Lidingöloppet accomplished!

Jaaaaaa! I didn't just "made it", I got a good time aswell :) My goal has been 2 hrs 40 min and I'd be happy beneath 3 hrs. I ended up on 2 hrs 50 min and 0 sec, easy to remember :P

The first 10 km were very crowded and I was so phyched to be running. They took me 59 min to run, which was kind of good because I had energy left for my next 10 km.

The next 10 km were still nice. I had runner's high and didn't want the race to stop. Still very crowded so those 10 km took me 58 min. I was by now "a bit" tired, but my calves were OK.

The last 10 km were not very crowded so I had an opportunity to end my energy reserves. I overtook a lot of people until about the 26th km were my spirit was lowered and I now ran just on will. Had to talk myself into "don't stop, it's just like running the 2,5 km trail in Rydsskogen". The last 300 m were epic! I ran like an elk (jag älgade) with huge strides and saw on my watch that it was now 4:29:55 pm which meant I had about 5 sec to make to the finish line if I wanted to get a sub 2:50-time. I dashed and almost made it. Afterwards I tell myself that 2:50 is easier to remember than 2:49:57...

I can recommend everyone to run a race! It's so much fun to run with all the people and music and commotion and it's very motivating to have a concrete goal.

In the evening and the day after I thought I had got SPD (foglossning, you know when pregnant womens' pelvis fall apart) in my entire body... But now I'm fine :)

Lidingöloppet, last preparations

On saturday 1:30 pm I'll start! Have been sick two times the last 4 weeks so I've not been able to top my training properly. I've been running every second day before that so I think I'll be fine. I ran monday and tuesday this week. Very slow and calmly just in order to remind my legs how it's like to run.

I choose to skip school in so I could sleep in and pack my things for a weekend in Sthlm. John and I are taking Bus4You to Sthlm later today, it's gonna be awesome!!

Psyched as hell with taped nipples

El SMART-o

All mechanical engineering students in Linköping take a project course the last year, and I'm taking mine right now. We're divided into projects depending on what area you want to specialize in. My specialization is product development (produktutveckling) and we are making a EV (electrical vehicle, elbil) out of a Smart Car. This is easier said than done... We want to keep the combustion engine in the rear of the car and put two relatively small electrical engines in the front. In that way we wont need a differential gear. To just weld fittings and make room by expanding the car is relatively easy, but our professor wants us to try to keep the car as small as it is..

A scetch of the front of the car (the body (kaross) is removed). From this we made a CAD model from which we could draw some conclusions and see which ideas were feasible.

Spex

I went to Linköpings spex this saturday, it was awesome! A spex is a form of comedy musical where the audience can interact with the story and what is happening on stage. Let's say you like the song they just sang, then you shout "Restart!" and they'll sing about the same thing again but with another song. One of the songs this saturday they had to restart 6 or 7 times, and each time with a new, selfmade song on the same theme! Other things to shout are for example "in german", "backwards", "fumble more" or "in slow motion" and then the actors have to reenact the scene but in a slightly different way.

Spex is an old tradition among Swedish students. The first spex in Linköping was performed 1981. If you get the chance to see a spex you ought to take it! I regret I didn't see one earlier :)

A clip from this years batch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-isVRcQF10c

Plocket - the perfect note pad

If you want a perfect note pad that has many of the advantages of a binder (pärm) but the size of a note pad (block) you should make a "Plock"!

As you can see everything is held together so loose sheets won't fall out.


On the front binding you stick a pouch to collect loose sheets of paper. In that way you can turn the pad in almost any direction without the sheets to fall out even if the elastic isn't put on.


On the rear binding you reinforce with tape as shown, make holes and then thread the elastic though the holes. Attach the ends with a stapler.

Good luck!

Bicycle lights

a) Isn't it frustrating to have to pay a fine of 400-900 kr for not using bicycle lights?
b) Isn't it annoying when people steal or brake your bicycle lights? Therefore you should carry them with you when you leave the bike but:
c) isn't that also annoying?

One solution:
This is a normal old style bicycle light that is less likely to be stolen because it's mounted with a nut and less likely to be broken by drunk by-passers since it looks old and "broken".

As you may notice, this light has a switch on the side. That switch goes to a battery pack (2xAA), a suitable resistance and a white LED (a Light Emitting Diode, en vanlig diod) in series. Voila! You have a light that you a) don't get fined for, b) wont get stolen or broken and c) don't have to carry around!

Ask me for help if you want to build one :)

Making jeans tighter

If you're sick and tired of your old jeans you can redesign them easily! This is a small project I did this summer. I bought a pair of (quite expensive) jeans in Korea that you can't get here or in the states. They where a wee bit to baggy though... So, this is how you can tighten a pair of jeans! No responsibility taken...

Step 1: Here you can see how I've drawn lines where I want to tighten them. Remember to needle the line, turn them right and to actually TRY THEM ON so they are just tight enough!
You have to roll down the hem as shown below.

Step2: Sew where you drew the line.

Step 3: Cut away excess fabric.
Step 4: Zig-zag the edges either apart as shown below, or zig-zagged together. Roll up the hem and sew it with a correct coloured thread.

Try them on :)

Before... and after!

Tillbaka!

Inte många, men en del, har velat läsa mer av undertecknad. Därför fattar jag åter igen pennan och kommer nu i samma stil som förut skildra min vardag och mina tankar. Dessutom thought jag write on English, so my international friends can digest my posts. I guess all you Swedes won't have any bigger problems!

/Markus, Editor