The voyage of the luggage

Let me set the scene. We get a call in the morning saying we that they found our luggage and it's still in Chicago. Japan Airlines and American Airlines are blamng each other. We were on our way to the Great Wall (which was and is great, by the way) and it really took the wind out of our sails. I'll write more about the wall later, but unfortunately this whole trip has turned into the saga of the luggage. After the Great Wall we took a tour of the traditional areas of Beijing, which were not nearly as interesting as that sounds. It was raining the whole day and kind of depressing.

Then we went to the tea market, and had an amazing visit with a tea vendor who sampled green tea, oolong tea, aged black tea, another kind of aged and fermented oolong tea and tea made from baby chrysanthemum flowers. Best moment we've had here. Then we blew off a special dinner in a top restaurant and started scrambling to buy things, since we're about to go places where you basically can't buy anything. Got underwear, shampoo, toothpaste, that kind of stuff, at a supermarket, then to a mall to buy pants, t-shirts, and way too many other things. We got some, but not really enough. It was 9:45, we were both exhausted, we had both been missing our prescription medications for several days and weren't sure about the wisdom of proceeding.

So we headed back to the hotel to decide whether or not to carry on or to just chuck it and go home. I'd had this voice in the back of my head saying "this is a disaster, let's just go home," and so had Ronnie. We walked in the hotel room at 10:15 and our guide called and said, "Where are you? I've been trying to call. It's 9:55 and the airline just called and the bags are in Beijing and will be delivered to the hotel between 10 and 12."

Our first thought was that we'd believe it when we saw them, and our second thought was that it was a good thing we'd rubbed the happy Buddah's tummy for good luck during the tea ceremony. At 11PM the bags arrived, and the trip is saved. We're off to Xi'an tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

It's going to be hard for met to do any formatting, because all the menus are in Chinese for some reason, and of course I don't even know which button is for changing preferences because I don't know how to spell "preferences" in Chinese.

Anyway, we're in Beijing today, but now the trip is all about trying to get our baggage. Chicago says it's here. Here they say it's in Chicago. All I now is it's a terrible mess and we have to go out and buy clothes and we don't know if we're ever going to get the bags. It's made it really hard to enjoy ourselves.

I'd be hard-pressed to say that I'm blown away by Beijing at first sight. It's not a place that reveals its charms instantly. We saw the Forbidden City , which was impressive and beautiful in places, but Tiananmen Square, though large, was pretty unimpressive and though it's said to be the world's largest square, it's certainly not a "wow!" The Temple of Heaven was also very pretty, but the walkway in was populated by vendors trying to sell t-shirts, guidebooks, watches (I need a watch but I passed), and various sorts of junk. They were ever so slightly aggressive, and it wasn't really that pleasant.

We had a great lunch. I can't remember the name of the place, but you probably aren't going there anyway. It had tastes familiar in US-based Chinese food, but richer and more complex. The soup, which was a kind of egg drop soup, but with fish eggs, was exceptional. We also saw a state-sponsored crafts complex, where we get an introduction to silk carpet and embroidery and a fresh water pearl showroom. Very pushy salespeople.

Finally gave up and came back to the hotel and crashed for a while. Then off to the mall to buy clothes. I'm pleased to say that we will both be able to wear something different tomorrow.

I haven't uploaded pictures yet because I need to conserve my battery until the luggage arrives. Didn't take much today anyway. We're doing the Great Wall tomorrow, which should be pretty photogenic.

The next day

Far be it from me to wax philosophical, but when you're in a situation like this you really can see who is nice and who isn't. We packed all of our prescription drugs, and of course didn't have enough, so I went for a walk (no, we didn't take in the Chicago nightlife, which is very nice) and found a Walgreens,, where the pharmacy staff jumped through all kinds of hoops to get us an emergency supply. Hopefully we'll see more of the nice types today on our way to Japan and China.

SPLAT!

That would be the noise made by the first day of our trip. Let's just say things didn't go smoothly. The car service didn't show up and they didn't call to tell us that the driver hadn't shown up for work, so we had to jump in the car and dash to the airport. We got there in plenty of time, especially since the flight was delayed by 20 minutes or so. I was kind of nervous, because we had a connection to make in Chicago (we were going via Tokyo to Beijing), but 20 minutes was no problem.

The flight got in more like 30 minutes late, and then there was a long line to take off. Finally, we get to Chicago 15 minutes before the flight to Tokyo. I was relieved to see that our flight was at the gate right next to the Japan flight, and I could see them loading baggage as we pulled up. We dash off the plane and the rudest gate agent in the entire world barks at us, "Sorry, you missed your flight." I say, but it's right there, pointing at the plane. "Sorry, your luggage won't make it. You need to rebook." It's actually boring to recount this now, but we're stuck in Chicago for a day, and we couldn't get our luggage to change clothes because (here comes the punchline) our bags are on our flight to Japan.

We spent most of the early afternoon trudging around the airport, and finally got a shuttle bus to the serviceable hotel that American Airlines put us up in. They gave us food vouchers too! Get this, $10 for lunch for 2 people! Wow! Almost enough for McDonalds, or coffee and a muffin at Starbucks. Anyway, we napped at the hotel and now we'll get some dinner and buy a toothbrush and such. Then we go back and do it again tomorrow.

Every trip has lousy stuff happen, but on the first day? This is the worst. The hardest thing after stuff like this happens is to not spend the day going over what happened and what you might have been able to do to prevent it. Should we have been more insistent with the obnoxious gate agent? Maybe. It's always worth the time to try to learn from what happens to you every day, but it's seldom worth the time to keep returning to the same painful moments and beating yourself up about it. We're a day late and it sucks, but that's the end of it. And tomorrow something else will happen.

After dropping the kids off at camp, I turned my attention to China preparations. One of my big questions was, is it okay to wear shorts in China? It's really hot in some parts. In Europe, I'd never wear shorts (or sneakers), because it screams "tourist" at least, and probably "American tourist," but in China that's not really much of an issue. Not such an easy question to answer. I've learned that they're not appropriate for business meetings, and lots of other things about China etiquette. For example, spitting is very common, though the government is cracking down on it before the Olympics. One guide said that the spitting is most disconcerting when the chef in your restaurant does it.

I also learned that the number 4 is associated with death (I believe that is so in Japan as well), and as a result apartments on the 4th floor of a building are the least expensive. Considering how few American buildings have a 13th floor, I guess I can't cast stones.

Great news for me today! I just heard a report on NPR that first born children have been proven to be, in NPR's reporting, "slightly" more intelligent than their siblings. I always knew I was slightly more intelligent than my brother.

Packing the kids for camp. Not too much to pack. Just a sleeping bag, toothbrush, soap, a few changes of clothes. And, oh yeah, TWO HUGE DUFFEL BAGS full of I don't even want to know what. Amazing that there's room in the bunk once they get unpacked.

Tomorrow they'll be dropped off and we have 2 days to get ready for China.

Summer vacation!

I'll add more soon, but I'll be really getting going once the kids are out of the house and we head for China. I keep reading about how you need to pack everything you might possibly need, because it's hard to get a lot of things in China. This makes no sense to me, since almost everything I pick up seems to be made in China.

Stay tuned...

It's spring break. I finally have a little time to myself, which is a rare pleasure for me. I'm procrastinating working, but it is vacation after all.

Hope everyone is having a good Pesach and a relaxing break.

I've read a couple of interesting newspaper articles this past week. Before I get to the thought-provoking stuff, I must say the article in the NY Times yesterday on the ambidextrous pitcher was the most fun I've had reading a newspaper in a while. The picture on the front page, where he's shown side-by-side throwing righty and lefty, is priceless.

If you missed the article on "amazing girls" in on the front page of last Sunday's Times, you owe it to yourselves to take a look- it's well woth reading for girls, boys and parents. First of all, it's a great thing that there is this group in the first place. There are no other times in history and few places in the world where this phenomenon is even possible. I was impressed with the girls' perspective and presence of mind, but I saw a few cautionary notes as well.

One of the girls in the article remarked that although all the academics, sports, and community service is great, what matters most is to be "effortlessly hot." Pardon me here for using a stereotype here, but this world is still, for the most part, ruled by neanderthals. You can see it in the reactions by men to women of strong opinion in the blogosphere, where the most recent articles I read are filled with such hate and misogyny that I can't link to them here. Many men are threatened by impressive women. Our new generation of adults owes it to themselves to start turning this around.

This leads me to the more general observation that while women have been freed from many of the restraints that kept them from achieving their potential, they have not been freed from the social mores that require certain behaviors and attitudes. It's summed up in the headline- "Be yourself, and be perfect, too." Can girls really handle this? I'm not sure. It's a difficult balance to hold- competitiveness versus compassion, achievement versus nurturing. I don't know where it's going. I see students feeling relentless pressure from school, home, and peers. My gut reaction is that it's not healthy, but I may be being old-fashioned. What do you think?

OK, so we'll try linking my Akiba page to a real blog, so that users can comment and I can archive easily.

There are a couple of rules for commenting. First, I believe you have to register with Blogger, and second, I'll be moderating comments, so they won't appear in the blog until I approve them. I love getting feedback, but play nice. I'll try to be quick about approving comments.

Today's post has nothing to do with math. Last week I saw Badly Drawn Boy at TLA. I'm embarassed to admit that I hadn't been to TLA since 1980, when it was still a movie theater and I saw a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It looks better inside now. It's a great place to see a show, especially if you're over 21 and can sit in the bar.

Waiting on line before the doors opened, we were treated to a Purim parade, led by dancing Lubavitchers wearing masks, followed by a guy juggling flaming batons (not Marty, I don't think) and then a marching band, playing that traditional Purim favorite, "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover." That particular contingent looked a tad on the Irish side, and though my wife's grandfather was a Irish Jew, I don't think these guys were related. In any event, it was fun.

The show featured a folk singer named Adem, who was perhaps the worst opening act I've ever seen, eclipsing A Flock of Seagulls. The highlights of his act were doing the song from the end of Love Actually on a ukelele and an original song, playing the melody on colorful bells, with lyrics from a children's book called "The Little Fox." The only line I remember is "Squirrels and rabbits say please and thank you."

Badly Drawn Boy was terrific, though. Played for 2 1/2 hours, well past midnight. His songs are very sweet, but he's a complete curmudgeon on stage. A one point, he finished a song from the soundtrack of About a Boy that the whole audience was singing along with, and he muttered, "I'm glad you all enjoyed it because I hate that f-ing song. And I can say that because I wrote it." If you haven't heard him, or maybe vaguely remember him from About a Boy (he did the entire soundtrack), try Hour of the Bewiderbeast." Great album.

I'm tired of doing italics, so I'm changing subjects. Now I want to talk about driving. Many of my students now drive or have their permits, and my 15 year-old is bugging me to take her to a parking lot. Shocking as it may be to some of you, I have strong opinions on driving.

First of all, I just want to remind you all that the objective of driving is simple. It's to get from one place to the next without bumping into anything. If you start there, the rest follows logically. Go the same speed as the rest of the traffic. If at all possible, don't drive with another car right next to you. Don't assume that everyone else will drive safely (people run red lights and pull out from stop signs unexpectedly all the time), but remember that if they don't it's not because they're out to mess with you, they're just bad drivers.

Two weeks and a few hundred miles and a few sixties pop songs later, (don't ask- you haven't lived until you've gone on a two hour bike ride with "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" running through your head the whole time).

Got back from the Adirondacks on Saturday. I did all kinds of crazy riding there, including some very difficult hill climbing that will be of no use to me in the MS 150. That ride is flat until the last couple of miles, where there are a couple of tall bridges you have to ride over. But riding in the Lake Placid area is wonderful, even though it's hilly and difficult. The air feels good and smells good, the scenery is to die for, and it's cool enough that you don't get completely dehydrated. The roads generally have wide shoulders and it's mostly not very heavily trafficked. I probably rode 300 miles in the 2 weeks I was there- almost enough to get back here.

So now that I'm back here, I have 12 days left until the ride. I'm in much better shape this year than last, so I just need to hold on to my fitness level while I'm working, which is easier said than done.

Plenty of other stuff going on, but I'll update tomorrow.

August 17, 2006

pandora.com is perhaps the coolest thing ever!

August 17, 2006
13 miles, 55 minutes. Conshohocken State Rd. to Hollow Rd. and through Narberth.
Song stuck in my head: "The Sweetest Girl," by Scritti Politti

Didn't fall today, but I was sore from yesterday. At my age, I often feel the worst the day after (and sometimes even 2 days after), but this wasn't bad. I never had to come to a sudden stop today. That'll be the test of whether or not I've learned my lesson.

My new pedals and shoes are great on hills. Because my feet are attached to the pedals, I can get power pulling up as well as pushing down. My pulling up muscles aren't that strong, but even 10% more power is great.

My song today was a little slow, but I was in grave danger of having "Promiscuous" running through my head, which would have been disastrous. Somebody told me yesterday about a music web site called pandora.com. I'll report more on it later.

My food today was a sesame bagel from Manhattan Bagels. I hadn't intended to eat, but they were still warm and I couldn't resist. BTW, there are no Manhattan Bagels in Manhattan. Nor are there Delancey Street Bagels, Delancey St. also being in Manhattan. The best bagels in New York are from H&H on W. 80th St. And Delancey Street itself does have Yonah Schimmel Knishes, which are to die for. It's right down the street from Katz's Deli, where Meg Ryan had her famous "faking it" scene in When Harry Met Sally.

August 16, 2006
23 miles, 75 minutes. To the River Drive, twice around, and back.
Song stuck in my head: "Super Girls," by The Capes

Today I fell off my bike for the first time since I was around 8. It was all because of my new shoes and pedals. The shoes clip directly on to the pedals, so you have to detatch them if you want to put your foot down. I was crossing the river down by the art museum and a couple of dozen runners were also on the path, going in the opposite direction. It's narrow there, so I went down onto the roadway for a few seconds, but then I absentmindedly stopped to get back up on the path and forgot to unclip. It was sort of cartoonlike- where the coyote runs out into midair, but doesn't fall until he realizes and looks down. I just sort of toppled over. Broke a fingernail and scraped one finger. That's it.

The rest of the ride was fine. Today's song was good. It has a nice driving beat. The special shoes are great for going uphill, but more on that later.

This blog will review the nutrition options open to cyclists who want to eat without stopping. Today I had a Clif bar. It sounded good- Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch. Ugh, ugh, ugh! No chocolate flavor, no detectable peanuts, and just as crunchy as a bowl of granola that's been sitting in milk for 45 minutes or so. Absolutely awful. I know that real cyclists eat this sugary goo that comes in a kind of tube. Even that would have to be better.

Where is my post

?
Sent from my iPod

Tests

Test
Sent from my iPod

Test

Test

Sent from my iPod