waiting for the train: thoughts on travel & on climbing.
currently i am in a sweetwaters cafe, on N. 5th Ave & Detroit St. the amtrak train (supposedly) arrives at 12:56pm and will proceed to chicago. this is leg #1 of my travels.
grey_ghost's itineraries:
9-12 June: Chicago - Real Analysis Symposium XXIII
13-16 June: Palo Alto - sister's graduation
17-20 June: Las Vegas - tourism, nostalgia
this sweetwaters is an odd assortment of characters. community high school is across the street and there are teens at a third of the tables. capitalists and techies take another third of the seats, and then there are "students" like me. [1]
most of these travels are vacation. even this mathematics conference sounds fun:
for instance, there will be few talks. i'm meeting a friend or two there, and maybe we'll talk a little math.
also, this thursday afternoon is an excursion -- i opted for a boat tour, instead of a cubs game -- and i've brought my camera for the occasion.
i even ran a google search for climbing walls in the chicago area, but then i voluntarily stopped myself.
i shouldn't treat this conference so much like a vacation. i already think of conferences as escapes from the daily grind.
sure, i waste a lot of time while here, but there should be distinctions between work and play. otherwise my work slackens and at the same time, i'll feel like i never take any time off.
i'm bringing my running shoes along, but i'm going to miss climbing for two weeks.
i think it's the newbie type of obsession, maybe some childish glee that i once exclusively felt for jungle gyms and monkey bars. there's something very calming about pulling yourself up and seeing if you can make the next bar/grip.
odd. i never cared about being strong before. i might have lifted weights regularly, a long time ago, but that was mainly to be a better runner. some strength helps for basketball, but technique is more key.
now, i want to be physically strong -- arm strength, i mean -- because i want to be better at bouldering. after every climbing session, my biceps are worn out and my hands feel weak and stiff.
the thing is: you don't have to be super-strong to be a good climber. in bouldering, technique is fundamental. strength doesn't hurt, though:
in mathematics, the first time you prove something, it may be awkward and you might not have a good sense of the strategy. sometimes the first proof is by brute force. only after some contemplation, you see the mechanisms and then the next proof flows and makes sense.
bouldering is like that. you can muscle your way through a bouldering route, but almost always, there is a clever way to do it, without strength.
[1] i'm not yet a postdoc: at least the teaching andthe postdoc paychecks haven't started. lately when people ask me about my status, i tell them that i'm "disavowed."
grey_ghost's itineraries:
9-12 June: Chicago - Real Analysis Symposium XXIII
13-16 June: Palo Alto - sister's graduation
17-20 June: Las Vegas - tourism, nostalgia
this sweetwaters is an odd assortment of characters. community high school is across the street and there are teens at a third of the tables. capitalists and techies take another third of the seats, and then there are "students" like me. [1]
most of these travels are vacation. even this mathematics conference sounds fun:
for instance, there will be few talks. i'm meeting a friend or two there, and maybe we'll talk a little math.
also, this thursday afternoon is an excursion -- i opted for a boat tour, instead of a cubs game -- and i've brought my camera for the occasion.
i even ran a google search for climbing walls in the chicago area, but then i voluntarily stopped myself.
i shouldn't treat this conference so much like a vacation. i already think of conferences as escapes from the daily grind.
sure, i waste a lot of time while here, but there should be distinctions between work and play. otherwise my work slackens and at the same time, i'll feel like i never take any time off.
i'm bringing my running shoes along, but i'm going to miss climbing for two weeks.
i think it's the newbie type of obsession, maybe some childish glee that i once exclusively felt for jungle gyms and monkey bars. there's something very calming about pulling yourself up and seeing if you can make the next bar/grip.
odd. i never cared about being strong before. i might have lifted weights regularly, a long time ago, but that was mainly to be a better runner. some strength helps for basketball, but technique is more key.
now, i want to be physically strong -- arm strength, i mean -- because i want to be better at bouldering. after every climbing session, my biceps are worn out and my hands feel weak and stiff.
the thing is: you don't have to be super-strong to be a good climber. in bouldering, technique is fundamental. strength doesn't hurt, though:
in mathematics, the first time you prove something, it may be awkward and you might not have a good sense of the strategy. sometimes the first proof is by brute force. only after some contemplation, you see the mechanisms and then the next proof flows and makes sense.
bouldering is like that. you can muscle your way through a bouldering route, but almost always, there is a clever way to do it, without strength.
[1] i'm not yet a postdoc: at least the teaching andthe postdoc paychecks haven't started. lately when people ask me about my status, i tell them that i'm "disavowed."