First Year Presentation, Formula Student, Running and Renewable Energy Club

So I am getting more and more remiss about updating!  I need to get back on it!
Last week I did a lot of work with the Formula Student team- I got re-trained on the Lathe in the Engineering building and worked on some parts for the car.  I've also been re-organizing the media section for the website, which you can check out here: Formula Student Website .
I also spent time last week working more on my literature review and preparing a presentation for the first year EngD presentations that were yesterday.  I started later than any of the other 6 students, so my project wasn't as clearly defined as everyone else's.  I was starting to feel a little bad about it as I watched everyone else go, but I got decent feedback on it.  I just feel like I have a lot of catching up to do!
Last Friday I hung out with some of the Formula Student group and we went to the Student Union and played pool.  The pool balls are a little different here- rather than solids and stripes, they just have red and yellow balls.  Also, it seemed that the balls were a bit smaller than what we play with at home.  I have pictures, but I haven't looked at them yet.  I need to do a whole post with just pictures I keep forgetting to look at!
On Saturday, I went to a Renewable Energy Club meeting with Jan from church.  It was really interesting to see what local people are doing to their homes to be more sustainable here.  There were two speakers, one was an architect discussing the benefits of using lime as a much better substitute to concrete in structural construction, because it allows for the right levels of permeability and it has much less embodied energy.  The second speaker was a guy from Leamington who was making what is called a Super Home, where he had fitted all sorts of renewables and sustainable ideas to his older British home (built around the time of the US Civil War- 1850s/60s).  There is a whole network here, that can be seen at http://www.superhomes.org.uk/ where people work together to learn about ways to improve their homes to be more efficient and use renewables.  I think it is definitely more prevalent here than back in the US, but the Brits still are not up to what countries like Germany are doing with this.  This group meets monthly, so I hope to get more involved with that.
I also got a hair cut on Saturday...so much lighter!  I got about 4-5 inches off, so nothing too drastic, but it looks pretty good.  Also need to get a picture of that soon.  :)
Sunday I went for a long run again, doing the last 5k with Diresh and Afonso from my house (neighbours).  Diresh and I have signed up for a 10k in Leamington next month, so we need to train hardcore!  I've also signed up for a 10k in June with a small group that work at WMG as a team, so we get to compete!  I've been getting better!  I did 800 meter interval training with Ben Wood last night (one of the guys from WMG and probably one of the main reasons why I ended up in the UK.  Ben was responsible for organizing the conference in August).  Anyway, I ran my first 800 m interval in 3 minutes flat, which is about 5 seconds faster than I've ever run that distance before.  I was pretty excited...my next two intervals weren't as good, but I'm still happy with my times.  My best time on a 10k is 48:00, so I am hoping to improve that on the 10ks coming up.
I'm also really excited- this Saturday my first visitors from the States are coming!  Justin and Leslie are coming Saturday afternoon and are staying with me in Kenilworth until they head to London the following Wednesday.  I'll be headed down to London on Friday to meet up with them, and spend St. Patrick's Day.
I'm going to have to post a lot of pictures then!