How much of a dork am I?

(Baltimore, MD) - So I am sitting at breakfast this morning in my hotel after visiting JHU and kinda working a little, but mostly day dreaming and I keep getting distracted by this conversation of these two older guys sitting behind me. One is louder than the other and although they are mostly not talking about anything in particular, there is something striking to me about how the louder one speaks and the manner in which he carries himself. It was peculiar to sense there was something extraordinary about this guy without even seeing his face. It was something about his animated affect and a certain intelligence that was hard to place. As I said it was weird. But I found myself facinated with this mostly mundane conversation between two old friends. The conversation ran the gamut from his grandaughter staying with him that weekend, to the development project on the corner, to some senator who hurt herself and is walking with a cane. There was also a bunch of stuff I didn't quite get as they both mumbled at points, but it was mostly political commentary and some literary allusions. Lots of references to political figures.

So finally I had to turn around and see what this old guy looked like. I thought I recognized him... tiny frame... big glasses...bow tie....but I wasn't quite sure. Could it be? Perhaps... I opened up my laptap and looked it up (the wonders of wireless). It was him... or a twin seperated at birth.... one of the leading public intellectuals of our time.



"New Deal historian and intellectual-in-residence at Camelot, (Arthur) Schlesinger stands not only a preeminent American scholar but as a lion of liberalism. Although the work of Alan Brinkley is more nuanced and less hagiographic, Schlesinger's extensive writings on the Roosevelt administrations remain (with the work of Ellis Hawley and William Leuchtenberg) a foundation for New Deal historiography. To this day, along with his colleague and compadre John Kenneth Galbraith, Schlesinger is a passionate and articulate voice for Kennedyism and the Great Society agenda."

and

"Arthur Schlesinger, the son of the historian, Arthur Meier Schlesinger, was born in Columbus, Ohio, on 15th October 1917. He graduated from Harvard University in 1938 and became a member of the University's Society of Fellows from 1939 to 1942.

After the United States entered the Second World War Schlesinger served with the Office of War Information (1942-43) and the Office of Strategic Services (1943-45).

In 1946 he became a teacher of history at Harvard University. A strong supporter of the Democratic Party he was the co-founder of Americans for Democratic Action and worked in for the election of Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956. After the election of John F. Kennedy he was appointed special assistant to the President for Latin American affairs."

So the question is... How much of dork am I that I recognized this multi Pulitzer prize winner from sight in a hotel's breakfast nook in MD? I am not even sure I have read any of his stuff. Maybe in the nytimes.

Assault on the Saleve

(Geneva, Switz.) - Actually, I am in Chicago now, but I didn't get a chance to update the cleverblog (hmm... what is new right?) with some pictures from our 'expedition' last weekend up the Saleve. This is the big mountain right outside Geneva. In the summer it is a haven for climbers, hikers, and runners, but this time of year it is significantly less used. Nicola had wanted to go for a tromp in the snow, and upon broaching the subject to labmate Erik, found that he and his wife were thinking of doing essentially the same thing. So we organized a 'tromp' with a bunch of the others. The approach was going to be the 'Grand Gorge', which is essentially the first major cleft in the mtn about a 1/3 of the way from the left on the below schematic (click on it for a blowup). We had a good group with Nicola, me, Erik, Sandra (his wife), Alexander, Marieke (his wife), Marissa (their friend), Dook, Alexey, and myself (err...guess I count for two).



In principle all this was a great idea, but the sunshine that we started with would fade pretty quick. The trail heads up quite soon and was surprisiningly easy since from a distance the ascent is a veritable wall of rock. There are many many switchbacks and soon our cars were distance dots below us.



About halfway to the first scenic overlook the snow, which had been on and off over previous days started up again. Despite the cloudy conditions and snow which was actually quite intense at times, one could still make out the valley floor below.




It snow showered on and off for the next hour as we made our way back and forth across the face. At points when then snow stopped, it afforded good views of the ridge off the east. It is great to have such stuff right in ones backyard. I plan to do a lot more running and hiking up here in the future. Actually, I have a pretty good view of the Saleve face from my apartment (one of these days I need to get pictures online...)



Eventually though, there started to be some collective grumbling about the now continous snow coming down. I would have wanted to push on at at least to make it to the first overlook where one can supposedly look down into the gorge. But that got vetoed, which was fine. While we were waiting to make up our minds, Alexander sprinted ahead to actually make it to the overlook. So I guess our expedition was a success as we got a man on top. My time will come at some other point I suppose.



We made it down much faster than we made it up. Smiles which had dissapeared in the whiteout at 800m up had returned by the time we got back to the parking lot and the cars. That is the group above. We were pretty covered in the white stuff. We finished the day off at a little out of the way local's country cafe with some vin chaud (hot spiced mulled wine) in Veryier.

Recycled Haiku

In error, a key pressed
My life, for a whole week, gone
I start to type, again.