Diary of a Word Nerd

The Ones with the Most Faith Win

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Julia Tomiak / 3 Comments

It’s been an exciting week in our house. In the past three days we’ve celebrated grand prizes and basketball victories. My beloved ‘Hoos are National Champions and my beloved daughter is taking her science fair project to Phoenix to compete with students from all over the world in the International Science and Engineering Fair.

The trophies and medals are nice, but they aren’t what’s most important to me. What I love, and what I hope people will remember, are the stories behind these victories and the character behind the stories.

First story: the Virginia Cavaliers

Last year, the Cavaliers had a winning season with just two losses. They defeated North Carolina in the ACC Tournament to claim the title of ACC Champions, and they were unanimously picked in coaches’ polls as the number one seed going into the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

They lost in the first round. To a 16th seed. No team had ever done that before. They made history in the worst way and in the national spotlight. The team endured criticism and scorn, and even, according to a post written by Virginia shooting guard Kyle Guy that I found on Facebook a few days after the devastating loss, death threats. The team needed extra security when returning to their hotel.

Can you imagine how hard it would be to come back from that?

Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett handled that humiliating defeat with characteristic grace, and now, he calls the epic loss “a painful gift.” He has said numerous times that the 2018 tourney debacle was part of the experience his team needed to achieve success, and after 12 months of rebuilding and recovering, they have indeed succeeded.

In his speech after the 2019 championship game, Bennett said, “I played a song for them today called ‘Hills and Valleys’ by Tauren Wells and it just means that you’re never alone in the hills and the valleys and we faced those this year.” He also shared a team motto: the most faithful wins. “These guys stayed so faithful,” he said. And because of that, they made history again – as the greatest redemption story in college basketball.

Too often in a culture that emphasizes success, we don’t see the opportunities hidden in failures. Thanks to the example of the ever humble and gracious Tony Bennett and his team, we will embrace the reality that success and failure don’t define us. Attitude, habits, and character do.

My daughter’s story

To reinforce this point on a smaller scale: last fall, my daughter had an idea for a science fair project. She wanted to study plastic bags and how they interact with heavy metals in the environment. She reached out to professors at area universities to develop her project. She changed her method and focus several times. She put in hours researching plastics, performing her experiment, and analyzing her data. She got significant results that indicated plastic bags could be potentially dangerous, and that more research is indicated. Everyone, from her sponsor to her parents, told her how great her project was. She took it to the school fair, hoping to win a prize.

She didn’t. Not even honorable mention. We were shocked and disappointed. How do you explain to your child that sometimes hard work doesn’t get recognized? How do you encourage her to keep trying?

You tell her to stay faithful, to keep putting her work out there and trusting someone will eventually recognize it. (You also hope that other people, like her teachers and sponsors, will tell her the same thing, because, let’s be honest, sometimes the words of a mother just don’t resonate. Thank goodness, her sponsor was one of her biggest cheerleaders.)

And she was faithful. She took her project to regions, where it won its category and was nominated for grand prize. Then she took her project to the state science fair, where it again won the chemistry category and second grand prize out of over 250 projects from across the state. She earned a spot at ISEF, which, she confided to me later, was her goal all along. It’s kinda like the national championship of science fairs. She, like my ‘Hoos, has had a fabulous run.

I’m not telling this story to brag about my child. I just want her and everyone reading this post to remember: the ones with the most faith win.

What have you learned from March Madness this year? Do you have a redemption story to share?

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Improving vocabulary

What is a charcuterie board?

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Julia Tomiak / 7 Comments

My friend Dane is using fractal burning to make beautiful and unusual charcuterie boards. So much to learn from this! First, what is fractal burning? And what the heck is a charcuterie board, and better yet, how do you pronounce charcuterie?

Fractal burning combines art and science to create “Lichtenberg figures” – branching patterns burned into damp wood by running a strong current through it. They are named for Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, a German physicist who discovered and studied these patterns.

They are beautiful, but the process is dangerous (hello, water + electricity = danger), so don’t try this at home. Seriously, people have died. Dane assures me he is very careful and doesn’t touch the probes while the electricity is flowing. To learn more about fractal burning, visit FractalBurn.com . If you’d like to see more of Dane’s wood art, follow him on Instagram @voltzwoodworx.

Fractal burning - charcuterie board — It’s like hitting wood with lightening! I love the color Dane has added.

Now, if you were to get one of these charcuterie boards, you’d have to know how to pronounce it. Here’s what Merriam Webster told me:

charcuterie: \ shär-ˌkü-tə-ˈrē \ or \shar- ku-ta- REE\ noun, from French chaircutier pork butcher, from chair cuite cooked meat;

a delicatessen specializing in dressed meats and meat dishes
the products sold in such a shop

And if you learned to say the name and got yourself one, what would you use it for? According to The Reluctant Entertainer, charcuterie means cured meats, and an epic charcuterie board features cured meats, cheeses, olives, nuts, crackers/ bread, dried fruit, and jelly or jam. You can use them to serve dinner to the family or appetizers to guests at a party.

If you like to learn new words, or the history behind words, join the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme at Kathy’s Bermuda Onion blog. Every Wednesday, bloggers share words they have learned. Visit and add to the discussion!

Have you ever seen fractal burning? How about charcuterie boards? Can you share any other unusual wood art ideas or food treats?

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Who I Am

Why You Should Sign Up for a Race

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Julia Tomiak / 7 Comments

It was a brisk 30 degree morning, but I had my hat and gloves to keep me warm. After a trip to the bathroom (oh, the line!) and a few dynamic stretches, I joined 2000 other people to run 10 miles through Charlottesville, Virginia, one of my favorite places.

Yes, I said run. Yes, I said 10 miles. Yes, there were hills. And I had a FABULOUS TIME. For those of you who have never run a race, or if it’s been a while, it’s time to sign up for one!

Benefits of a race – BEFORE

Signing up for a race is the perfect way to set up a SMART goal for yourself. It’s specific (“I’m going to run __ miles”), it’s measurable, it’s time bound. Once you send in your registration fee, you’re committed. If you want to improve your fitness or decrease your weight, a race is a great way to keep you focused.

Being committed, financially and mentally, means you’ve got built in motivation to train. When the weather is too wet or cold or windy, you might be tempted to skip a workout, but you can’t, because you’ve got to make it through your race! About a week before the Charlottesville 10 Miler, it was cool and windy, and I really wanted to bail on my run for the day. Then I checked the weather for race day. It was supposed to be cold and windy. 🙁 Grumbling, I pulled on another layer and headed out for the run, figuring I needed to prepare myself for the weather I’d be facing.

Training tip: If you don’t feel like working out, put on your workout clothes anyway. Chances are, once you’re dressed, you’ll be mentally on board.

The motivation is even better if you find a race buddy. Mine was my hubby. There were days when I didn’t feel like running at all, but then hubby reported he ran six miles. Well, I wasn’t about to let him be in better shape than me, so I got my six miles in. 😉

Finally, signing up for a race, be it a 5K, a 10 miler, or a half marathon, doesn’t mean you are going to compete in the Olympic trials. You can set up realistic expectations for the race, which means “finishing” is an acceptable goal. My goal for the 10 Miler was to finish in less than 100 minutes (averaging less than 10 minute mile pace). The people who came in first ran twice as fast as me and finished in under an hour. Good for them. I beat my goal, that’s what matters.

Benefits of a race – DURING

I’ve been a participant and a spectator at all kinds of races, and the atmosphere is always positive. These events aren’t competitions as much as a giant “we got this” experience. You feed off of the energy of the crowd, and it’s easy to keep going when you are surrounded by tons of other people doing the same thing.

All along the route of the C’ville 10 Miler, people cheered for us, rang cow bells, and held signs with encouraging words like:

GO, random stranger, GO!
You run better than government!
Sweat is just your fat cells crying
Run like dinosaurs still exist! (Held by someone in a huge inflatable T-rex costume)

As we ran through a hilly neighborhood, one supporter had speakers on his front porch blasting “Stars and Stripes Forever” by Sousa. At mile eight, there was a huge crowd of girls and a DJ cheering us on with

I love rock n roll, so put another dime in the juke box, baby…

The energy and music gave me a boost right when I was getting tired.

The positive vibe wasn’t always loud. On one of the last hills of the race, I passed a guy who was walking. He looked over at me, and I nodded at the hill and said quietly, “Come on.” He smiled and started running. Honestly, encouraging him had encouraged me too.

Benefits of a race – AFTER

Charlottesville 10 Miler medal — My awesome medal!

Usually, you get a cool t-shirt, or maybe even a medal, as proof of your race day achievement. You’ll be in great shape, and more importantly, in the habit of being active. Hubby says he’s thinking about a half. Guess my training will continue…

When I’m having a rough day, and I don’t want to work out, I’m going to put on my 10 miler shirt. I’m pretty sure that will get me moving, because Running reminds me I can do difficult things.

Go find a race and sign up for it! And if you need some training advice, check out Train Smart, Run Forever and Runner’s World.

What is your experience with running races? Do you have one on your radar for the future?

Thanks for stopping by!

Improving vocabulary/Words and Technology

What is a Screed?

Posted on March 20, 2019 by Julia Tomiak / 1 Comment

Last week, on March 15, 2019, a gunman killed at least 49 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was yet another horrible example of the violence in our world.

Before the shootings, one of the attackers posted a 70+ page manifesto online that included racist statements and ironic references to memes. It was clearly meant to insight fear and hatred. When David Greene of NPR News interviewed New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United States, he referred to the document as a “screed”.

I’d never heard of screed and had to look it up. In the process of doing my research, I became aware of something more important: this screed highlights a dilemma almost as big as gun violence: how the Internet is helping spread hatred.

First, let’s look at screed.

screed \ ˈskrēd \ noun, from Middle English screde, fragment; from Old English scrēade; akin to Old High German scrōt piece cut off
1 a : a lengthy discourse
b : an informal piece of writing (such as a personal letter)
c : a ranting piece of writing
2 : a strip (as of a plaster of the thickness planned for the coat) laid on as a guide
3 : a leveling device drawn over freshly poured concrete

I think definition 1c fits my example best. Thank you Merriam-Webster.

Now, the problem this particular screed represents. Before the days of social media, such a screed would be seen primarily by traditional media outlets- newspapers, television stations. Those outlets could act as “gate keepers” and would only release snippets of such a document. But now, with the Internet making it so easy for people to reach the public, anywhere, anytime, everyone has access to the entire screed and its divisive messages. According to The Atlantic, the screed was designed to “troll” – meaning it was written not just to express an opinion, but to get clicks and shares and lots of online attention. And so, The Internet is giving the words of all of us more power, and sometimes that’s not a good thing.

I admire New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for trying to keep the names of the accused out of the media. She didn’t want to give the attackers what they so desperately wanted: attention. Unfortunately, now the name of the prime suspect is out there, and he has gained the notoriety he wanted.

But we can still take some responsibility. We can filter what we consume and share on the Internet. We can choose to fast from negativity, pessimism, and hate, and feast on truth, hope, and compassion. (Very appropriate for Lent.)

Let’s be thoughtful about the screeds we read and share.

If you like to learn new words and the origins of their meanings, visit the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme at Bermuda Onion. Each Wednesday, bloggers share new words they’ve learned.

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Book reviews/Who I Am

Why You Should Read Train Smart, Run Forever

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Julia Tomiak / 4 Comments

I’ve been raving about Train Smart, Run Forever to friends “in real life”, so I thought I’d better share on the blog. I heard about it via the Runner’s World podcast (when it was still live), and I started applying its training concepts this January. As an aging athlete (I’m knocking on 50), I’ve struggled with nagging injuries over the past six years. But Train Smart, Run Forever has helped me prepare for a 10 mile race later this month, and the best news… no back or hip pain!

Why I picked up this book

I’ve been running since I was 11. At that early age, I learned that going for a run made my problems smaller. Not only did it help me manage my weight; it also helped me manage my mood. But I’ve always been a 30 minute, three mile kind of a runner. Especially once I had kids, I only had half an hour a day to get my fix.

Now that my kids and I are older, I want something besides the 30 minute run, but I have to choose a realistic goal. I’m not getting any speedier, so a faster 5K is not the answer. I coach high school cross country, and running with state ranked teens really shows you how fast you never were and how slow you really are. A few years ago, I spent nine months recovering from a pulled hamstring I acquired trying to beat my 13 year old daughter in 400 repeats.

So, faster times are not my goal.

However, more distance seemed achievable. Unfortunately, every time I ran more than five miles, I got back and hip pain, or more pulled muscles. I’ve turned to PTs and chiropractors for help, and I’ve also spent a lot of time walking.

Enter Train Smart, Run Forever.

What this book offers

In Train Smart, Run Forever Bill Pierce and Scott Murr share training tips from their own running experience as well as data collected from thousands of runners who have used the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST). Since the early 2000s, FIRST has conducted running retreats and running clinics, and in the process, it has gathered a lot of helpful information.

The book opens with a description of FIRST and the data collected through the program. Then it explores issues relevant to the aging runner, with chapters like “Is Long Distance Running Healthy?”, “Why Do I Get Injured?” and “Don’t Forget Why You Are Doing This”. The last third of the book describes Pierce and Murr’s seven hour per week training plan, with detailed explanations of workouts and the reasoning behind them.

What I like

The Train Smart, Run Forever training program is all about balance and cross training, with an emphasis on variety, strengthening, and stretching. According to the plan, I only run three days a week. The rest of the days I cross train or strength train. The program compliments what I learned in P.T., and the variety and balance has worked well. A few weeks ago, I ran 10 miles without hurting myself, something I never thought I’d be able to do.

The Train Smart, Run Forever program isn’t time intensive. The workouts require one hour each day, with the exception of one long workout session on the weekend. I think an hour a day is a reasonable amount of time to spend on your health.

The authors of Train Smart, Run Forever spend a lot of time talking about elite runners, but the training principles apply to all levels of runners. The pacing guides are based on a wide range of 5K times, from 16 minutes to 40 minutes.

Finally, the training guide is thorough and specific. It has daily workouts with options built in for cross training, strength work, and stretching. The running workouts each have a purpose (no more “junk miles”), with Tuesdays focusing on speed intervals, Thursdays focusing on tempo runs (sustained effort over time), and weekends focusing on distance. There are even pacing guides and a perceived exertion scale to let you know how hard you should work and for how long.

What I don’t like

The first part of the book sounds like a long ad for the FIRST program. My husband actually stopped reading because of it. I just skimmed through a lot of that stuff, knowing that I would never travel to Furman to do a stress test in the FIRST lab. The training principles that come after all that are what I wanted to know about.

Recommendation

If you love to run, but you are getting older or have been sidelined by annoying injuries, you should pick up Train Smart, Run Forever. I promise, Runner’s World isn’t paying me to endorse the book. I just want more people to know about this helpful training guide.

Have you heard of this book or the FIRST program? What other exercise books can you recommend?

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Awesome Young Adult Books/Book reviews/Favorite Authors

Why You Must Read Bridge of Clay

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Julia Tomiak / 6 Comments

The Dunbar Boys: five brothers, young teens and young men, living on their own with only a mule named Achilles to watch over them. How did they get there and where are their parents? That’s the story Markus Zusak tells in his latest novel, Bridge of Clay. There’s a murderer, a piano, a mattress in the grass, and a sweet. sad story about love, loss, and the ties that bind families together.

I listened to the audiobook, which Zusak reads himself, as if he were talking about his own brothers. Bridge of Clay is a long book, but it’s worth the effort.

Premise

Bridge of Clay opens with Matthew, the oldest brother, digging up his grandmother’s typewriter (the “old TW”) so that he can record his family’s stories. He skips around a bit, but eventually we learn about the history of each of his parents, the quirks of each of his brothers, and how his brother Clay holds the key to all of the stories.

What I Liked

Zusak writes with a beautiful, poetic style, short sentences that build a rhythm and play with words. Sometimes I swear I heard rhyming couplets! When describing how Penny Dunbar, mother to all the boys, responded to cancer treatment, Zusak writes:

She tried to reassemble herself; she tried to resemble herself.

Here’s another great example of his style:

“He, as much as anyone, knows who and why and what we are:
A family of ramshackle tragedy.
A comic book kapow of boys and blood and beasts.”

Zusak’s descriptions are vivid brush strokes, sometimes brief, always fresh, painting a picture and often leaving just enough out so that the reader can fill in the rest.

“He was a wasteland in a suit; he was bent-postured, he was broken.”

I love how Zusak delineates each member of the family clearly – their struggles, their desires, their loves. Even though there are five boys, Zusak makes each one distinct in his speech and actions. I felt like I was sitting among them and laughing at their jokes. They are a compelling lot, and I loved hearing about them.

The story has plenty of sadness; I teared up more than once while listening to it. But it also has humor (there are five boys and a mule, after all), and love and joy and triumph.

Finally, I liked how Zusak kept a sense of mystery throughout the book. It’s a character driven story, but Zusak keeps the reader interested by withholding key parts of the family story. Matthew always refers to his father as “the murderer”, and Clay always keeps a laundry pin in the pocket of his jeans, but we don’t find out why until the very last chapter.

I’m so glad I listened to the audiobook of Bridge of Clay. Zusak emphasizes the rhythm of his prose, and sometimes, during very touching scenes, his voice breaks, as I imagine Matthew’s or Clay’s would if they were telling me the story.

What I Didn’t Like

Not much. Bridge of Clay is a little long and meandering, told in snippets. Zusak jumps around between past and present, and initially it was challenging to follow the story line, but once I figured out the style of the book, I didn’t have any trouble.

Recommendation

If you like family sagas, or books that champion a love of stories, or Zusak’s other novels The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger, I highly recommend Bridge of Clay. It has unique voice, and again, Zusak’s writing is gorgeous.

“There are hundreds of thoughts per every word spoken, and that’s if they’re spoken at all.”

Notes on content

This story is about five brothers, ranging in age from about 13 to 25. Expect swearing, drinking, and some references to sex. But it’s pretty mild and fits the story line.

Have you read Bridge of Clay or any of Zusak’s other books? What did you think?

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!