhere in the 70's and no wind. Unfortunately, I am stuck inside. I would much rather be outside working football

Vatican City

St. Peters Square
Originally uploaded by jfravel.

Another comment. As most everyone knows, the Pope has passed away. An interesting look inside the atmosphere in the Vatican City can be found here, as this is audio from St. Peter's Square. This podcast was made by Fr. Roderick, a priest from the Netherlands from the catholicinsider.com. It is quite an interesting look at what occurred on April 2nd, and I highly recommend tak
ing a listen.

hawkeyehealthcare

Another quick post. I finally finished the hawkeyehealthcare website. I still had some errors and had to install a search function. You can check out the final product w/ search capabilities here.

Wurst

Decided to have a meal similar to the one seen here w/ Shellie tonight.

I forgot to cook it all the way. A reminder to everyone, fully cook your meat.
All in all it's been a long day. Had football this morning and didn't expect to need sunscreen when it was only 60 degrees, I'm going to regret that one tomorrow. Ended up staying in to watch the NCAA tourney. The Big Ten was looking great up until the 2nd half of the MSU v. UNC. Oh well, Iowa was out of it along time ago.