Learning something new

swimming, fencing, riding, shooting, and running

Before today I could not even name the five disciplines in the pentathlon, but now I can name them and even tell you which was Gen. George S. Patton's weakest sport. The UIPM is live streaming the events, which you can see here.

Swimming is often the weakest sport for pentathletes, who are required to swim 200 meters.

The women swam today and tomorrow are the men's heats.

The top thirty-six swimmers qualify for the semi-finals and the top eighteen are in the finals. This week's competition is important because it helps them qualify for the Pan-Am games in Peru. The top five athletes from there automatically qualify for the Olympics.

We even got some loot - a shirt (choice of small or 2XL), a water bottle, and a ticket to the LA Co. Fair in September because the Fairplex is one of the organizers.

It's been a great event to support, although I might not say so if it were raining.

Belongings

Some people have talked about Swedish death cleaning. If I understand it correctly it is their tradition to clean out junk your next of kin are not interested in while you are still alive. I am not ready to do this yet. I like my stuff, my box of origami books and papers, my bag of woven heart papers, my old t-shirts. I hope I will be motivated to do it later.

Here are two stories of our things.

orange peeler

As I was using this I thought, "Of course I don't have to have this orange peeler but I am really glad that I do." And then it snapped. I bought it used somewhere and have had it longer than I remember so I am not complaining, especially since it is still easily available.

I think the right term is inattention blindness, the idea that the brain ignores all sorts of information. I was guilty of that. I loaded up the washing machine and heard an unusual sound. Maybe it was just the button on my jeans hitting the inside of the machine. Or maybe it came from somewhere else (I have no directional hearing). In any case, I just kept doing laundry. At the end of the load I found the handset for our landline. I had no hope of it ever working again, but I still removed the batteries and set it out to dry (lesson learned from past experience NOT to attempt to see if it is working). I let it sit for a day and gave it a try. It seemed to work (we heard a beep and saw something on the screen). We let it sit one more day and then tried again. It works just like new! Isn't that amazing?! How could someone design a phone to go through an entire laundry cycle and still work? Makes up for the broken orange peeler.

The Other Side

In 1991 I saw a bit of the NYC Marathon, but the only thing I can remember is the seemingly endless flow of people. This weekend I had my second chance to watch a marathon, which is something I highly recommend. No training, just the pleasure of watching a variety people working toward their goal. We chatted with other spectators, cheered on strangers, and I watched my running partner smoke her dream goal time by ten minutes!

Leaving at 4:50 a.m. for a 6:55 start seemed like a generous cushion and I was happy to do what I could to alleviate any stress. Turns out it was exactly the right time to leave because the traffic going into Dodger Stadium for the drop off was as bad as any traffic jam I have ever been in. Some people chose to get out on the side of the freeway and use the last stretch as a warm up. Turns out that was at least a couple miles, most of it uphill. We got there just in time and my friend, K., got to stay sitting down in a warm car but still have time for a stop in the port-a-potty.  So far, so good.

Her husband, J., and I headed to our first meeting spot at about the 10K mark. We were grateful that the rain from the last week and predicted for this week had taken a break for race day. It was still cool but it was easy to decide to avoid getting too close, hoping that parking farther away would make it easier to leave later. I wonder how it is decided which officers are at the road closures right by the course and which ones are farther away. I am glad those people did not have to stand in the rain.

I took a bell to ring and J. is an excellent finger whistler. We didn't have any signs but heard about some including, "You are running better than the government!" and one just past the start that said, "Only 26 more miles!"

At the 30K mark people were more spread out but I was impressed by the pace these people were maintaining. In Spain everyone's first name was on their bib, but here only a few people had written their names. I cheered those people by name and it warmed my heart to see them smile. They still had 12.2 kilometers to go so anything that brings some positive energy seemed good.

The bummer about the finish is that is was not available to spectators. We were able to meet up with a very, very happy K. and make our way to the finish party, which was partially a fundraiser for the Santa Monica hostel just one block away.

Lunch on the beach was a good way to unwind and hear about the run.

For me the event was some training, all fun, and I finished the day with all my toenails. I would do it again.

As time goes by

We were going to go to a movie as a family and then we talked about watching one and home and then we just played a game.

Ex LibrisD. creamed us but we still had a good time.

On Saturday A. had an all-day state-qualifying tournament for speech and debate. He did not break (break through, or qualify) but was fine with that. While he was gone D. and I got out and about before the heavy rain came and in the afternoon we walked to campus for a concert.

I am not sure I have ever seen Messiah Part 1,
but it did not prevent me from understanding parts 2 and 3.

We are lucky to be able to walk to concerts on campus

and to hear performances in a great facility.

On Saturday night we had planned to see a documentary by Ai WeiWei as part of a fund raiser, but we had not realized that it was over two hours long. With the time change and with alarms set for 5am we decided it would be better to pass and were in bed by 9pm.

Sunday was A's second bike race of the season and course was narrower and hillier. A. enjoyed the competition and teammates cheered each other on.  He doesn't mind the rain, but it is nice for the spectators to have a dry day.

I spent the day at Wilmer Amina Carter High School, named for a former school board member and California Assembly member. She still lives and works in the area and, according to her alma mater, she, "Is the first living African American woman in the Inland Empire to have a comprehensive high school named in her honor."

I was judging the final rounds of the state-qualifying tournament. As A. pointed out, it would be hard because these were the best people, making it harder to rank them. The good news is that instead of the typical one judge per event, there were three of us at each one.  I wish I could have given them all first place!

What we did not do was go to the LA Lakers game to see Cleveland play, but I really like this jersey!

Paper Lecture

A former Harvey Mudd College math professor is honored with an annual lecture but I don't think I have ever gone before. This year's description caught my eye.

Title:  A World From a Sheet of Paper

Abstract:  Starting from just a sheet of paper, by folding, stacking, crumpling, sometimes tearing, we will explore a variety of phenomena, from a magic trick and geometry to elasticity and the traditional Japanese art of origami. Much of the show consists of table-top demos, which you can try later with friends and family.

So, take a sheet of paper . . .  

Professor Tokieda grew up as a painter in Japan and became a classical philologist in France before switching to mathematics.  Prior to joining Stanford this past fall, he had been a director of studies in mathematics at Cambridge for thirteen years.  Most of his research is in macroscopic physics and applied mathematics. He is active in outreach in the developing world, especially via the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences near Cape Town. 

I am so glad I went, especially since the speaker asked that the event not be recorded. You can see a toy-based lecture here, which will give you a feel for the paper talk.

I took a few notes, but mostly the lecture made me want to go home and try my hand at some of the things he showed us, especially a Miura fold. It was not as easy as it looks.

I made this once before and am tempted to try it again.

Just writing this blog post took a while because there are so many amazing papers, amazing pictures, and seemingly limitless beautiful creations to admire. Now I remember why I took a break. I'll use what I have and stop looking.

Entertaining myself during a cello lesson

Unfolded

Boxes made in the waiting room

Gifts

D. went to a conference and brought back gifts.

I love these caps because I am into orange and 

because it has a skier on it. The skier is the logo for the store
but there is no skiing in Sant Cugat and I don't
know anyone who wears a swim cap while skiing.

He also brought back the weekly magazine so I can keep with my Catalan!

For A. he brought back a popular snack from last year.

The best part was an easy pick up at LAX and an easy drive home.

Bonus

One good thing about living a place without snow is the lack of salt on the streets, which is known to damage cars. I do like seeing the old cars out on sunny days.

I think the top and bottom cars have their original plates and the middle one is a replica and the most popular specialty plate.