Erik Pukinskis

I moved away from Bloomington, and well… I just want to apply my activism elsewhere. And meet other people through other means.

I got into a Ph.D. program, and completed my first year! It’s a start.

Still feeling like I’m not taking my research and completing it fully—publishing, etc. Still have mixed feelings about that though. Sometimes I think I should just keep focusing on new research.

I climbed Mount San Jacinto over two days, but it could’ve been done in one (long) day, so I’m not counting it. :)

Played spin the bottle, but it didn’t really count. The other guys seemed like they were just playing along.

But there was another time….

I did! And I got into the UCSD Cognitive Science program!

It’s just hard to keep chorus in the schedule.

Well, I ran a 50k… but that’s like a marathon plus 6 miles. It was great. My advice: run the first half slower than you think is prudent. I felt like I was practically sprinting the last 5 miles, which felt GREAT, especially for a first long distance race experience.

Arrgg! Because of a scheduling conflict this has to wait until the spring. Blast!

I just submitted the final grades for my summer course. I feel pretty good about it overall, I think I taught the students some things. I don’t feel good about my overall level of organization, and I don’t feel good about the degree to which I challenged them and set a high standard. So those are things to work on for the fall.

Well, I am not marking this technically “done” because it was only 25.5 miles, but on Friday I did the run I mentioned. Around mile 19 I started walking some of the uphills, and at mile 22 I stopped running altogether, but I finished the whole distance on foot! I mostly wanted to learn how my body would respond, and I definately did that. 48 hours later, I can still barely walk down the stairs (up is OK). But I am pretty proud of my 25.5 miles in 5:45.

I think I am going to try to run a real organized trail marathon in December—the Tecumseh Trail Marathon. After Friday, I think I have a sense of what is necessary mentally and it should be a lot cooler (by the end of my run, it was probably 90… terrible.) Plus, having other people around, maybe even some of my colleagues cheering me on, would be great. And someone else will take care of having water along the course.

Anyway, if you’d like to hear more about my run on Friday read this and check out the videos I recorded.

I feel like I get less interesting as time goes on. I used to seek out crazy ways to have fun… in Connecticut the beach was never more than an hour away. Now, I find myself going out to the bars because that’s all I can figure out to do. I need to be more creative about how I spend my time.

Went to D&U yesterday with Lucy. Went well. Had a good time. Poems were interesting, but I enjoyed the final short story best. Plan to go again.

Well it won’t be a marathon technically speaking, but I think I’ll give a go at a 26 mile run on Friday. I picked up a case of water and a stack of Clif bars, which I intend to deposit about my route tomorrow. I am going to stop by Wendy’s tomorrow to snag some salt packets. I’m not exactly sure what this is going to feel like, but wish me luck.

Instead of napping at 8:00 last night, then staying up and browsing the web, I just went to bed, got up at 6am, and did work. I got a bunch of grading done, and some miscellaneous emailing. Good Erik.

I just emailed Dr. Duffy. It’s a start.

Got a bunch of grading done today. Yesterdays lecture was OK. The class is pretty much over, so I don’t have many opportunities left. There’s always the semester.

Instead of writing entries about all the things I want to do, I am actually going to do one. Right now.