Posts Tagged weather
Another Weekend in Stockholm
It’s still doubtful that we’ll be able to leave again on Tuesday, but there is hope, since the Swedish airport authority said that they may allow flights into and out of Arlanda tomorrow. Furthermore, the BBC weather maps predict the volcano ash will pass to the south of Norway and Sweden by the beginning of the week. It’s a better than nothing chance that we could leave, but I’m not holding my breath. Furthermore, the air crews and aircraft all have to be in place by Tuesday.
Yesterday, we took a trip to the Vasa Museum, which houses an absolutely massive wooden warship. The ship was built by Sweden in the 1600s in its fight against Poland and sank as soon as it put out to sea. It was recovered in the 1950s and restored over a 20 year period before being placed inside the museum.
I’ve seen plenty of wooden sailing ships at home, most were very small, but the Vasa is a giant. Its size was probably part of the reason for its downfall — the prevailing argument is that it was too top heavy and did not have enough ballast. From the keel to the top of the mainmast must be well over 100 feet: the ship seems like the Spruce Goose of its time.
Last night I went out with more stuck conference attendees to a bar near the waterfront. The average price was about $10/pint, but “pints” here are a noticeably larger 0.5L (16.9oz), not 12oz as in the United States. The place I went to had a large selection of beers, but not too many I hadn’t heard of.
Today we went out to the Royal Palace, meeting up with Alexandra, but this time we saw the changing of the guard, toured the insides of the palace, and the crown jewels. Interestingly, the woman operating the ticket office commented on my William and Mary ID, for it seems the concept of royalty has a different meaning in places that have monarchs. The changing of the guard involved a military marching band playing a few songs and marching around. The Royal Apartments were ornate, but were no Versailles, although a room in the Royal Palace was modeled after the Hall of Mirrors. The Treasury, which contained some of the crown jewels, was most interesting, with a guide explaining the historical significance of different crowns, maces, and orbs.
Since Alexandra was also stuck here with a canceled flight, we walked back to the train station to see if she could get a ticket back in the direction towards her school. She estimated the travel time would be about 30 hours. The train station in Stockholm was packed, with the ticket office handing out numbers to those who wanted to purchase tickets. The line was probably several hours long, so we just left. More than likely, trains towards Copenhagen were sold out for several days. It’s fortunate that Europe has the rail system it does, for if air travel was stopped in the United States for more than a few days, it would be much worse.
Later, we went back over towards where the Vasa museum was to find the zoo. We circled around it but could not find a way in. Finally, when we reached the entrance, it was 10 minutes from closing. We walked back along the waterfront and I headed back to the hotel.
While I was out today, I ran into several people from the conference. I saw one guy from the hotel who mentioned that he knew of people heading south into Spain or Morocco to fly to South Africa and then catch a flight from there to the United States. I ran into some others from the University of Illinois in a grocery store who predicted the winds would shift just in time to allow their Thursday flight to leave.
At this point, we will wait and see what happens with our scheduled Tuesday flight. If it doesn’t go, then we will probably start to think about alternatives. A group from the conference is considering chartering a bus to Madrid, but their airspace has been closed intermittently and I’ve heard the hotels there are booked solid. There is also a ferry that runs from Denmark to Iceland: we could take a train to Denmark, take the ferry to Iceland, and fly back home from there. Surprisingly, Iceland’s airport is allowing flights to and from the United States.
If we do consider finding an alternate route home, we will have to consider the costs of leaving a city that we know well with residents that speak good English and are pretty tolerant of foreigners. We also have to consider the probability of something else going wrong when traveling overland long distances, connecting on different trains or even buses. Bus and especially rail routes are extremely packed because of all that’s happened, with many being sold out for days. By the time we travel a week and a half to get home via land and sea, the airspace may have opened up anyway.
At this point, time is starting to pass. I haven’t done any work and I really should, at least to keep my mind off of being stuck here. My adviser and I may go to KTH to find an office and get something done. At the end of the week I am supposed to meet with my fiancee and the pastor for our wedding but I might not be able to go. I wonder what would happen if I were stuck here for months or even for the rest of my life (I’m sure this won’t happen, but I am thinking hypothetically). However, my sister has lived abroad for quite some time, so I’m sure I could adapt like she has.
Not a plane in the sky
I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be home in a few hours, but instead, I’m still here in Stockholm.
There seems to be a huge difference between the US and EU portrayals of this event. Everyone in the US seems surprised when I tell them that air travel is essentially stopped for the foreseeable future, while the EU media are spelling doom and gloom. Some are discussing government airline bailouts similar to what happened after September 11th.
Plenty of people from the conference are still staying in my hotel and most have rebooked flights for some time next week. They seem optimistic that the winds will shift or the eruption will die down in time for their flight to leave. I don’t think anyone really knows.
At this point the ash cloud covers most of Europe, so any airport remaining open is destined to be crammed with people trying to get out. There really isn’t anything I can do but sit tight and see what happens. If my flight is canceled on Tuesday, then it will probably be time to think about finding another way home.
In the meantime, my legs are getting beat up from the running, especially on the trails and hills. Walking around in the city probably doesn’t help either, and unfortunately, I don’t have a bike that I can borrow. The trails sure are great, though.
Today, a few of us still here took a bus tour around Stockholm. We drove around much of the city and saw a few things I hadn’t seen when walking around. The best tidbit I learned was that Swedish soldiers and sailors once received a 2 liter daily beer ration. Two liters of beer per day!
Tomorrow we may go to one of the nearby museums. Laundry is now another thing to do on my list since I’ve been here a week and could only pack but so much.
Stockholm: CPS Week
While my Stockholm trip to attend CPS Week has gone well until today, I suddenly find that my travels are far from over. Thanks to the ash cloud ransacking the UK, Europe, and Scandinavia, Sweden may become my new home for awhile. I really seem to be a marked man when it comes to air travel.
Day 1: Saturday 4/10/2010
When I arrived in Norfolk, there was a mix up at the ticket counter – the web check-in boarding pass I printed the day before was invalid and it took some work for the ticket agent to print a new one. When we arrived in Chicago that afternoon, it was a very long trip from the B concourse island to the international terminal. We had to go under the ramp, into the main terminal, and take a train to the international terminal, a good 15 or 20 minutes. Fortunately, the terminal was not busy and we were able to check in at the SAS counter without any issues.
The TSA agent checking my boarding pass at the O’Hare International Terminal commented about me being from Virginia; she said she had never been there. When I travel to other parts of the country, I always get interesting comments from the locals about me being from Virginia. In Palo Alto, a waitress commented that it was cold in Virginia, when at the time I remember it was really much warmer at home than in Silicon Valley. When in Gloucester visiting an old roommate, I got a comment from his neighbor that I was from “Virginny.” I’ve also heard another Massachusetts resident (who attends school at William and Mary) refer to “Virginny,” as well. Hollywood always portrays Virginians with thick backcountry accents when the reality is nothing of the sort. Some have the Tidewater accent, but it’s unnoticeable to the untrained ear.
Also, there were no restaurants in the O’Hare International terminal: 8 bucks for a pre-made sandwich. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long until the Stockholm flight departed. I noticed that nearly everyone waiting was Swedish, for there were no blue American passports that I could see. Once on the plane, I realized we lucked out on the seat assignments and got extra legroom since we were just behind the premium economy section.
On the flights, my adviser and I talked about the direction of my career in school and afterwards. Placement at a faculty job would probably require more time in school, perhaps up to another year, while a research lab may require less. It’s all about gaining enough experience to do what you want to do. It was interesting to talk to him about the possibilities since he has experience in both industry and academia. Both have benefits and drawbacks and there is no way I want to close the door on any particular track just yet. Just this week I talked with some other students in our department about the time required to complete a Ph.D., and those Master’s students involved in the discussion were wary of spending years in school to graduate. I would not be opposed to spending another two years in school as long as I worked hard enough to get some good papers published in the hope that I could get a good faculty position at a research university. From the looks of it, I have plenty of time to think about it and decide.
Day 2: Sunday 4/11/2010
As usual, I didn’t sleep much on the plane, only short bouts of 10 or 20 minutes. The sun came up quickly and the clouds parted, giving us a view of jagged mountains and snow and little sign of life. Before landing, the ground was covered up again by thick fog, which we soon descended into.
Though it was 7:30 in the morning, the airport was almost completely deserted. Immigration and customs was a breeze considering we were the only flight arriving at the time. A high speed train took us from the airport to the Stockholm Central terminal; a speedometer read well over 200kph as trees and buildings flew by. I doubt any train at home travels anywhere near that fast. From the train terminal, we took a subway two stops until we were near the hotel. One thing I found odd was that the subway tickets had to be purchased from one of several convenience stores surrounding the subway entrance. In the subway terminal, there were no ticket machines or windows and no signs indicating where tickets could be bought. Instead, we had to ask someone at the entrance looking for freeriders where we could purchase tickets.
The city was mostly deserted, though it was a Sunday. Stores were closed and nearly nobody was on the subway or walking around on the streets. Even the school where the conference was to be held was nearly empty of students with the library closed. Weatherwise, the day started out cloudy but later the sun came out, with temperatures in the lower 40s – pretty much a December or January day at home. It’s a good thing I brought my heavy coat.
The hotel had a room available as soon as we arrived, which was surprising since it was only 9 in the morning. My adviser and I slept for a few hours and then headed out in the afternoon, exploring Gamla stan and the area around the conference. We walked by the parliament building and the Stockholm Palace, taking a ton of pictures.
To me, it seemed as if everyone was pretending that the weather was nice. People at coffee shops sat outside at tables, wearing winter coats while being punished by the wind. Others stood in lines at ice cream stands, despite the 40 degree weather. Plenty more were out running and biking. I suppose weather can be much worse in Stockholm.
The crowds picked up some in the afternoon, but there were few restaurants around our hotel so we settled on a Mongolian BBQ place. I’ve been to similar places at home, but in the brief time I’ve been here there wasn’t anything interesting that caught my eye. Just the usual McDonald’s and a few other places labeled “American Grill,” or “Steakhouse.” I travel thousands of miles to get away from American food, among other things, but it seems I can’t escape it.
Day 3: Monday 4/12/2010
Though sleep was better than the previous night, I still had trouble. I almost never sleep well on trips since it’s always hard for me to adjust to new environments. I got up before 7AM and went out for a run beyond the university where the conference was, noticing there was a large park I could check out, so I headed that way and was surprised. City blocks now packed with commuter traffic and sidewalks packed with people suddenly gave way to a vast forest with tons of dirt trails. Plenty of other people were out running and biking.
I tooled around on the trails for awhile and headed back. I was surprised that traffic would stop even if it looked like I was about to cross the street. In addition to the trails, there were large paved paths with marked lanes for bikes and pedestrians. Sweden seems to have solved the bike path problem so prevalent in the United States. By making the paths wider and by separating pedestrians and cyclists, cyclists can cruise the bike paths without having to dodge pedestrians. In the city, sections of curb separated bike lanes from vehicle traffic, also decreasing the chance of a bicycle accident.
On Monday, there were a handful of workshops; I attended one on “Cooperating Objects,” which appears to be a new buzzword in the embedded/sensor networks community. A few people spoke about event detection and machine learning, with ideas similar to my research. There were easily several hundred people, much more than at previous conferences I attended, people from all over the world.
At the reception Monday evening, I met Alexandra from Romania, who attended school in Slovenia. It was interesting talking to her, considering that we are from very different and faraway places, yet we work in the same field. We hung out quite a bit between breaks throughout much of the conference and through her I was introduced to a few others from Eastern Europe. At school, it can feel very insular with few people to share your work and ideas with, but at a place like this, everybody is doing the same thing, and they come from everywhere.
Day 4: Tuesday 4/13/2010
Tuesday was a long one. I was up at 6:30 to run, with plenty of daylight. I explored a different part of the park than before, but ended up by a factory. I’m still surprised at the number of trails in the city.
The plenary speaker seemed to be more of a biologist, speaking about human and animal brains as a control system. There were quite a few talks in IPSN about machine learning and/or event detection so it was interesting to see others’ approaches to similar problems. Later on, there was a poster and demo session which lasted until nearly 7:30 at night.
During the poster/demo session, I met a guy from the University of Utah which had concocted a sort of “x-ray” vision with 802.15.4 radios – I remember reading about this on the internet a few months ago. Link quality between radios would change due to people moving about in the room, and with enough links, the moving people could be localized. Apparently, his paper based on this was rejected mostly because nobody believed it.
Day 4: Wednesday 4/14/2010
On Wednesday, I hit the motherlode for trails when out on my run. On previous runs I seemed to hit dead ends – running into roads, office buildings, or even factories, but today I found a trail that took me out to the rest of the park. There were plenty more trails and open space by the time I had to turn around. It was also sunny right from the start instead of morning fog.
The IPSN tracks were pretty interesting, again with a few on event detection and machine learning. One group took a twist with a technique I used in my paper that I hadn’t thought of. I also went to the CPS conference sensor network track, but didn’t really see too much differences compared with the typical sensor network research.
Day 5: Thursday 4/15/2010
I ran again in the morning, out to all the new trails I found the day before. Unfortunately, the clouds returned. At the conference, my adviser’s adviser, Jack Stankovic, was the plenary speaker. During his talk, he used the example of a storm in Chicago as a reference to real time job scheduling. The next day, I was supposed to return home via Chicago – hearing about any airline problem in Chicago was the last thing I wanted to think about. This example eerily foreshadowed the problems to come for my return flights (through Chicago).
There were a few other sessions in the IPSN track that were interesting – at least one other event detection paper that was related to my work. Then, in the afternoon, it was time for my presentation. Since I was in the sensor networks track of RTAS, most people were in the concurrent IPSN track, so I didn’t get a huge audience.
Just before the presentation, I found out about the ash cloud coming from Iceland. One of the other people in the room mentioned about flying back through Chicago the next day, as were my adviser and I. He then mentioned something about maybe not getting back, and that’s when I found out about the ash cloud causing a huge mess in the UK and northern Europe. It was headed to Sweden next.
With this on my mind, it was my turn to present. I thought I did reasonably well and finished on time, except that I rearranged my slides just before the presentation and wound up having a backup slide placed ahead of my last slide, causing me to skip through it.
Following my presentation, my adviser and I locked ourselves in a discussion room in the university library and proceeded to call the airline reservation number to get a new booking. The earliest we could get was the following Tuesday, over four days away. Weather reports stated that the cloud might stay for days or weeks. I walked back to the hotel and extended the hotel reservation until Tuesday while in the lobby other conference attendees scrambled to adjust their plans.
At the very least, I’ll get to see more of Stockholm and Sweden, though the weather isn’t supposed to hold up. Fortunately for this week it has been fairly warm and sunny. We’ll have to take it day by day to see if the ash cloud will dissipate enough to allow us to go home. If Tuesday comes and goes and there’s no sign of the cloud letting up, it might be worth a try to head south via train or bus through Denmark to somewhere where I can fly out.
Rome Trip: Lightning Strikes Twice
As I sit here back at home writing this, a lone book sits high on the bookshelf, looming over me: “What Are the Odds,” by Mike Orkin. An apt title for the past five days, which were probably the longest five days I’ve had in quite awhile. What are the odds that I would get screwed on the way over and on the way back from Rome? The odds were pretty good.
The mess with the delayed flight from Norfolk keeping me home for two days was frustrating, but at least I was at home and not stuck in Philadelphia. At least on the second attempt I made it without any problems. After three days of walking and my SECON presentation, I was tired and jet lagged and ready to go home. I knew that on my trip back that anything could happen. I’ve had enough experiences with cancellations, delays, and lost bags to know that with each flight I was rolling the dice. On this trip, my number came up twice.
I got up at 6:30 AM Rome time, or 12:30 AM in Virginia. The train station was right across the street from the hotel, but it took almost 15 minutes of walking to get to where the train was. There were 30 platforms, some of which were behind others, so it was quite the walk with my suitcase out to the train. Fortunately, my dad and I bought tickets before we left at a machine so I didn’t have to waste time figuring out how to get a ticket. One wheel of my suitcase started to come apart and made quite the racket as I dragged it around everywhere.
The train left on time and got to the airport on time. I entered the airport terminal the same way we left and assumed that the ticket counter would be just inside. A sign said there were concourses A, B, and C. My dad and I arrived at C, and it appeared as though I would leave the same way. A monitor said the flight was on time.
I tried to find the ticket counter. There was a whole sea of them just inside from where the train dumped me out. A directory listed all the airlines and where the ticket counters were. It said US Airways: counter 511. But, the ticket counters in the terminal only went from 200 to 400. Where was 511? Looking around in disbelief, a small, out of the way sign said US Airways ticket counters were in “Terminal 5″. Terminal 5? How did that line up with concourses A, B, or C? More importantly, how does one get there? Another small poorly placed sign announced that a bus outside would go to Terminal 5. I went outside and found the sign for the bus and waited. As I waited a crowd began to form by the sign. It got bigger and bigger and the bus wasn’t coming.
Finally, the bus came and we packed in. Half the line got left outside. The bus wound its way all over the airport for ten minutes before arriving at the secret Terminal 5. Since I had web check-in and printed my boarding pass at the conference, I didn’t need to stand in line. I got my passport checked off and was put back on another bus to the terminal I started at.
When I got to the gate there wasn’t much going on but soon all the seats were packed and a large Italian family sat next to me and had a loud and heated conversation. Some of them hovered over me as they conversed loudly. Either the concept of personal space is nonexistent to them or they were trying to get me to leave by being obnoxious. It was probably a bit of both: I got up and found another seat next to an American couple who complained about the only coffee in the place was a bar that served only espresso shots. They really wanted their brewed coffee. I didn’t blame them.
The flight back to Philadelphia left on time and arrived on time. I had a window seat, but there wasn’t much to look at but clouds and bits of the ocean beneath. We crossed over the Alps and parts of France, but the clouds covered most of that too. Most of the transatlantic trips I’ve taken had the ocean blanketed by clouds. I’m not sure why this is.
The flight was nine hours, the longest I’d ever taken, but my sister took one that was something like 16 or 18 when she went to China. Nine was uncomfortable enough. I watched a movie, read several hundred pages of a book, and went to sleep. Everything cramped up. Fortunately, the flight attendants came by frequently with drinks.
Since I was near the front of the coach section and had carried on all my bags, it was easy to get off the plane and get through passport control and customs. I was through all that within 10 minutes, and fortunately customs did not ransack my computer looking for contraband. I would have had quite the fit if they decided to do that. I’m hoping these warrantless searches go to court soon.
I arrived in terminal A-West in Philadelphia, and the Norfolk flight left from at the far end of terminal F. My dad says this is about a two mile walk. There is a shuttle bus, but since I had been on the plane for nine hours and hadn’t run or biked in four days, I wanted the exercise. I had to go back through security again at F, but it wasn’t too bad. I had plenty of time: I got through customs at 3:30 Eastern time and my plane to Norfolk didn’t leave until 5.
Then the problems started. At the gate for the Norfolk flight, it was announced that the plane would leave 30 minutes late. A whole pile of people at the gate had missed earlier Norfolk flights and would be standing by for this one. Fortunately, I had a seat assignment.
5:30 came and went and the plane never arrived at the gate and the agent disappeared. Some pilots in uniform came to the gate who were commuting home and whined about the lack of agents. With no plane and no agent, 6:00 came and went. Then, another passenger for my flight who walked down the hall to the departures monitor said the flight was cancelled. Panic ensued.
Getting hold of my parents, I was able to learn the reservations number from the Internet. Apparently the plane got stuck in New York due to weather and they just decided to drop the rest of its flights. I asked the agent about other flights. No flights had seats through Norfolk until 3 PM the next day. No flights had seats through Newport News until the next morning. Despite complaining about my outbound screwup, the reservation agent said I would not be compensated for a hotel room due to weather. The agent booked me on the early morning Newport News flight and I thought about going to one of those Special Services desks and complaining until they gave me a hotel for free.
I talked to my parents again and again, using the power of the Internet, learned that I could get to Richmond. Surprisingly, my mom said if I could get to Richmond, she would drive the two hours to get me. There was a plane that left at 6:25. If I hurried, I might make it. Unlike the Norfolk flight, this flight was a mainline flight and left from C concourse and I was in F. I raced to the shuttle bus and got on the bus which happened to be just about to leave.
As I was on the bus, my phone rang: my adviser. Thinking I was back home, he told me that the session chair said I had made it to the presentation and that it went well. This was the worst time to be discussing this: I told him I was about to be stuck in Philadelphia. He couldn’t believe it. We talked some more about what a mess the travel was and then hung up and got off the bus.
I raced through the terminal and crashed into the check in desk at the gate for the Richmond flight. The plane was there. Two agents were there, one of whom told me to slow down as I mashed into the desk and my bags fell on the floor. I told them my story about the canceled flight and my rebooking and asked if I could get on the plane to Richmond. After a minute of typing, I got a new boarding pass and got on the plane.
The plane closed its door early and we pushed back before 6:25. We got away from the terminal and stopped. Out the window, the taxiways looked like a parking lot of airplanes. They were everywhere. The pilot got on the PA and said weather was preventing takeoffs to the north, but we were going to leave to the south. The problem was that all the northbound planes were in the way and couldn’t move. He sounded less than optimistic about getting out of there anytime soon.
We waited and waited some more. A girl got up to use the bathroom. When she came out, the whole plane smelled of cigarette smoke. A flight attendant came by and asked if she had been smoking, of course she denied doing so. A guy behind me said he was on a flight where someone next to him smoked in his seat and when the plane landed, the smoker was arrested.
7:00 PM came and went and we sat there, looking at the gridlock. A few planes took off. My legs were hurting from all the sitting. I called home and my dad couldn’t believe I was still sitting on the taxiway. My mom had already left for Richmond.
As we sat there and whined about the delay, I learned the guys across from me were also refugees from the Norfolk flight. They had missed an earlier Norfolk flight and were going to stand by for mine until it was cancelled. Like me, they had called someone to come and pick them up in Richmond and drive them back to Virginia Beach.
7:45 passed by and we had moved across a runway but were still stuck with planes in front of us. The captain came on again and said the control tower had slowed down departures to one plane per 20 miles. I hadn’t seen anything take off in almost an hour. It was starting to rain. If a storm came over the airport, that would be the end. We would go back to the gate and hundreds of people would be spending the night in the airport, myself included.
Finally, by 8 PM, planes started taking off again at regular intervals, but the captain told us we were way back in line and it would still be another 25 minutes. Unbelievably, my mom had already arrived at the airport in Richmond and was waiting in the terminal. By 8:50 and after two hours of waiting, we were in the air. Fortunately, it was a short flight and we were in Richmond by 9:30. As we were deplaning, one of the other guys from the Norfolk flight said he was going to flip if his bags didn’t make the plane. Good luck.
My mom met me in the Richmond terminal and it was a quick drive back with no traffic jams. Finally, after midnight and nearly 24 hours of traveling, I was back home. I slept like a rock and it felt great to get out on the bike this morning.
Perhaps I should write letters to US Airways and the DOT. What this will accomplish, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get a small voucher to use for my next trip, which will stay well clear of Philadelphia. There had better be direct flights to Boston when I go to WASA. I took one when I went to IC4As in 2007, but it might be different now. It seems that the solutions to these travel nightmares may be mitigated by:
- Re-introducing more mainline flights. Apparently, regional jets are more prone to maintenance issues and do not handle weather as easily.
- Add more capacity. With every flight oversold, one cancellation creates a huge cascade of stuck travelers that cannot be rebooked onto the next flight. Adding more mainline flights will help this.
- Add more point to point flights or stagger departures and arrivals at hub airports. It seems that planes leave or arrive at a hub simultaneously, leading to huge traffic delays. Southwest has a good model to follow for this one.
- Reduce capacity through hub airports that are prone to weather delays. It seems that if someone so much as spits in Philadelphia, the whole place shuts down.
- Provide better customer service to help stranded travelers. I only found out the plane was canceled when another passenger told me. With no agent at the gate, the only option was to call the reservation office. Airlines should guarantee that a passenger will arrive at his or her destination within some fixed, reasonable time period or else provide a full refund.
Fortunately, I have time to recover from this before my next plane trip in August. If my next paper gets in to RTSS, I’ll only have to go to Washington. Maybe in the meantime, I’ll actually be able to get back to doing research since the last couple weeks have been spent mostly dealing with this trip.
The mediocre call it obsession
But I call it passion.
Today, there was an article in the local paper about a guy, Paul Boyette, from Chesapeake who had a running streak that lasted over six years. He ran at least two miles every day, running through injuries, terrible respiratory infections, and all kinds of weather. His streak was finally ended by a torn meniscus which proved too painful for him to run through. Oddly, this happened last summer, within a month of the pain in my knee becoming too great to run. The article was really vague as to what happened after he stopped because of the torn meniscus, but one of the photo captions describes him running last month. So, it appears as though he is back to doing what he loves.
The author of the article really makes this guy out to be an eccentric, hounding him because of his massive music and beer stein collections. The author describes how Boyette’s family and friends gave him endless grief about maintaining the running streak and running every day though illness and injury. Boyette is compared with a drug addict, as someone who has to get his fix or else he can’t function. His stacks of meticulously kept running logs and piles of worn out shoes are referenced as paraphernalia, aiding the addiction. A few commenters for the article say the guy is addicted to endorphins.
It isn’t addiction. It isn’t obsession. It is passion. Over the years, I’ve been hounded by people saying the same things, over and over:
“Why are you running in this weather? It’s too [cold/hot/rainy].”
“If you’re tired, take a day off.”
“Why don’t you try doing something else instead of running?”
The mediocre, the average, the run-of-the-mill Joe Six Pack only cares enough to go through the motions with any activity. These people, which make up a large majority of the population, see those who put all their effort into something as obsessive. The mediocre only wish to do good enough and to quit early. They will never feel good about any of their accomplishments, yet they simultaneously envy and criticize those who work extremely hard and become successful. The mediocre are everywhere and would love nothing more than to witness the failure of those who actually try. To that end, the mediocre spread their negativity and criticism to those they know that are successful, secretly wishing their endeavors will implode and their work will be for nothing. The author of the article and the commenters that follow are prime examples of those who just don’t get it.
People scoff at Bill Gates for sleeping in his office during the early years of Microsoft, working at his computer until he collapsed onto the floor with exhaustion. Though the mediocre label him as obsessive and wish to see Microsoft wiped from the earth, every single one of them has used a Microsoft product. If it weren’t for Gates’s efforts, this large scale success would never have been realized. Computing would never be what it is today without those “obsessives” working until they drop on the floor. Still more people can’t believe that the efforts Adam Savage of Mythbusters undertook to recreate an exact duplicate of the Maltese Falcon. He spent months of work researching the prop from the film, drawing sketches, making several mockups, and eventually getting his hands on the original prop to create a near flawless duplicate. In the video, Savage’s passion for his work really comes out as he speaks quickly and excitedly about every last detail of his quest. You don’t see that with the mediocre. You can tell when someone is passionate about their work when they speak of it like Savage, and you can tell when someone really just doesn’t care. I’ve seen professors, other grad students, running teammates, and internship co-workers speak with the same excitedness as Savage when they speak about their latest accomplishments. The passionate can pull you right into the hype.
It disappoints me to see that most others criticize the concentrated efforts of those like Bill Gates and Adam Savage while it is efforts such as those that keep the world in one piece. Without them, this world would be a bunch of slackers.
So why run until the pain becomes unbearable? Why work until you fall asleep at your desk? It is because not doing so would be a failure. I ran every day I could because I wanted to make the best of what I had. I ran every day and through all weather and many illnesses and injuries of my own because I knew there would be a day where the problems would be too great to run. On that day when I finally couldn’t run, I could look back and know that I had done my best. On the day I couldn’t run, I would have no regrets about the past. I would not have to wish that I had gone out for a run on a day that I was only too lazy to go. That day came last summer when my knee made running unbearable. Like Boyette, I had to stop. I had no regrets: I knew that I had made the best with what I had. Those who are mediocre will regret the day that they are unable to do something because of circumstances beyond their control. They had the chance to give it their all, but they didn’t make use of it.
I hope that I never again get criticised for biking or running as much as I can or for doing work when someone wants me to go out. It is what makes me who I am and it is not a disorder that should be treated with magic pills.
Cutting loose the anchors
The past couple of days have been solid weatherwise, so I’ve been able to get out on the new bike: an ’06 Giant TCR Composite-0. The difference is pretty stark compared to the Bianchi. It’s like comparing a roadster to a school bus. Since the mass isn’t there, it’s real easy to accelerate and turn. An interesting side effect is that since the bike is so light, a crosswind can just blow it across the road. If I’m not careful, I can wind up in the oncoming lane. Oddly, before I got the bike, one of my teammates who does triathlons mentioned something about this to me at Colonial Relays. Since the steel frame of the Bianchi provided a strong anchor against the wind, this had never happened to me before. I was taken by surprise this week, for it has been pretty windy.
The shop said to come back in a week or so to make sure it’s adjusted right. I’ll have to do that since my IT bands on both sides have always tightened up when I bike. I don’t want to take any chances with that. I’ve also got to figure out how to clean everything, especially the drivetrain. Every few months of riding I would try to clean up all the crap that accumulated on the Bianchi and relube the chain, but I was never able to get it as clean as when I would take it to the shop. I’ve found some tips on the internet, but there wasn’t anything I hadn’t really been doing before. One issue is that I don’t have access to a hose at the apartment. Maybe if I get a chain cleaning machine it will be easier — sometimes I’ve just taken off the chain completely. A bike stand would help too, but the expenses are piling up. Regardless, it won’t be long before dirt and mud starts building up on the frame and drivetrain.
I’ve forgotten what it’s like to bike (or run) outside. There are only a small number of good routes around Williamsburg, so I wind up doing the same thing almost every day. I remember a lot of my teammates would start to complain about this in terms of running routes, especially towards the end of the spring semester. We would wind up running the same old route a lot. Someone would offer a bunch of suggestions of where to go, but they would always get shot down, and we would head out to the same trail that we had done for the last zillion maintenance runs. Right now, it doesn’t really matter since it’s a relief to go away somewhere for awhile.
This weekend I…
Posted by Matt in general, microfracture on April 5, 2009
… rode outside for the first time since the surgery. This was a huge step forward and I had been waiting too long.
Over the past week or two I had been getting really restless. The hour on the trainer every day gave me a workout, but the weather was starting to turn. Spending nearly 95% of my time indoors over the past seven months was starting to really get to me. As goes the quote from “Office Space,” “Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day,” which was pretty much what I have been doing. I would walk back and forth from the Computer Science office and that was about it in terms of getting outside. Something was about to give.
It gave this weekend. The Colonial Relays was this weekend, and on Friday I walked over from the office and watched some of the distance races. The hour or so that I was out there had been the longest I’d been outside in quite a long time. That night, I went back and talked to a few of my teammates and alumni that had come back to watch. It was a great change of pace and was good to see everyone run. I talked to a lot of people that I hadn’t talked to in months, some even longer than that. A lot of people asked me when I would try running again, since the doctors have given me the okay to start. I replied that I wasn’t sure, but it would be soon. In talking to my old teammates, I had forgotten what I had left behind. For quite awhile, I’ve been in my own really tiny world, working on my projects.
Until now, the only times I would be shocked back into reality was when I would be having a discussion with my adviser in the late afternoon. We would be having a discussion on the whiteboard in his office and I would happen to glance out the window and see all my teammates run by in a blur. It’s a real kick in the butt to see that and remember what I used to do. In the world of computer science, the atmosphere is mellow, but determined. In the world that I came from, it’s about getting on the track and suffering. Unfortunately, in the context in which I live now, I don’t think anyone says, “I really dominated in that conference paper.” You don’t sweat and breathe hard while thinking up and coding a slick algorithm.
On Saturday, I got up, ate breakfast and prepared to do what I had done since before Thanksgiving: get on the trainer and pound away for about an hour. I would open the window, turn on the fan, and listen to music while I looked outside at the law students coming and going from the library. But on Saturday, the sun was shining and it was getting warm. I couldn’t take it any longer: it was time to go out.
It was about the best feeling I’ve ever had. I was uncaged, released into the wild, my natural habitat. I hauled it out past the state park at York River. The weather said the wind was blowing 30 mph gusts from the west, but I didn’t notice a thing. I powered up hills where over the summer I remember being exhausted and downshifting into the lowest gear. I remember trying to upshift, only to look down and see there were no more gears to use. A dog bolted out from its house and chased after me for nearly a quarter mile, but I kept it at bay. I turned around right before the road ended at the river. As I got closer to home, I never got tired. I looped around campus and got to the track just in time to watch the 4×800.
Yesterday was the first day in months that I didn’t do any work before dinner. I still did a little before I went to bed, so I couldn’t call it a complete day off. I was outside at the meet all day and got a nasty sunburn. I guess that happens when you don’t have a built up tolerance from running or biking outside every day. I watched all the distance relays and hung out with everyone some more. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. On the bike, I’d gone 45 minutes over an hour, and despite feeling much easier than the trainer, was enough to make me not want to move for most of the afternoon.
Today I went out again, but took it easier. I was definitely more tired today and felt more normal as compared with pre-surgery rides.
As for my knee, I was out of the saddle several times and really hammered up some hills without any real discomfort. I might have felt something this afternoon walking around, but I can’t be sure. I do know, that if my knee could handle what I did today and yesterday, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to do at least some running. Sometime soon, the same thing will happen with biking outdoors and I’ll just start running on a whim. It won’t take much to push me over the edge.
I finally broke down and got a new bike. For awhile, I’ve been worried that the rear cogs are so worn that someday I’ll go up a hill and the chain will just rip off. I tried a few new bikes out at the bike shop, the first one being a Specialized aluminum frame. It felt like my old one, nothing really special about it. But, I tried a Giant TCR-0 with a carbon frame and it felt like a rocket. It was an unused 2006 and I think I got a pretty good deal on it since equivalent new models of just about every manufacturer go for about $1000 more. I’d been to bike shops quite a bit in the past few years and I don’t often see anything older or discounted. It seems most owners keep a limited stock. The components had been switched up and have a combination of Shimano Ultegra and 105. I really don’t need the way high end components since I don’t care too much about saving some fraction of an ounce of weight. As it is, the bike feels like a feather compared to the steel Bianchi. Since my shoes and pedals were a mess, I went ahead and replaced those. Hopefully I’ll be able to try out the bike before the weather crashes this week.
If I can bike or even run outside more often it will provide more of a balance to my life. I really can’t just hole up and work all day — there’s got to be a balance to the equation. The recent discussion about goofing off boosting productivity probably has some merit in it. Biking or running isn’t really goofing off, but it provides the same release.
One year ago today…
Posted by Matt in microfracture on January 30, 2009
The day that my knee gave out. It was the day I went out on a freezing cold morning run and five minutes down the sidewalk I took a step and it all went wrong. It felt like my whole lower leg and quad just exploded. It was definitely a scary moment and I thought for a few seconds that whatever it was wouldn’t allow me to even walk.
Now it’s one year later on a similarly cold day and I’m on the other side. After a long period of pain and wondering what I had done to my knee, to the cartilage tear diagnosis and buildup to the surgery, the weeks of non-weight bearing, the months of wearing a brace, and finally biking again, I’ve come nearly full circle. A few of the guys on the team asked yesterday when I’ll be tying up the ol’ running shoes again. One even asked about racing plans. Not so fast…
My goal is to start once the weather gets warmer — the cold is probably one of the factors that led to my problems in the first place. The worst of all my previous running injuries started in the winter. I really also don’t care for freezing my butt off outside when I can bike inside. A part of me doesn’t want to start at all in fear that I’ll be in pain. I would almost rather just have the hope that I can run again versus the fear that I’ll never be able to.
I have a hard time believing it’s been a year since all this went down. I feel a lot better now than I did then, especially knowing what was wrong with me. I waited for months until the pain and irritation got so bad to go to the doctor, but there wasn’t a day that I wondered why my knee gave me such trouble. I remember clearly the day I hurt it, getting into the car and feeling unbearable pain each time I put in the clutch. Stairs were a nightmare, and even extending my leg when sitting down was pretty bad. At the least, I know what happened and I’ve tried to get it fixed. It’s possible with advances in stem cell research that I could get an injection that would regrow my lost cartilage to its pre-tear state. I could go back to running as if nothing ever happened. Now, I’ll be satisfied if I can get out the door a few times a week for a couple of miles.
I’m really starting to face the reality that I’m getting older. I know I’m not that old, but most of the doctors I’ve seen for various running injuries have told me that I’m not an invincible high schooler anymore. Stuff is going to wear me down more than it used to and I’ve got to pay attention. My coach calls them “old man” injuries. I even get called “old man” when I occasionally drop by at practice.
I guess this just boils down to the fact that I wish that I didn’t have to worry about coming apart at the seams. Ray Kurzweil goes on about how much of a PITA it is to give our bodies constant attention and to still have them break down on us — that a better solution is needed than just advances in medical technology. I really can’t stand to have to dedicate so much time to bodily upkeep when I could be doing something else. Imagine how many more interesting things we could be doing instead of having to sleep, eat, drink, brush our teeth, and handle other annoying bodily functions. They always seem to get in the way when I want to put my attention elsewhere.
Though uploading my consciousness into a computer as a program sounds like a radical idea, it would certainly take care of most of these annoyances. The question would then become one of experience: would existing as a computer program provide the same sensory experience, satisfaction, and overall quality of life as in a real body? I’m not sure. At this point I would have to say no, but maybe a few more years of aging will change that.
Microfracture: +20 weeks
Posted by Matt in microfracture on January 13, 2009
A few more days and it will be five months since the surgery.
At this point I don’t know if I’ll post any more weekly updates about my knee since not too much is happening. At least not until I try running again or if something bad happens. The biking is bringing my left leg strength up to par with my right and the size difference between the two is becoming less noticeable. I drove the Mustang yesterday and for the first time putting in the clutch wasn’t accompanied by the anticipation of popping and pain. I’ve noticed that putting in the clutch is easier now that my strength has improved.
As I’ve probably mentioned before, I’m content just biking for now with the resistance trainer. After the semester really gets going and maybe the weather gets a little warmer I might start a return to running program with some guidance from my old coach. It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve found contentment in something else other than running, but hard biking seems to be doing the same job: making me tired. When I feel worn out, I feel like I’ve accomplished something. I do miss being outside and not relying on some piece of equipment to get me around, so I’m pretty certain that I’ll get back to running at some point as long as my knee allows.
Microfracture: +19 weeks
Posted by Matt in microfracture on January 5, 2009
Not much going on with respect to my knee. I’m still continuing my leg strengthening routine with leg weights and biking with the resistance trainer. I was on my feet for a few hours again over the weekend and again noticed that I was more tired than before the surgery had I done the same thing. Maybe it’s the biking, but it’s hard to tell. Regardless, it’s a far cry from the daily fatigue I faced while running on the track and cross country teams. Some guys used to hate it, but at the time I really didn’t care — it was just something I dealt with. Now, I’m starting to realize how much effort it took to get through practice every day and how ransacked I got after nearly every workout and race. Tiredness for me now equates to about the level of tiredness I faced during the first few weeks of a new training cycle when I was on the team.
I still have occasional pain in my left knee, which is probably just the IT band again, but sometimes I think I feel something in the joint. I’ve been stretching more after biking to help keep everything loose before I get in front of the computer for most of the day. I spend about 15 minutes or so now, which is better than when I first started biking, where some days I wouldn’t stretch at all. I really should do more so that I can adjust better if I bike more or start running. If I start biking on the roads for any significant amount of time or add in running, I could be in trouble with not stretching enough. Plenty of typical soft tissue injuries could be in store for me if I don’t watch out.
I drove the Mustang again yesterday for the second time since I’ve had the surgery. I’m planning on driving it again more now that I can handle it, but it still has me worried whenever I put my foot on the clutch. Each time I even touch the clutch I think about the popping and pain that ensued prior to the surgery. It’s like going down stairs was for awhile. I just have to overcome the fear, but at the same time I wonder if the clutch is going to wear down the fibrocartilage in my knee in the same way that running might. I will gradually drive it more and see how it goes. I may throw in the towel if I start to get discomfort.
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