Race

Last night went to Best Buy and Circuit City on the hunt for a new computio. It was a good ol' time looking and salivating at the gleaming new machines. I went around to give different Best Buy guys to ask about various information regarding computers. One guy told me that Intels are better at toggling between smaller programs while AMD Athlons are better at the bigger programs. Good to know. The other guy told me that 1000 K = 1 MB and 1000 MB = 1 GB. Good to know as well (I was just confirming that one, since I did already know it somewhere at the back of my head) Yet another guy was telling me how Emachines are at the low end of Compaqs and Intels are at the high end of HP (or is it the other way around)? Anyway, I should have taken some notes. I realize that sales guys at Best Buy can be a useful resource for information, whether or not you are purchasing. In my spare time, I might just go to these stores, pose as a buyer, ask my 20 questions and gain my knowledge quota for the day. It beats straining my eyes over the internet, trying to pick out the useful information from the not so useful ones.

Then Dad and I went to Circuit City because of the lure of a better machine package. We met a nice lady there too, a bit out of shape, so she was huffing and puffing as she bent down to check prices and other stuff on computers. But she kindly informed me that a 32X processor is much slower than a 64X processor, but of course, a dual processor is better than a single core processor. In the end, we found a computer that we liked at a pretty decent price and walked away with a grand purchase. Happy happy day.

Today was a fun one. We had a company wide relay race, with at least a few hundred people running. I was the second runner. I was so out of it that I didn't even know when the first guy started running. My ever so kind and slightly mocking mentor was like, aren't you next? I think you need to get in line to receive the baton. But OH MY GAWD was it difficult. I'm so out of shape it's pathetic! I started running at a moderately fast pace, thinking smugly to myself that this was just like the treadmills and I was probably doing a 12:00 mile pace. But then I turned the corner and the incline became a good 15 degrees sharper and immediately I start getting stress signals from my heart. My skinny legs began to waver uncertainly and I forced myself forward, pounding the pavement for all I was worth. Then just as I thought my uphill climb was over, I turned another corner and lo ! THe hill got even sharper. My my my. Dimly at the edge of my retreating consciousness I heard someone say, come on, you can do it, it's the hardest part, but you can do it! and i willed myself not to black out, despite my thundering heart about to leap out of my chest cavity and kamikaze onto the concrete.

Then to my relief, the up hill began to level and even slope downhill, but by that time, my legs were mush and jelly and it was all I could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I don't think I was even able to maintain an upright frame, I was sagging sideways, my tongue hanging out no doubt. but the legs kept going. This guy in front of me just gave up and was walking. Lazy rascal, made me lose my resolve too. But just as I was going to halt, I turned another corner and the end was in sight! The slacker in front of me began to run too, because, well, there was now an audience again. And we both began to run harder, I just wanted to finish without passing out or throwing up, that was my goal. I passed by my boss on the sidelines and mustered a big grin to cover my inner agony. by the time I passed another lab coworker, I lost the willpower to raise the corners of my mouth into even a grimace or a grin and to be honest, I couldn't even really comprehend what he was shouting at me. Anyway, I made it to the finish line staggering, tossed the baton into my mentor's hand and promptly found a nice spot of grass to throw myself down on the ground, with my legs and arms stretched out and just...coast. it was utter bliss.

All in all, it was a good race and I had tons of fun killing myself and taking 5 years off my life span. The lactic acid in my thighs, I felt like it was not just making my muscles sore, it was literally dissolving my legs, bones and muscles.

But I had tons of fun and wouldn't trade it for the world.