This is a piece that I’ve been meaning to put up here for quite some time. In the summer of 2001, I spent a month in Tanzania on a mission project, and, at the end of that time, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. I was fifteen years old at the time, and it was probably one of the roughest periods of my life for innumerable personal reasons. There were many moments when I didn’t feel like I was ever going to possibly make it up the mountain, but I did.
Now is one of those times where I think it’s good to remind myself both of the difficulty of that final nighttime ascent of the mountain and of the fact that I made it in the end.
Continue reading ‘The Final Ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro’
Well, this might take a while to figure out
So don’t you rush it
And hold your head up high right through the doubt
‘Cause it’s just a matter of time
You’ve been running so fast
It’s the seven day mile
Has you torn in-between here and running away
– “Seven Day Mile” by the Frames
Continue reading ‘What Happens When The Brain Just Stops’
The much-dreaded day is nearly upon me. This morning I went and picked up the problem I’m expected to present on for my Ph.D. qualifier tomorrow morning. I’ve spent the day working out all the math neatly and putting together a host of PowerPoint slides to accompany me. Our instructions say that we are to prepare a 20 minute presentation on this problem, and that we should then expect 20 minutes worth of questions on this problem followed by 20 minutes spent on an additional problem. My feeling is that they must be expecting me to write all of this problem on the blackboard because I have yet to hit 20 minutes practicing my presentation of this problem, and I’ve added in a fair amount of additional commentary beyond what’s been asked directly in the question. Here’s hoping that I’m not stealing too much of their thunder.
If all goes well with the candidates scheduled before me, I’ll be receiving my Q-exam tomorrow (Tuesday) morning between 10:00 and 11:00 EST (15:00 and 16:00 GMT). Any and all happy and/or calming thoughts anyone can spare for me during that time would be very much appreciated. I’ll see you all on the other side.
My thanks to the good fellows over at K2. It looks like the issues I was having have been solved by the latest nightly build. I can go back to studying for those quals instead of fiddling with my blog.
I made the mistake of deciding to upgrade both WordPress and the K2 theme I run on here. Of course, I managed to do a fine job of breaking things left and right. Right now I have things nominally working. In trying to prevent having both a ‘Live Archive’ and ‘Archive’ in my pages listing, I managed to irrevocably break the ‘Extended Live Archive’ plug-in I had, so that’s shot to hell for now. It took me quite a while just to get everything showing up again. Some of my old functionality and looks are gone now and won’t be returning until after the Q-exam when I actually have time to dig through the new code. And, yes, I know that the tag cloud is also looking screwy. At least it’s there.
Grr. Argh.
Today gave me a new entry for my List of Strange Things I’ve Done in My Life. I received a complimentary copy of the 2nd edition of Cleveland Fishing Guide because they used a photo I took at Pymatuning State Park on a camping trip a couple summers ago. I think that belongs on the list somewhere near narrating intertitle translations alongside live musical accompaniment for a couple showings of some of F.W. Murnau’s silent films.
About a month and a half ago, while my sister visited me, my parents took a trip out to the North Carolina coast, including a trip to Kill Devil Hills, where the Wright brothers originally flew their plane. These days, apparently, it’s a big kite-flying spot, thanks to the same wind that made it possible for the Wrights to fly there. My parents picked up kites for the whole family there, and, since I’m an aerospace engineer, they shipped me one that looks like the Wright flyer.
Today Joe and I went up to the Cornell Plantations and had fun getting it to fly. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the optimal conditions: although we had a decent wind, it was extremely unsteady and prone to changing directions. We did get a few good flights out of it, though, and it was a lot of fun. Quite a few people stopped to watch us fly–or try to. Incidentally, running backwards down a slope covered in knee-high grass and dandelions is harder than it sounds. Also, it leaves your pants and socks and shoes a great deal yellower than before.
We took a picnic lunch with us, too, and ate out by the ponds. I wore a hat this time so that I wouldn’t burn the top of my head like I did last week, so, instead, I ended up with a bizarrely shaped sunburn on the arm I was using to hold the line steady as I flew the kite. Guess it’s just time to accept the need for sunscreen.
I can’t wait for a chance to go flying again!
I know I originally discussed this idea much longer ago than I care to admit, but I’ve got some new fiction needling me now (motivation always comes when I should be doing something else) so I’m finally getting around to it. I’m going to be posting some new scenes here for perusal; however, the posts will be password-protected. If you want the password, just comment here with a valid e-mail address in the ‘E-mail’ field. I will be the only one who can see the address. Bots don’t get it. No one else sees it. Just me. Give me a proper e-mail address, and I’ll send you the password.
One other thing: if I don’t already know you and you would like to read what I’m going to post, I’d appreciate a little introduction. I like knowing my audience 
Anyone who can’t wait can always go back and check out my public story archives…
My PhD qualifying exam is tentatively scheduled for May 22nd. When Stephanie and I told our advisor who our committee is, he replied, “Oh, they’re the most vicious in the department! They actually eat the students!” Thankfully, he delivered this with a grin on his face.
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