Chicago now

So, I've been in Chicago this week attending a workshop on language production and visiting with collaborators at Northwestern. The workshop went well despite horrible problems being thrown at the poor organizer, Matt, like a late cancellation of one of the first (of very few) speakers and the demolition of the scheduled room 2 weeks before the event. I was on the "scientific committee" which means I get partial credit for organizing the workshop but didn't actually have to do anything (well, at one point someone suggested that a 5 minute break would be good so I passed the suggestion on to the real organizer).

I took the opportunity to take an intro class in sea kayaking while in Chicago. Given that Intro to Philosophy and Intro to Sociology were among the most repulsive courses I took as an undergrad, while I had far more interest in domains where I skipped the intro, one might justly ask why take intro to anything. Well, I have kayaked (on calm lake-like water) successfully before. That gave me enough hubris to rent a river kayak in Chile a couple years ago and try to put it in a river. I quickly realized that I could easily kill myself this way and that such sports might really require some instruction even if someone in a country other than the US is willing to rent people equipment without any evidence of proficiency. I was heartened that the kayaking teacher reinforced the idea that having some skills is a good idea (although he of course was not impartial). The course was good. I had been working under the assumption that one didn't need to learn anything about capsizing in a sea kayak because they were too stable to capsize - ha! The first thing we learned out on the water (after a good amount of lecture on land beforehand which I found heartening as an academic) was what to do when capsized. You might think that escape would be first, but you would be wrong. You thump loudly on the hull 3 times to alert your companions that you have capsized so they don't paddle away. Then you quickly find the loop to release the skirt of the kayak so you can get out. It sounds straightforward when you are breathing oxygen and upright, but becomes much trickier when you are upside-down underwater. We also learned how profoundly wrong all our ideas about how to hold and use a paddle were. Unfortunately one of the other 3 students was feeling a bit nautious so we didn't get a chance to complete the full 4 hour lesson and practice T-rescues, but I was feeling a bit weak and tired by that point anyway so I appreciated the break. Now I am looking forward to getting a chance to paddle some more and will probably try to get at least one paddle in while in Stockholm this week. (I head back to Stockholm tomorrow 8/17 and to Floby on Sunday).

I didn't take my bike with me to Chicago but I did bring my broken bike case (to mail it from within the US), which will be replaced - yay! The wheels broke so I couldn't wheel it around, which sucked when it weighed 35+ lbs with a bike inside. Aside from kayaking, I took one run along the lake for exercise and hope to get another run in the AM before I leave. People are cycling like mad here, making Chicago fully deserving of its status as one of the best cities for cycling in the US. I think I have seen more upright, commuter type bikes here than anywhere outside of Europe. There are also plenty of road bikes, mountain bikes, and fixies. In my search for a bike store to pick up some supplies, I even (accidentally) visited the relatively new bike commuting center where people can leave their bikes while at work, have a mechanic work on the bikes, shower before work, etc. It was hopping. When jealous thoughts intruded about how good cyclists have it in Chicago, I tried to imagine cycling in snow and/or -20 degrees with brutal wind. That made me feel a bit better.

Radical shift in topic: When I couldn't find bicycle racing on TV after the Tour last year, I would occasionally try to sate my longing by looking at BMX. That stuff can be cool but I just saw a video which may have ruined it for me forever. It shows a woman doing absolutely astounding bicycle tricks to the dullest soundtrack you will ever hear for something so impressive: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907

Anyway, I need to sleep now.