Category: miscellany

Nerdcitement

The cross-country skiing World Cup, the sport’s highest level of competition, begins its season on Saturday with races in Gaellivare, Sweden, far above the Arctic Circle.

The XC World Cup is is my favorite sport to follow, for lots of reasons. Foremost among these reasons is that I love to ski, and I have been lucky enough to be able to ski quite a bit here in Northfield, after many years away while living in relatively less snowy and/or skiable places. XC skiing is a great sport – fun, challenging, interesting. On this point, I can’t wait to ski in the City of Lakes Loppet on February 1.

A second reason that I love the WC is that the competition itself is engrossing, thanks to a wide variety of race formats (everything from 1500 meter sprints to 50 kilometer marathons, from individual time trials to 8km hillclimbs), numerous beautiful venues all over Europe (and even in Asia and North America), and the fact that the skiing itself is surpassingly beautiful to watch – the perfect mix of power and grace. This (poorly scored) video of the great German skier Tobias Angerer does a good job showing the sport:

But yadda yadda. One of the two real reasons that the World Cup is fun to follow nowadays is that a fan can actually watch the races online, either live or delay. Universal Sports, an arm of NBC, is “airing” many of the WC races this winter, for free, starting with this weekend’s races in Sweden. My favorite obscure endurance sport, shown free and on-demand over my computer? Sign me up.

The second real reason that the World Cup is fun to follow is that a genius web friend has developed a fantasy league for those of us who – unlike your common-as-dirt baseball and football fans – have heretofore not had a make-believe competition in which to utilize our insanely narrow and deep knowledge of the sport. I’m practically itching to get my (faux) team together and go nerdily head to head against other ski-racing fans. I’ll note in closing that I won the damn league last year, so now I have some credibility and a reputation to defend. Bring on the snow!

Random Thoughts

1. I wish I’d bought 1000 shares of the puffy-black-vest-over-a-bright-sweater look in late August; I could be selling those shares now and making a fortune.

2. The worse possible autumn-morning ambiance is the combination of cold, thick fog and the stench of the turkey farms.

3. On the other hand, the glow of blinking school-bus lights is actually quite nice, when seen from a distance through the fog.

4. I wish I could short 1000 shares of the fringed-knee-high-boots look; I could sell them in February and make a fortune.

5. I’m not sure if this is quite right, but one week of low-stress, routine work seems to more than make up for two weeks of high-stress deadline-driven work.

6. Basques have the most interesting names around: cyclists Koldo Fernandez and David Etxebarria; ETA terrorist Txeroki…

7. The unrestful-ness of getting kids to bed is a grand cosmic joke. Ha ha ha, cosmos.

Saturday’s Media Consumption

As an experiment, I tracked all the “major” media that I consumed on Saturday between, roughly, 8 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. I might repeat this during the workweek. The items below – which don’t include the myriad trawlings of Facebook, Twitter, or my own blog, are presented in the order I consumed them:

“Even on Bloody Feet”
(Men’s marathon record holder Haile Gebreselassie on his first marathon, at age 16)

Old Lady (from The Wedding Singer)
(Old woman doing “Rapper’s Delight” from Adam Sandler’s movie The Wedding Singer)

“In a Complex Gaming Age, Faith in the Simple Virtues of Mayhem”
(“Gears of War 2” review)

“Packages You Won’t Need a Saw to Open”
(story on replacements to hard-to-open plastic clamshell packaging)

“The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla”
(Dick Cavett on Sarah Palin’s speaking abilities)

“Carleton’s ‘Save the Penis’ campaign goes limp”
(Local blog’s coverage of Carleton sidewalk that resembles a penis [no, really])

“Newell Wins Qualifier in Muonio, Falls in Semis”
(Story on Americans competing in XC skiing sprint races at Muonio, Finland)

“Racing Time”
(Blog post on top American cross-country skier Kris Freeman’s first race of the winter)

“The Season’s Start: Muonio”
(Blog post on first major XC ski races of the winter at Muonio, Finland – great picture)

“Parenting Moments You Never Think About When You’re Pregnant With That First Baby”
(Shannon’s blog post about annoying end of Friday afternoon’s activity)

“Or Mine. I Wonder What Mine Would Be Like.”
(Post and comments on Shannon’s blog about Vivi’s sleeping troubles)

Sigur Rós : “með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” (“with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly”)
(album by Icelandic art-rock band)

Benny Golson & Art Farmer Jazztet:  Here and Now
(1959 album by great bop group)

“Germans Pace the Field in Muonio 10/15km Classic”
(Article on results of 10k/15k XC ski races at Muonio)

The Balance Sheet posts on the NASDAQ and on liberal economics.
(Two posts on James Surowiecki’s New Yorker blog)

“Say Goodbye to BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe”
(Excellent Times article on whether and how Obama will be wired – he may have to give up both his Blackberry and email)

various pages of “eighteen seconds before sunrise”
(Website of Icelandic art band Sigur Ros)

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
(rented through iTunes)

“Munio Finland”
(blog post by world-class American XC skiing sprinter Andy Newell on races in Muonio)

“The New Liberalism”
(George Packer on Obama’s brand of liberal politics)

Pearrific, or, Knowledge-Worker Drama

No matter how good my intentions, grant application deadline days – like today – are often spent sweating the last-minute acquisition of the last, most critical piece of this or that proposal. Today was no different. By about two this afternoon, I must have looked like I was acquiring an OCD, what with all the watch-checking and FedEx-ETA calculating. But just before the perspiration started, lo! into my hands were delivered the two items I needed, and I rushed off to send the FedEx packet.

On the way to the mailroom, I was suddenly struck by a strong desire for a piece of good fruit. If I hadn’t spent my last cash on cup of coffee in the morning, I’d have hit the snack bar for an overpriced apple. After dropping off the FedEx (12 minutes to spare!), I headed back to the office to do the four or five things that I’d been too twitchy to complete while waiting.

On opening the door, I discovered two enormous boxes of Harry & David pears, sent to me and my colleagues by a faculty member with whom we had recently engineered a rather complicated grant proposal. Wish granted! And thank you!

P.S. Next Friday, I’m wishing for a million dollars.

P.P.S. Oh my god this is a good pear.

 

Yum
Yum

Great War

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the Armistice which ended World War I, a cataclysm which, among other outcomes, destroyed many of Europe’s monarchies and two of the world’s largest empires (the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman), bankrupted Britain, allowed the emergence of international communism as a powerful social movement, created a model for technologically-driven total warfare, and made the U.S. into the world’s leading industrial power. The Great War also killed about 20 million people, created several states which still trouble the world today (Yugoslavia, Iraq), and of course led to a flawed “peace” which only led to an even greater war 21 years later.

Amazingly, there are still a few veterans of World War I among us. At least ten men who served in the war are still alive, including the American doughboy Frank Buckles. Several of these servicemen are also their country’s oldest known citizens, and several – including Buckles – also witnessed the violence of World War II. It’s not suprising, given the way the histories of wars are written, that there’s is no parallel list of the women who witnessed the war.

Weather Preferences

With winter now advancing steadily toward us, I’d like to just go on the record with a few of my key preferences for winter weather.

20° F, calm, and sunny > 15° F and heavy snow > 0° F and snowing > 0° F and calm > -15° F and windy > icy rain > freezing fog > 34° F and sunny

I trust that Ukko will take these under advisement, lest I refuse to sacrifice any moose to him this year.

E-Day Minus 1

I rode over to the playground this afternoon to meet the girls and let Shannon head out on her run. The weather was beautiful – high 60s, a slight breeze, clear golden light. The playground was buzzing with at least twenty kids – a cluster of tween girls talking by the swings, some rambunctious boys climbing over things that weren’t meant to climbed, a lot of elementary-age kids going up and down the slides. Gigantic flights of geese trailed overhead every few minutes – one had at least a hundred birds in it.

The happy activity in the beautiful setting seemed like a fitting end to what had been a hellacious day, and an almost cinematic start to what I hope will be a wonderful 36 hours.

90% Treats

Shannon already provided a full rundown of the Halloween festivities (and anxieties), and I’m buzzing from too many Milk Duds (I should have Milk Dudn’t), so I’ll just share this picture of the little witch helping the little ladybug make her way up to another door:

Witch and Ladybug
Witch and Ladybug

Anyone who can guess why Julia is wearing different witch hats gets a prize – all the Almond Joys we have in our house! (Shannon wants to give up the Milk Duds, too, but NEVER!)

Mnemonics: Comprise vs. Compose

I’ve struggled, lo these many years, with a serious issue comprising two interlocking problems:
1. The distinction between “compose” and “comprise” (which are not synonyms, no matter how those hacks at the New York Times use them) and
2. A mnemonic device for remembering that distinction.

Finally, Saturday, subconsciously inspired by multiple readings of this usage post and certain child-induced nocturnal stressors, I woke up in the middle of the night with what appears to be (2), thus perhaps dissolving (1) with a laser-like beam of certitude. Forthwith:

The synonyms “comprise” and “contain” both contain the letter “i” whereas the synonyms “compose” and “make up” do not.

I know; I know. It’s no “every good boy deserves fudge” or even a “Roy G. Biv.” But it works for me, and maybe it’ll work for you. Now, where’d I put that mnemonic for the amendments to the Constitution?

Weekend Utterances

It went pretty well, the 0.5 part of the 2.5 days on my own with girls. Tomorrow, not being punctuated by preschool and the drive to and from the airport, will be more interesting than was today, but Julia did have a few good lines this afternoon:

Me: “You guys are awfully cute.”
Julia: “Aren’t we, though? Aren’t we, though?”

[later]

Me: “The Halloween nature walk tomorrow is a dress-up thing: you guys can wear costumes if you want.”
Julia: “No, that’s okay. I’ll just pretend to be fancy in my normal clothes. Or a witch.”

Stay tuned to see just how she pulls off the fancy-or-a-witch look in her usual (75% pink) attire.