Busy Bee

June has been very busy so far and it's not going to get any less so.  I remember what I was told about 10 years ago at the UNK Gold Torch Mentoring Weekend, "you can have it all but not all at once."  Seems like as the health comes and goes, so does the intimacy in a marriage/friendship, and the financial security/stability provided by a job/career. At least for one moment you may have it all. The Gold Torch society's motto is  “To be born a girl is a gift we were given. To become a woman of wisdom and courage is a gift we give the world.”  This picture reminds me of our family's strength in numbers and how we support each other in large and small ways.

As I make progress towards wrapping up here at UCR and get prepared to head into full-time teaching, I am reflecting on great mentors I've had over the years and the wonderful people who I have had the privilege to mentor along the way.  I have a quote running through my head and I hope I can find it.  Meanwhile a few gems from the archives:

 "Do you know why they call it 'PMS'? Because 'Mad Cow Disease' was taken."
--Unknown, presumed deceased

"It's not normal for a woman to read! Soon she starts getting *ideas*, and *thinking*..."
-- Gaston, Beauty & the Beast, Disney

"Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good."
--Charlotte Whitton

"Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."
--Linda Ellerbee

"God gave women intuition and femininity.
Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met."
--Farrah Fawcett

"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.
If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.'
They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.' "
--Clare Boothe Luce

Debt crisis?

Thinking about education costs, so I made this graph comparing annual cost to attend each of these schools.  A quick comparison of schools I have attended (UCR, ASU, UNK, MetroCC) and schools I have or will be teaching at (Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, UCR, CSUN, ASU, UNK, EMCC) and a few others purely for comparison sake (Sarah Lawrence, Creighton, UCLA, UCSD, RCC) reveals a trend of doubling as the institution becomes more elite.  Of course California is more expensive than Arizona, and both CA and AZ are more expensive than Nebraska.

With state contributions to schools dwindling, I wonder how much longer states can provide higher education to their residents.  I also wonder how realistic it is for 18-22 yr olds to shoulder such a debt burden after 4-6 years of this.  UCR graduates incur an average debt of $17k for their entire education, the total burden eased by a combination of work study, loans, and parental contributions.  Whew!  I feel like I need to step up my game 2-fold...

Bathing Beauty

As of late, I have been trying to take good care of myself, physically and mentally. To this end, I have been taking 1 bath per week. Into the hot bath I put about 2 oz. eucalyptus spearmint foam bath, 1 Tbls. lavender body oil, and 5 drops lavender home fragrance oil. I soak in the bath for about 20 minutes, until I have worked up a good sweat, breathing deeply. The humidified, perfumed air clears my sinuses and my mind. The hot water loosens my muscles, usually I massage my legs and shoulders, squeezing them out like sponges. Then I rinse off in a cold shower until I feel all the sweat is gone, letting the water hit my neck and spine. Then I turn the shower back to hot water. I hear this increases circulation and detoxifies the nervous system.

Because I am in the middle of writing up my Ph.D. dissertation, I am always thinking about science. I was soaking last week and it occurred to me that I would probably benefit from having some bath salts also and it got me thinking about writing a blog about bathing chemistry. How do all these components aid the body and what else could be added to enhance the quality of the bath?

I found a long article about epsom salts that was pretty informative. Also found some good recipes on a site about lavender baths. I think there are many reasons why this kind of bath would be therapeutic. Contrary to popular belief, it is not lactic acid in the muscle that causes muscle soreness after exercise, but small tears in muscle tissue. I would argue that soaking in hot bath water would increase circulation, and hence delivery of nutrients and bloodflow to repair damaged areas.

My chemist's intuition tells me that adding salts in the bath would increase osmosis (movement of water) from inside the body to the bathwater, assuming the salt concentration in the bathwater is higher than inside the body, although this may only occur in the outermost layers of skin and may not affect deep muscle tissue. If water is being transported from inside the body to outside of it, it could carry (water-soluble) toxins with it. Maybe a more likely route for detoxification is via sweat.

The other point is the salts themselves. Muscle action cannot take place without movement of sodium, calcium, and potassium ions. These ions are not found in epsom salts (which instead contain only magnesium and sulfate) so that would suggest that a bath of sea salt would be better. Comparing sea salt composition to salts found in the human body, we find that sea salt provides an abundance of chloride and sodium, with sulfate and magnesium in lesser amounts, whereas the human body contains more calcium with potassium, sodium, chloride, and magnesium in lesser amounts. Sulfate is present in the human body but in trace quantity (less than 1%). There has been evidence that soaking in saltwater can increase corresponding salt concentration in the body, although the precise mechanism is unknown, so perhaps soaking in a salty bath could help the body regulate and reset its contractile and message-conducting salt composition.

Besides salt, taking a bath in oil is a tradition thousands of years old. Seems like coconut oil is most recommended, but olive, sesame, or other nut oil is also recommended in addition to pure vitamin E (molecular structure shown here). Oils contain this and other antioxidants, which may act directly on the skin or diffuse into the body. I also wonder if adding activated carbon would help adsorb organic toxins and wonder if it would work even in the presence of bath oils. All I know for sure about the oil bath is that my husband appreciates the softness of my skin. It's like it enhances the contrast between man and woman, making me seem more attractive to him.

I found a lot of hype related to therapeutic baths on the internet, it seems like there are some interesting areas left to explore in this informational landscape. Or better yet, go take a bath and see for yourself! Wellness is as wellness does.

human beans

and sometimes we just go out dancing

Making Progress

Sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees. I think anyone who undertakes a large project experiences this feeling. And I rarely take on small projects.

I can happily report that my Nike Zoom Nucleus MC+ and Nike+ wristband have escorted me through 200 miles already. They are "misplaced" at the moment so I ran this morning with my secondary pair of Asics. I am still on the fence about Running Through Redlands this weekend because I haven't been doing the long distance training and I feel like I have no time.

My dissertation is progressing although still not fast enough. Just like I wish I could run 8'30" miles, I wish I could write 830 words per day. It just doesn't work out like that. The good thing about writing is that I can really take a look at the "forest" and see my project from different angles and it makes the lab work run more efficiently because I see how each experiment fits into the larger picture.

This is also why I normally enjoy long-distance events. Good for building perspective about one's place in the world and the amount of energy we expend in getting ourselves around in it. Getting around on foot on bicycle is a direct use of the energy we put into our bodies. Better to fuel ourselves with healthful sources of energy and then burn it off doing fun stuff (like running) instead of jumping in our cars and driving to McDonald's... Not to be hypocritical so I have to admit I do both. But getting groceries on foot or spending the energy to garden, cultivating one's food in the backyard, really relates to sustainability and health. This is my spinach & chive patch. It's been producing for over 6 months now. I strongly encourage backyard/balcony farming.

Another topic of note: medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Perhaps these have been written about before or someone told me about them, but I am discovering them anew by reading a book I borrowed from UCR's science library. MCTs are abundant in coconut oil, are more soluble in water than long-chain triglycerides, and can be broken down in the mouth, stomach and intestines. Research studies involving this class of molecules have proven that MCTs can be used by the body as supplemental energy for exercising endurance athletes. In addition to carbohydrates, the incorporation of MCTs in sports drinks increased performance in a 40 km timetrial by about 2 minutes over a control group using only carbs. This got me thinking about fats used in all types of cooking and pre-packaged foods. I vowed to myself to try to improve the quality and variety of triglycerides I will include in my diet.

Additionally, I have given in to the pressure of medical advice. I now take vitamins. Since I hate taking pills (because I doubt the bioavailability of nutrients delivered by them) I got instead these chewable gummies. I take one in the morning and one at night. I still hate the idea of overloading my body with unnatural amounts of one nutrient or another. I think it might be as stressful as it is helpful. Just because scientific studies show that a particular nutrient is correlated with a beneficial outcome doesn't mean I have to take 400% of the recommended daily value of that chemical. So we'll see how this goes.

Topics for the future: dietary fiber!

Spring, St. Patty's, daylight Savings

I try to limit myself to one blog post per month. This is why I am excited it is March! I am trying to focus my writing hours on my dissertation, but in the afternoons I always hit a wall. During my productive hours, I was working on Chapter 4 and I got the distinct idea for a blog post involving "the chase" so I typed CHASE into clipart and found the following pictures. The character on the far left is happily chasing a butterfly. This is how I feel about my current project.

My boss sent me the link of a YouTube video that apparently went viral, turning a Lady GaGa song into a song about research. The sickening thing is that the professor I teach for posted "It is great to see the students show this kind of creativity, and I am sure that their Professor is proud." I don't think any research advisor would say that about their students if they had spent 80+ hours making such a video. The costumes and redoing all the words to the songs, the choreography and video editing would have taken forever. Anyway, my advisor called me into her office to discuss it and asked me if I feel that way. Like I'm stuck on a bad project. Well, I don't feel that way. I feel like I believe in my project otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my life studying it. I started to think maybe she feels that way about me. Like I am a bad project of hers that she can't quit or get rid of.

The second (middle) figure is an animal chasing its tail. I do feel like this most days. I feel like I am going around and around instead of forward. But I guess that's why they call it RE-search.

The last (right) figure was originally a boy chasing a girl, but for as long as I can remember I've been the other way around. I've been trying to keep up with boys my whole life. I chased them on the playground, at recess, in coursework, math competitions, on my bicycle. It's totally a reoccurring theme in my life. I realized the other day that I have a pattern of trying to do or re-do the same things over and over again, thinking "I'll show them, I'll do it better THIS time." But in that moment, I wondered why I do that. If somebody tells you that you aren't good at something, or aren't fit to do a certain job, why keep trying to do it?

I am so ready for spring. We had the coldest weekend of the year here in Southern California last weekend. I've been superbundled up. My knees have been acting up and I blame the cold weather. Looking forward to the San Dimas Stage Race. Hope we have great weather.

Race Report: Riverside Raincross 5K

Official results (3.1 mi) Place: 239 Div: 21 No: 667 Name: KAYLA KAISER Age: 28 S: F Div: F2529 Town: RIVERSIDE St: CA Time: 34:05 Pace: 11'00"

Unofficial results (3.37 mi) from my

Nike+ device Place: 106 Div: No: Name: Kayla Kaiser Age: 30 S: F Div: F3034 Town: RIVERSIDE St: CA Time: 26:46 Pace: 7'56"

Then check this out: From Official Results Place: 104 Div:3 No: 723 Name: XOCHITL HURD Age: 31 S: F Div: F3034 Town: RIVERSIDE St:CA Time: 26:35 Pace: 8:35

So maybe if I had started right at the front and registered in the right division, I would have finished 10 seconds behind this girl.

So much for my ambitions to place in this race. Looks like last year I got a time of 26:29 with a pace of 08:31 minutes per mile, so I actually beat her last year but didn't post a personal best for this race. Oh well, it's all luck who shows up and who turns it out anyway. I got in a super-brick workout, biking to and from the race and I got to see my friend Matt who won first place overall.

Who cares anyway, right? It's all just numbers. I had mixed feelings about this race. Pro: it was short, there were men in uniform running with us, it didn't rain and the air was perfectly cool and clear. Con: the mistakes on my entry form, dodging puddles and people from the back of the pack to finish somewhere in the middle, and the official timing not starting when the chip crosses the starting line. Unfortunately, although my Nike+ device does not keep proper distance because my stride is shorter than average, it keeps good time and I started and stopped it right at the starting and finish lines. So I am happy with my performance.

Who am I kidding, do I claim to be a runner? Well, really what motivated me to run in this race this was my personal desire to make my body the best it can be. I'm choosing to call it "sculpting" now. My body had become "like a mozzarella" as my amica Italiana Claudia says. So it doesn't matter if I came in first, third, or thirtieth, the important thing is that I enjoyed myself. It was fun to see the kiddos run in the 1K race and to see families outdoors interacting in a beautiful park. I was actually running so fast, I didn't enjoy the scenery much. Except along the ridge overlooking the Santa Ana river basin, that part was bomb.

What I'm thinking now is how wonderful my husband is to drive up and see me. I had considered taking the Amtrak train from Riverside to Oceanside. It's leaving right now actually and would have taken me 3 hours, costing $34. If we take the car it's about $12 for gas each way but I am thinking we are going to have to save up some money for new tires. At least the insurance is paid through August so we hope the car will last at least that long.

So many wonderful things are coming up in the next few months, I'm almost beside myself with joy. I am trying to keep my body moving and stress-free, as much as it is possible to do so when I am trying to make progress on so many fronts continuously and simultaneously. I am putting myself in some serious pain, but isn't why they invented antinflammatories (see prev post)? I just noticed I put a bunch of tags on this post and I don't have time to write on all those topics. So I'll just stick with the blog post title: Race Report. This race was AWESOME.