Barking Mad To Run
Yeah, PAD, I made that mistake last month. I forgot the Riverwalk is drained each January and I went down there for a run....OMG! THE AWFUL SMELL when the river is drained! I won't make that mistake again!
Safe trip, Jerry! You're going to Florida, right? Which part? Racing while you are there or just running and relaxing?
Yeah, Jack, I saw on the Weather Channel, your state is supposedly going to get a major storm there this week or weekend. I know y'all need the rain but, dang, floods may be a bit too much rain! Good luck and stay safe!
I would love it if you moved to San Antonio, Zelanie! But if you can't move here at least come for a visit sometime. Glad you are feeling better! As Mitch said, like him I probably need to do that myself too, get to bed early on some nights, I tend to stay up way too late, and then I pay for it the next day. Like young kids, we old people need our sleep more! Like we've kind come 'full circle' from when we were young, lol. But, hey, at least I'm not back in the diapers yet.
Definitely keep me posted, HsM! Definitely will meet up with you when you come down for the conference. Hope the conference is not in the summer though, the heat is brutal then.
Ginny, the only really busy part of the Riverwalk is right in the center of it where all the restaurants, shoppes, etc, are. And that part is not really all that long. So I usually take a walk break through that part. On all the other parts it is usually very nice and open, with wide walkways, very few pedestrians, so you can get a very nice run in.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
Well I'm going to have to move to San Antonio. It's back to 22F up here :c (Only half joking - we're really thinking about moving out of New England next year! Too expensive for young broke scientists with a kid.) Heading out for 3 miles in a few minutes. Legs are a little stiff and cranky after 3.9 yesterday morning and lifting yesterday afternoon, hoping they'll shake out after a mile or so.
Well I'm going to have to move to San Antonio. It's back to 22F up here :c (Only half joking - we're really thinking about moving out of New England next year! Too expensive for young broke scientists with a kid.)
Heading out for 3 miles in a few minutes. Legs are a little stiff and cranky after 3.9 yesterday morning and lifting yesterday afternoon, hoping they'll shake out after a mile or so.
Lauren if you're serious about moving and you don't mind summer heat, and you are both scientists, you should seriously think about Texas. Our biomedical and scientific business in the area is growing like crazy here! Go to your library and check out the Business Journal's "San Antonio Book of Lists." This lists all our local industries and companies by name and by industry - we have LOTS of Fortune 500 companies around here - and you will see there are probably a lot of options for what you and your DH do as scientists. And Southwest Research Institute here is a huge complex where lots of scientists and researchers work locally. You can also subscribe online to the Book of Lists. And we have 5 military bases - two of which have huge medical/research complexes, Brooke Army Medical Center and Wilford Hall Medical Center - and they are always hiring various contract folks to work for various projects, so plenty of federal contract work opportunities too. Compared to what some states and locations are dealing with, our city is doing pretty good job-wise.
And cost of living here is not bad at all. No state income tax (about 2 years ago one of our Legislature members proposed we do have one and he got run out of office), very reasonable housing - you can get a large house or multi-bedroom apartment for probably what a 1-bedroom house or apartment costs where you are. My wife and I like it pretty warm so we don't run my A/C very much in the summer, but even when we do, my electric bill has never been over $200 in the 19 years I've lived here.
As for weather, summer can be brutal, lots of days in the 100s...but it's only for a couple months out of the year. Temps are pretty mild in the winter months. We do get some 'cold spells' - cold for us, but we have NEVER gone below 20 degrees in the years I've lived here. And our cold spells usually last only 3 - 4 days. Average high temps for Dec - Feb are usually in the 50s and 60s, lows in the upper 30s - 40s. By March we're starting to warm up again and are all usually in shorts and short-sleeves again. We have LOTS of parks to run in (more than 40 of our parks have some kind of trails to run or bike on, paved or natural trails) and now a system of trails that connect with each other, so you can easily bike or run MANY miles, all without having to worry about traffic, and that system is still being added to. It's so big now that you could start at the park near the Zoo and run almost all the way down to where the San Antonio Missions are - that would be about 20 or so miles one way.
We're not a perfect city, of course, we have the usual problems - traffic, some crime, etc. and for folks with airborne allergies, this probably is not the best place to live, lots of various pollens in our air over the year - but overall I think the good well outweighs the bad. And you get 2 cities for one because Austin is only an hour's drive away. And we also have SeaWorld San Antonio, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Schlitterbahn (largest waterpark in the world; it's in New Braunfels, about 30 minutes from San Antonio), Aquarena Springs (a water ecology study area and has a tourist park with glass-bottom boats, etc) in San Marcos and Tanger Outlet Malls there too if you like to shop (San Marcos is 40 minute drive from San Antonio), and we have a drive-through Safari Park and also the Natural Bridge Caverns you can tour - and once a year there is an annual 5K/10K in which you get to run through part of the caverns and the temp down there is ALWAYS an even 72 degrees - and much more to do around here...you certainly won't get bored!
So come on down!
I have been officially cleared for biking so fuck it, I am biking tonight while hubby runs.
Damaris
As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.
Fundraising Page
Happy dance...we are happy for you... and even your cats are happy for you!
Ginny, it was on the road. We have a track close by, I have a bunch of friends that run there, but my work schedule usually doesn't favor me running with them. That workout was easy to track though, just looked at the whole mile numbers, and the x.75.
Here you go, Lauren, this local story just came out..
SwRI reports another record year for 2013 - Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has wrapped up another successful year. The independent research organization brought in a record $592 million in gross revenues. SwRI President Dan Bates gave a report Monday to the Board of Trustees during the institute’s Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting. The revenues were up from $584 million one year ago. Net income was $35 million for the nonprofit organization and the payroll for the more than 3,000 employees was $238 million. During its more than 65 years of operation, SwRI has grown from a single building to more than 2 million square feet of laboratories, workshops, test facilities, and offices, occupying more than 1,200 acres in San Antonio, Bates says. Even during economic down times, the institution has continued to grow because it is not tied to a single source of funding. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/blog/2014/02/swri-reports-another-record-year-for-2013.html
From the Internet.
Scotty, your city should hire you as a spokesperson! We'll be semi-limited by the fact that we want to continue working for universities or other nonprofit research institutes so that we're eligible for lower student loan payments, Houston actually looks more like it'd have opportunities for both of us but I'm mesmerized by all your pics of the Riverwalk, haha Still lots of time to get it all figured out, I won't graduate until December and ideally I'd like to stick around here for a short postdoc stint (6-8 months) to save up a little cash for moving.
Ginny, no clue yet - we're going to narrow it down to places that have research opportunities for both of us (neuroscience for me, cancer bio/computer science for him), apply for positions everywhere we would even remotely want to live, and go from there.
Damaris - hurray for being cleared to go biking! Have fun, and try not to overdo.
The snow stopped, the sun came out, and the wind dropped to about 10 mph, so I ended up going outside after all and running 7.5. It was a nice run, except when the wind was in my face.
Jack - did you hear about this when you were in Zion? http://www.nps.gov/zion/parknews/bicyclistinjured.htm