New bike swag

After a tedious 8 days of not getting to ride my bike, my parts finally came in the mail. I purchased new forks, grips, and a chain wheel, and so spent most of today putting it together, but i still managed to get a solid half hour of riding in before my stem came loose and i had to go in.

Man am i glad i got my bike back, i was getting scary bored these last 8 days, i even went so far as to paint detailing on my bike (the pieces that were here any way, i'll post pictures), thankfully i had a decent amount of clothes shopping to do, and a dog that seems to actually live for fetch to occupy my time. I also watched a few movies: "Spiderman 3" was terrible, "Idiocracy" was great, "Night at the Museum" was funny but filled with plot holes, and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was okay, but built up the third movie to much.

I know this was short post, but what can i say, not much has happened, maybe i'll go take photos of myself to post, then it'll look like i added some more content...Oh, and i'll update my bike check too.

Graduation and the summer lull...

Well i did it. I graduated in front of a huge crowd of people including many family and friends. The ceremony was great, the sun came out just in time and it was just warm enough. It was pretty short, and afterwards there was an even shorter reception in the math department. I didn't really need to say goodbye to anyone (as i'm coming back next semester) except for my advisor Beth Burroughs, she really helped me get this degree and is moving to a new position at Montana State University. After the ceremony (and before) I went out to eat with Emily and Dad, and generally had a great day. I was given plenty of swag, including; a new wardrobe from Emily's family, a ton of teaching supplies from my mom, and two massive chocolate cakes, what more could i ask for?

Now that i'm done with this semester the summer has officially begun. So far it hasn't been to boring, i have clothes to buy and plenty of sunny weather to ride my bike in. I'm planning on changing up my bike a bit, mainly i want a smaller gear ratio (so it's easier to take off, i don't need top speed) and lighter forks. I've been really into wheelies and manuals recently and want to make my bike a little more friendly for those tricks. I'll update my bike check when parts arrive and finally get installed.

Other than biking and shopping, i've had to figure out what classes i'm taking next semester. So far i have decided on taking the ones i have to (basically three different orientation classes, one for grad school, one for my specific program, and one for teaching a class) as well as a modeling practicum and an intro to optimization class i'm super psyched to take. Besides those i'm considering taking the graduate colloquium (read: speech refresher), beginning guitar, and intermediate tai chi, not all of these, just one or two if they end up fitting in my schedule.

Lastly, you may have noticed some swank photos to your right, i plan on updating these semi often (basically whenever i have a good new shot) so keep your eyes peeled...

-Kai

Summer time...

Well that's it, I'm done earning my bachelor's degree. The graduation ceremony is this Saturday (the 12th) and i'm damn proud to be walking. It's somewhat of a hollow victory as i'll be going back next semester for grad school, so it doesn't really feel like i'm "done" with any thing. It's just my normal summer break and back to class for me, except now one of those classes -i'll- be teaching. On that note i have learned that i will be teaching beginning algebra next semester unless something changes, and no matter what i'll be teaching some level of remedial algebra, but the good news is that i get payed, i definitely know the material, and i just have to keep it simple, and not go all "higher math" on them. I already have my teachers edition book to look over and apparently i'll get an office (or some sliver of space that they deem to qualify as an office). All in all i'm pretty excited about next semester...too bad summer has to happen first.

That's right! you heard me, i'm actually a little upset that it's already summer. School gives me something to focus on and apply myself to, summer doesn't so much. I'm already thinking of ways to kill time this summer. I'll definitely be biking and walking the dog a lot, but i think i want to do something creative as well. So far i've thought about wood working, guitar, martial arts, painting models(...not the people kind), photography, film, sculpture (clay or composite), and landscaping. As you can see the list is pretty random, but it's all stuff that seems interesting and creative to me. I'll probably also sign up for a class about one of these next semester as well, unfortunately the art classes are already pretty much full, but i think beginning guitar might work out. Anyway, i'm sure i'll figure it out, but in the mean time, you can probably expect a lot more posting by me...