Highs and Lows

Originally, this was going to be a post on highs, but you know how life goes - roller coaster... hormones... whatever.

High: Pastor C was talking about how wonderful it is to know people who, just by being who they are, make you want to be more loving, more holy, more forgiving - almost made me cry. So true. I'm so freaking lucky to know people like that. And to just think... that they're just shadows of the real thing, I can't comprehend.

Low: Missing a friend, not knowing what's wrong or how to help. I guess God knows and cares even more than I do and can help, and I can pray.

High: Rekindling excitement about learning, especially after you go for a while in real life not using too much of what you slaved away at and didn't necessarily always enjoy at school (the not enjoying part was probably because of having too much to try to cram in and not enough time to do it, or too many competing demands, resulting in some stressful situations). Anyway, finding ways to apply what seems to be obscure is such an awesome feeling. I need to re-learn linear programming for work, and I stumbled upon the old diet problem - the website made LP so cool ( http://www-neos.mcs.anl.gov/CaseStudies/dietpy/WebForms/table.html)! Find the min cost solution that meets constraints for various nutrients, where the solution is some combo of foods you wouldn't mind eating in optimal serving sizes. If you can't stand eating more than eating 3 servings of PB/day, set it as a constraint. If you need at least 2000Cal to fuel your run but less than 2500 for maintenance, set it as a constraint. If you want at least 1500mg Calcium, set it as a constraint. So cool. And the dual variables make sense now - if it's $X for tuna, then if you're willing to increase your bound on tuna by 1 unit, then you can decrease the cost of your daily food by $X.

High: From yesterday, an awesome game of ulty!!! It was so nice playing again, and it was some intense playing, too! Some solid cutting, positioning, and catching out there, even by those who haven't played much or at all before - I was impressed. It was great. So sore today, though. I haven't run like that in forever, sprints and lateral movements and all. I ended up just dragging my feet into position to push the gas pedal or used my arms to lift my legs up because my flexors are so trashed. My arms had to push off the ground a lot after layout attempts, so even they got worked. A close game, too - keeps things exciting. It was fun just hanging out with brothers and sisters and just enjoying the feeling of playing hard and just loving life. Anyway, I am glad to have two days off from running to recover - sweet rest.

Low: Olympics withdrawal, going from having it on whenever I was at home and feeling bad if I had to take nap and miss some, to being stuck once again with generally unappealing tv, save Lost, the Office, and Biggest Loser. What am I going to do now? Sleep, as unfulfilling as it can feel, is probably good.