Training Log Archive: barb

To a training session on data entry for the Obama campaign, and back.
Then in the evening, dark/wet, out to the wilds of Newton for a Scientists for Obama event. Heard Dr. David Blumenthal talk about Obama's health care plans; he's an advisor to the campaign. It was pretty interesting. Key points: universal coverage, information technology, no pre-existing condition hurdle. He also talked about McCain's plan, which is based on McCain's belief in the free market curing all ills. That does seem rather knee-jerky to apply blindly without looking to see whether your market meets certain preconditions. Like some balance in power and information amongst players. Feet is a free marketer, isn't he? But a clever one. Teachable, even. I find the free market thing a bit cynical (definition b: based on or reflecting a belief that human conduct is motivated primarily by self-interest). I like that Obama is a surgeon. Scalpel, not hatchet. Effective, too - look at everyone's low-key let's-get-it-done attitude without the in-fighting and inefficiencie; look at the gathering of ideas and information from throughout the network. Obama wants people to act in their self-interest, but sees that people's self-interest is not just trying to make more and more money but also living a decent life with friends and family in peace and good health. And he realizes that it's in people's self-interest to help other people attain these goals.

Anyway, today I got to check out several aspects of the preparations for Obama's presidency.

There's the generation of policy that makes sense and is good for human beings, with lots of input from smart experienced knowledgeable evidence-based-reasoning people. Like the health care policies, and the statement on science policy that is coming out tomorrow and which I got to see a copy of tonight.

Then there is just the demeanor and attitude of all these people working for Obama - calm, competent, real, friendly - people you'd like to have a beer with. Except they're busy. They are also respectful, having a very good tone about McCain & Palin - moving the conversation away from the personal and bringing it to differences in philosophies of governing and the likely outcomes.

And then there is the organization to carry out the campaign itself. Very effective. Those folks can run FEMA anytime, as far as I'm concerned.

...

# of google hits for "scientists for obama" 19,400
# of google hits for "scientists for mccain" 332

C • # of google hits for "scien... 9

Izzy at play (she is #46):

C • Girls 1

Guess I'd better start abiding the law.

Obama said "Estonians" tonight!

I was so happy with the shoes I wore for the rogaine in Estonia that I just ordered more. Salomon Elios.

From earlier this summer, hiking with John near Banff, in the land of the grizzly bear:



Now, about that 17-point plan. No, I didn't achieve my goal; especially towards the end when the kids were back in town, I was trying to spend some time at the new job, the junior high orienteering field trip was looming, and I was supposed to be doing 16 or 17 things for the plan each day. But I got close sometimes, and I did have a couple 17-point days.

On the other hand, the plan did help me prepare for the rogaine, and it had a big effect on my behavior. My dentist is happy with my flossed teeth. I lost 10 pounds. I hardly ever eat meat. That and the other dietary changes (much less sugar, much less refined flour, much less caffeine) left me feeling great. I became more thoughtful about my interactions with my kids. I got in touch with some old friends. I slept adequately.

So what happens now? I've been "celebrating" and indulging - in coffee ice cream, home-made bread, staying up late. But I'm still not eating meat, and still trying to eat good food. I feel as though there are a few things I need to catch up on and then maybe I can jump back into the Plan or a variant. I'm still so tired, from the rogaine, the travel to and from the rogaine, and then the field trip planning and execution...

John Lee says he might do the WRC with me when he turns 50, in two years. It's been a long time since we've done a rogaine together. He's planning to be in really good shape by then, and I could see working toward that too. To do well, we're also going to need to work on how we communicate with each other - and I'm excited to do that. Eric B says maybe he'll do a rogaine with me in 2010 or 2011. Something about needing to graduate from the WOC circuit first. So 2010 seems like a year to target for rogaines. Maybe I should have a 100-point plan. Or a 24-point plan where the number of points ratchets up every month instead of every week... I wouldn't change much; maybe add potato chips to the Verboten list.

Some night-O this morning to visit the remaining 5 "team controls" I'd not gotten to on Friday. 3 of the 5 were still there; I assume that teams picked up the other two, and I just didn't get it recorded. Then I rode around to the other side of the map and walked in to the bees' nest to get the dropped control card and kleenex packet. Saw no bees. It was getting light.

To Boojum, around Boojum, home from Boojum.

To school to join the 1st & 2nd graders for their morning meeting, to hear what they liked and thought could be improved, about the field trip.

Also saw the jr high teachers briefly; they were very positive about the trip. They thought the kids worked well together and "got it" about the orienteering much more than last year.

Went to the principal's office, where I met the father of the girl who was stung. He was there asking for medical advice; she's complaining of the itch. The nurse took him to her office.

Event: CSU Rocky Woods
 

Red course at Rocky Woods. Not very motivated. It was hot.

Mom did White, Dave did Red, Dad did Orange, and the kids went together on Yellow.

5 hours of control placing and pickup; a couple hours of walking and running during the event.

Things generally went really well. I have a list of things to do differently if they let me do it again next year. The big excitement was a girl stepping on a bees' or hornet's nest and being stung multiple times. I was on the other side of the map, and got a few phone calls about it. The teacher with the girl decided that we should call for an ambulance, so I did that while jogging toward them. Then I got another girl from the team on the phone so that she could tell me exactly where they were. She used a landmark control number to communicate her location; they'd gone south from it along a fence. I was able to get right to them. The girl who was stung is fine; no allergic reaction. Her teacher says she doesn't think the girl will come to the woods again.

The full set of photos is here. A few:

If you click on this one you'll see a larger image and might be able to read one of the team worksheets they filled out ahead of time with ground rules. My dad is in this photo too:








Chris and Sarah - half of the amazing junior high teaching team:


Steve, the math teacher:




The junior high and grade 1/2 teams exchanged tickets for stickers when they met. Here a grade 1/2 team eagerly approaches a junior high team:




Counting stickers:


At the Finish, the chaperones set up a store where kids could exchange tickets they retrieved from the woods for knick-knacks and candy. Here was one of the displays of goods:


The chaperones were awesome:

C • So were you happy with how ... 2

To and from Boojum for Jr High O.

Found on politicalirony.com:

Is the presidential campaign becoming long and frustrating to you? I find it helps to just stare at this photo for a few minutes.

C • Nice 2

Tomorrow is the big day: the orienteering field trip!
I spent a couple hours this morning meeting with the teachers and some of the chaperones. This is going to be fun. Here are some numbers:
103 students ranging from age 6 to 13.
9 teachers (including assistants).
27 adult chaperones.
32 different courses (each student will do 2 or 3).
84 controls (including regular punch, epunch, and hidden envelopes).

Still need to make some maps (4 courses plus chaperone overview maps), map walk narrations, instructions, posters, checklists, envelopes filled with tickets, etc.

Plus place all the controls.
Plus work today.

Setting controls for tomorrow's jr high O

Peter gave me and my bike a ride to Boojum via Dunkin Donuts this morning around 6. I walked most of the legs that the 1st & 2nd graders will travel on Friday, and flagged them.

Fun ride home from Boojum in traffic.

Oh man I am so tired.
Work is a little stressful; could not figure out some IT stuff today. Feeling kind of inept. Founders are coming in tomorrow. I'm not at work that much. Friday is the O field trip. Craziness.

Near the Tallinn airport hotel... Aborted when back hurt and it started to rain.

(Not sure of our exact finish time.)

The Estonian organizers did a fantastic job.

The map was awesome - built from a number of O maps but altered to work well at 1:40000.

The weather was perfect: cool, not rainy. Few bugs; none that bothered me.

There were swamps and bogs and marshes and "wet forests" but most of the time we were walking on dry land. I wore the light hiking shoes an Australian sold me in Banff earlier this summer. I also wore O gaiters plus ankle gaitors over the top of those. This system worked really well at keeping the water out - just a little got in but my feet stayed mostly dry even when I stepped in water up to my ankles. No blisters. Feet were really sore the last few hours as usual.

The rogaine only sucked for a couple of hours (because of the painful feet), which is pretty good!

My back held up OK, helped by all the ibuprofen.

C • Congratulations 2

Event: 8th World Rogaining Championships
 

1st half of rogaine in Estonia with Peter. We did well - kept moving; no major problems. The Europeans are impressive - so many really good teams.

I spoke with Bob Reddick, Vladimir, Eric Smith, Rod & Neil Phillips about various IRF issues. Sounds like we'll be approaching USOF about joining IRF as a member; need to work out the governance details and spell out the value to USOF. Also discussed where the next WRC will be, and how to allot spaces to countries when there are limited spaces at a WRC.

C • IRF membership 3

Estonia photos are (slowly) being uploaded to here. These are Peter's photos; my camera died in an adventure in some rapids in Canada...

Around Tallinn with City Bike.

Summer photos are starting to become available.

Kid photos:




First sunset on the canoe trip:

C • Nice pics! 2

Tartu forecast for the rogaine: Showers.

C • This forecast doesn't call ... 3

"...as a rule, the water level is not over your ankle."

"The forest types vary... There are wet forests, marshes, swamps, bog forests and bogs."

"Wide ditch is a very bad obstacle. Impassable marsh is a very-very-very bad obstacle."

"It is possible to plan a feasible course without crossing any major ditch (which means that you may complete the course and get wet only below the knee), but if you are unable to plan so or are simply unlucky at finding crossing points, be prepared to get thoroughly wet."

-- Estonian rogaine course setter notes.

C • Hmm, there's this -- 5

To school to meet with Linda (grade 1/2 teacher). I brought a blown-up version of the map and a 10-minute video of a kindergartener learning to orienteer, and a bunch of compasses. We talked about how to structure their day in the woods.

This evening I looked over the homework (route planning sheets) from the 7th graders. Each person had one leg to plan; they were supposed to tell me which "landmark controls" they'd pick up on their leg, and give me at least 5 details about each little piece. I also asked for the total straight line distance of their leg, and half a dozen measured their anatomical leg. I have a few things to learn when it comes to teaching.

In answer to the question "Which landmark controls will you visit along your route?" one student wrote, "None if I can help it."

18 kids totally got the homework. 12 didn't get it or didn't fill it out. 9 didn't even turn it in. Every team has at least one person who got it.

Nice photo of Isabel from COC Middle:



And another from Hopewell Rocks:

Blue course at Pawtuckaway. It was a blast to do this in the daylight, when it wasn't raining. Last night's night-O was great training for today. I beat Dave, even though he had a sub-15-min/k time the day before and I thought he might have been me today.

Got stung by two bees on the north part of Big Island. Dave Gibbs got stung 3 times in the same area; he passed through there about an hour after me.

Right knee is hurting; has been on and off the past week.

Lower back was OK, but not great.

Those are my two biggest physical complaints right now. I think #3 would be the effect (allergy/sneezing/low level of asthma) of the dust from the sanding the painters did before painting half our rooms while we were away canoeing a few weeks ago.

Last night for the big downpour, we all crammed into the camper van: 2 adults + 3 kids. Dave Gibbs & Zakwani drove back home instead of staying in their tent. Dave G had a good weekend: completed his first green course yesterday, and shaved 30 minutes off yesterday's time on today's roughly equivalent course. The kids had a blast at the Vampire-O. They ran into good vampires 3 times, got all but 2 controls, and by the time they got vamped, they'd acquired protection.

Event: UNO Annual Camping Weekend
 

wicked hard night-O at Pawtuckaway. Very dark. Pouring rain. The first 2-2.5 hours were great. I was really careful with my navigation. I broke up each leg into pieces, each time stopping to take careful bearings and find a target I'd recognize when I got there. I had a lot of trouble with my glasses; even though I was wearing a hat with a bill, my glasses were streaming with water and got fogged up whenever I stopped. It took me a bunch of extra time to deal with my glasses.

My navigation was great and I always knew where I was up until I left control 9. At that point I lost it. I was then traveling with Jeff (whose name I didn't know until later), and felt that he was a little to the left of the bearing, but somehow I got psyched out and didn't stay focused. We didn't find 10 and went on to a trail, and didn't hit it where we thought we were going to. Anyway, I'm planning to hold onto that mindset of navigating carefully for next weekend's rogaine. "It's not rocket science" I found myself thinking. I'll also need to do this in the context of Peter being able to do it faster, and that adds some pressure.

Something that really helped: I'd spent a couple days prepping and teaching the junior high kids about planning their routes and I think that contributed positively to the mindset.

Scariest moment: big noise off to my right in the dark at one control. Thought it might be a deer crashing around, or a big branch falling off a tree. I talked to it: hello? who's there? I'm right here! Stay away! You're scaring me! I'm just going to go this way now...

to school to give the orienteering lectures! 67 slides in 40 minutes... There is an amazing difference in behavior between the 8th graders and the 7th graders. The 7th graders listen, ask great questions. In fact, their queries showed how engaged they were: my answer to a dozen questions was, "I'm just getting to that." Somehow the 8th graders seem to have an overriding attitude that I find much more intimidating; the 7th graders are "with" me. (I'm on lunch break now, having had one class of each; 2 to go.) The attitude isn't about age; it's the particular kids. I think just a few kids really set the negative tone. Not that it's that bad; I'm just sensitive.

Each kid has homework over the weekend to plan one leg of their team's route. Each leg can be broken up into a bunch of smaller pieces. Each piece can be described based on which way they'll go from the control, what they'll see along the way, how far it is, and what control feature they're looking for at the end. They write all this stuff down, and also highlight the route on the map. I gave them an example of what the answers could look like on an example leg.

Next week they'll do team-building and get together as a team to come up with a final version of their route.

To school for a meeting with the jr high teachers, back home, then work.
I am PSYCHED! I had just 15 minutes with the teachers this morning, so I prepared a powerpoint presentation and set a ground rule to mimimize discussion until the end. It went quite efficiently. I went through the schedule for the next 2 weeks, the class and home work the kids will be doing, reviewed the activities we'll be doing on the field trip (map walk & "team challenge"), and highlighted things that I wanted feedback on. The humanities teachers are going to take the draft of my "Working as a team" classroom assignment and finish it themselves. This makes me particularly happy because they can use their standard formats, fit it into the team-building methods they were going to start using this year, and also I had gotten to a certain place with it but got a little bogged down. I was so happy I was grinning on the bike ride back home. I love working with people like this, creating something complicated together!

Also, we decided it will work to include a class of 1st and 2nd graders on this trip. Interaction will be fairly minimal: when a jr high team meets a 1/2 team in the woods, the teams can give each other tickets. (The tickets are also found at controls and will be used, arcade-style, to trade in for prizes at the end.) The 1/2 class is studying ponds and seasons in science this year, so we will add a layer of activities for them relating to those subjects. OH BOY!

H Sq to home and back while Izzy did soccer practice. Very hot. Tried to go fast to make up for not having enough time in the day to exercise, work, parent, sleep, learn Estonian (not happening) and plan a ridiculously complex orienteering outing for 84 kids (with individualized homework for each and every one of them...). Yes, I am crazy, CRAZY!!! Aaarrrr!

Bridge circuit. Fast, for me. Car honked at me when I inconveniently ran in front of her where she had a yield sign going onto Memorial Drive. I turned back and just SCREAMED. Not really very friendly of me.

C • Hey, the lady might have be... 1

In 2007 I heard from a long-lost friend. Bill saw my name in connection with the computational biology society I am involved with. He is working in a related field and had some question. I was really happy to hear from him and asked how he was doing. He sent me a lovely long letter about what he was up to, including (I think) that he had separated from his wife, and had two lovely kids. (He wrote to me at my Millennium email address, and so I lost his message when I left that job.)

I met both him and his wife doing theater together at MIT as an undergrad in the early 1980s. I admired them so much. She was a rare female physics major - I pretty much worshiped her for that. Physics at MIT is pretty hard-core. He was smart and funny and cute, and a great actor. They were a quirky and sweet couple; when they got married they both changed their last names to "Bug". They were a couple years ahead of me and I never felt quite hip enough to travel in their circles socially outside of the Shakespeare Ensemble.

I kept meaning to write back to Bill, and I wanted to carve out time to send him as detailed and open a message as he had sent me - and I never got around to it. But I carried around this sense of anticipation because I felt that when I did write to him, it might be possible to strike up a new friendship based on our shared experiences.

A couple days ago I was learning about Twitter, and saw a former colleague's reference to Bill on a Twitter post. I wrote back all excited: do you know Bill?? He wrote back to say that Bill passed away this year and sent a link to his memorial website. It doesn't say exactly how he died, but that it was from depression and bipolar disease (for which a memorial fund has been set up).

As you can imagine, I feel deep regret about not writing him back. And I am reminded that it is good to put people first, to respond when friends reach out to you, and to be open to life and our fellow humans. (Maybe even when they are driving a car and honk at you in annoyance.)

C • very moving 2

To the west side of Boojum, then to Gretchen and Harvey's then home.

Set controls for an informal orienteering course. Dave & Dave Gibbs did an advanced course I mapped out and it was interesting to hear their feedback on the map. A bunch of kids and a few adults did a course including on a bunch of trails I added yesterday to the map. I followed one team of kids and got about 40 minutes of videotape, thinking I might be able to use it in my training lectures. Some controls were white, some yellow. The team of kids split up and I walked with Keegan (age 5 or 6) for the 2nd half. We went by a teeming bee home in a crack in a tree.

Physical concerns:
Lower back starts to hurt after a couple hours standing or walking.
Right knee has been bothering me lately.