"Desire urges me on, as fear bridles me."

Book review Number 2:

'A Discovery of Witches' by Deborah Harkness - Book 1 in the All Souls Trilogy

I picked up this book, looking for a good read and thinking this would be a book mainly about witches. I had recently finished another book about witches and was ready for another. I love my fantasy books, but anything about witches seems a bit more realistic and Harry Potter has instilled a love of magic in my heart. Boy was I surprised when within the first chapter a vampire was introduced. Great I thought another book capitalizing on the vampire craze going on. Don't get me wrong, I love Twilight, Sookie, and The Vampire Diaries, but I didn't want the cheese or a bad story that entices people to buy just because of the subject.

I kept reading with reluctance and a chip on my shoulder, waiting to be brought into the story and convinced this was a book worth reading. It didn't take long, 2.5 days later I'm finished with the book and counting the days until 2012 when the jacket says to look for Book 2. The book is fantasy, romance, adventure, and history all rolled into one. Yes, it is a love story between a vampire and a witch, but it is like nothing I've read before. Matthew and Diana will sweep you into their world by the first 100 pages, just give them a chance.

Book Review

Just finished a great book: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Any one in the medical or biologic fields should read this book! This book not only taught me about the amazing field of culturing cells, but also providing thought provoking discussion about medical/research ethics and informed consent. Legally, once tissues or cells leave our body, we no longer have any say over what can be done with them. Your blood may be used to cure cancer fifty years from now. Anyway, check out this book and let me know what you think.

Transitions

Life is full of transitions right now. The biggest being the pending move to Colorado. I'm excited about moving and things to come, but at the same time it's nice being comfortable in New Mexico. Even the job is hard to leave. I may not be making enough except to make it month to month, but the stress of job hunting is weighing me down. My goal is to at least send out two resumes this weekend. I really want to focus on rehab, but I have a feeling I'll be doing some general practice as well.

The last few weeks in training have been going well. I'm only able to swim once a week, but I am coming to the realization that even swimming every day won't effect my swim time that much. Swimming makes me feel good, it's a great workout without all the pain. I'm running about 3 times a week and biking about 3 times a week. I have calculated to reach my goal time at Milk Man, my bike has to be at 20mph and my run will have to be 8:50 miles. Both these paces will be very difficult, since my training paces are much slower. I have been able to do a couple 9min miles, but can't hold the pace. I wish I could get a TT bike, it won't get me to 20mph, but would help put a little more speed to my pace.

Today I worked on transitions. I worked on mounting and dismounting my bike, which I've never done with speed before. I'm leaving my shoes already clipped in, but I'm not going to try the 'flying squirrel' mount yet, but I am doing the flying dismount. I'd like my transitions to be around 1 minute each. Next week I should try to get out to Cochiti Lake for an open water swim practice. I'm also no where near my race wait. I'm really struggling to lose weight, even with all the exercise. It's very frustrating and demotivating.

Today, I'm posting a picture of my younger, skinnier, stronger self with the girl that started all this crazy triathlon obsession.