Riding into dusk

I rode my bicycle on the Cambridgeshire roads today, my first outdoor ride in 7 weeks. I experienced the usual mess getting across Cambridge - crowds of pedestrians spilling off the pavement (sidewalk), many other bicyclists, helmet-less and clue-less, traveling unpredictably in all directions, buses tight against the curb to give on-coming buses room to pass on the narrow streets. A few blocks of congestion, a few confrontations with cars, a few stretches where wet leaves covered the bike paths. Then out, finally, into the countryside, starting on the gentle hill of the military cemetery.

The roads hadn't dried much from yesterday's rain. In shaded places they stay wet for weeks in this weather. I had given the briefest thought to riding the Black Sheep, but I had the correct bike for the conditions - the Surly.

I half intended this as an easy ride, longer but no more intense than two short rides I had done on the trainer earlier this week. The setting sun gave me a bit of surprise - so early? I guess I haven't settled in to this time zone. I picked up the pace a bit, steady but not extreme, and starting estimating time till sunset and time remaining on the ride.

The sun set into a low bank of clouds before I made the turn at Dry Drayton, but I got a break when it re-appeared for a few minutes below the clouds and above the horizon as I pedalled the gradual descent into Toft. I reached back to switch on my rear flashing light as I turned east, confident that I had just about the right amount of light remaining for the distance back to Cambridge.

I used the famous (in our family) trick I learned from Gus and Sam: sunglasses. When on a ride that might extend into dusk, wear sunglasses. As visibility seems to drop, removing the sunglasses gives an extra ten or fifteen minutes of 'enhanced' daylight. I suspected as I cleaned the sunglasses before the ride that I might need to use this trick, and I smiled to think of Gus or Sam racing down one of the steep Boulder roads toward home as the daylight faded.

I did have lights, rear and front, which Gus or Sam never had. But of course I rode in traffic, while they often descended narrow trails. And in my case, removing my sunglasses also removes my vision correction, a problem they (knock wood) don't have. Tonight, good timing improved by a bit of effort, and the sunglass trick, got me back into Cambridge as the streetlights came on. Then I turned on my front light as well, to make myself more visible to the city traffic. Not a bad ride.

Written from Edmonton, Canada. Saturday evening. Some of our partners have arrived, some remain in transit due to delays at Heathrow. Not unusual. My fourth week in Canada, one full week ahead.

I thought about bringing my bike, and decided not. I would only have had 5 or 6 days of riding, and Edmonton does not represent my idea of a good bike town. It has paved bike paths along the river and through the campus, but no serious hills.

I did bring my running shoes, but without real confidence about how much I could run on a very sore right heel. With some rest and with some yoga / stretching (may I recommend the book 'The Athlete's Pocket Guide to Yoga' by Sage Roundtree), combined with nice weather and very nice soft running paths on the route mapped above, I have had two good weeks of running.

I have run 10 days of the past 15, with 30 km one week and 41 km this past week. I can't claim perfect smooth pain-free running, or a lack of pain afterwards, but I have done a lot more than I thought possible. I should get another longish easy run, 10k or more, tomorrow. On paths like the one above.

Weather predicted to turn colder, and from tomorrow evening I have three very full days, morning to evening every day. Perhaps a run or two at the end of the week, then on my way home.

Le Tour, my tour and a tour

Le Tour ended as expected, Contador well ahead. As expected at least by those not within the LA cult. I think he showed amazing strength and endurance in this tour, for any age. Chapeau, as they say. But I think the American reporters and American fans gave him a ridiculous amount of attention - every day, every performance, every comment. For this group, Lance could and should win any day, time trial or climb, and if Contador did not cooperate, either passively by losing, or actively by riding LA's race rather than his own, then blame and condemn Contador for a lack of team cooperation. Contador put time on LA in every stage that mattered, and put time on everyone else almost easily, whenever he wanted. He earned this win. Many very strong young riders showed their strength - Contador, Schleck, Nibali, Martin, Wiggins.

My tour - a nice bike ride this morning. Rode easily yesterday, planned a longish ride in the Cambridge hills today, multiple loops to get maximum amount of climbing - really the Cambridge hills need a gentler verb than 'climb' - per ride. But when I saw the low wind speeds early, unusual for East Anglia, I knew I had to try a fast loop. Glad I did.

A tour - here, I use the word in the sense of a trip, a visit. We would like to have our summer options settled, so that we could, perhaps, plan a trip (tour) to see the boys. But we need to resolve the Oregon option, one way or another, first. With that option, we would try to arrange a trip, quickly, for resettlement reasons and to see Gus and Sam. Without that option, we realized this week, we probably can't afford trips in either direction this summer; we might plan smaller tours locally. I thought, after all the fussing about video conferences and board meetings at the weekend, that we would know something by now. Soon, I hope. Soon.

Only the shoes

Bicycles again. Madingley loop again today, on the ride home from work. My 6th or 7th time on that route, sometimes with more than one loop, in the last ten days. Convenient in unsettled weather. But at the weekend I took the Black Sheep on two longer rides, other routes. Good rides, on a completely silent bike - finally no squeaks! Now, in the rare moments of smooth pavement and light wind, I can hear the noise of my shoes, a gentle quiet creak of leather on leather. Sounds olde. And slow.

We went to London yesterday, to join friends from Boulder for dinner - they have come to England for a few weeks of scientific visits. Mary Lou and I went early to visit the Royal Mews. About as close to the royalty and palaces as I want to get. Only a few (four) horses, but we did enjoy the audio tour.

What a colossal waste of funds, I think, all those fancy cars and carriages and clothes and harnesses. And who needs, really, a Master of the Horse? On the other hand, the royal support continues a tradition and craft that goes back 600 years. How, without royal support, could one imagine keeping fine carriages and fine horses? We did learn that The Queen personally selects which carriage for which event. Oh, well done. If we could only have the craft traditions without the royalty traditions.

We walked to a park along the Thames, unusual for its grass and trees (plane trees, of course) immediately at the river's edge. Most of the Thames through London has concrete and pavement. I call the little park we visited Parliament park, as it lies just up-river of the Parliament buildings. On the map it might have the label Millbank Park. From there we walked to meet our friends at their hotel, and then through James Park to dinner just off Trafalgar Square. We caught a distant glimpse of the fourth plinth; we will have to return for a more careful look.

Black Sheep again

I rode my Black Sheep bicycle this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Hammered a bit, both days. I have not ridden it since mid-June, more than three weeks. It continues to squeak, from the seat or the seat post. I disassembled and lubricated the seat mount yesterday; I will clean and lube the seat post next. Despite that annoying squeak it rides beautifully, fast and smooth.

Why haven't I ridden it for three weeks? Weather - I tend to ride the Surly in wet conditions. Travel - we had the week in Oregon and then I had the next week in Svalbard. Tiredness - from all the travel, I feel no need to ride the good bike if I don't have the energy to ride hard. Road conditions - many of the roads I ride had fresh chip seal (rocks in fresh tar) in the past two or three weeks, a good reason, especially in warm weather, not to ride your best bike. Uncertainty - about the Oregon job, about the IPO funding, about our summer plans, all distract me from my exercise goals. Then, a little rest, a bit of good weather, a renewed intensity, and back on the good bike - what a pleasure!

I devoted most of my time this weekend to video processing. I uploaded all the remaining Svalbard summer school video clips from the camera and built a nice 10-minute composite; I think Liz and the students will like it. This afternoon I took fresh video of Mary Lou on Tetley, and by the end of evening we had watched it twice and processed an extract for Mary Lou's blog. We will see if Tetley fans around the country, no, the hemisphere (!) can view it.

Back to the IPO office in BAS tomorrow, after several weeks of working mostly from home. The interim admin assistant starts tomorrow, next phase in the IPO. Both of us, Mary Lou and I, deal with swine flu in our workplaces. We prefer to believe what we read about partial immunity for people our age.

A busy trip to Svalbard

In the picture, five undergraduate students and one old guy puzzle over oceanographic data from a Svalbard fjord. The students come from (counter-clockwise) Germany, Netherlands, USA (Fairbanks), USA (Seattle - you can just see her nose and her finger to her mouth), and Norway (with his hand to his head). Do those small pulses in the near-surface salinity data correspond to weather events?

I felt their enthusiasm and energy and saw video of many of their activities so I know they enjoyed three weeks of exploration, adventure and research in Svalbard. I enjoyed spending most of the third week with them, 24 students in total. And I enjoyed working with the staff of the summer school, all of whom I know and all of whom give me credit for supporting this idea more than a year ago when it first popped up during a meeting in Strasbourg.

While setting up my first presentation to this group (on how to give a good presentation!), I already had a request: could I also speak about IPY to another larger international summer school, for PhD students sponsored by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research. Sure, if by doing it I save a friend and partner some work. Then, afternoon of the second day, while helping another friend set up her presentation, I got a call from Oslo: "Dave, I missed my flight, I know you are in Longyearbyen, can you speak to a group of business leaders on the topic Arctic Change with Global and European Impacts". Well, sure, I can do that one as well, by recycling and refreshing a presentation I gave a few weeks ago to the Nordic prime ministers, for this group: Council of Directors of European Industrial Federations.

Add a morning of listening to presentations by 'our' students, an afternoon of discussing and evaluating their posters, a few interviews, a few hours of processing videos, and an IPY presentation to the full UNIS (University Centre in Svalbard) staff, and I had few minutes to spare during a four-day visit. Everything worked well, I got complements on all the presentations, and I saw the students pick up many of my suggestions in their presentations. Finally, after several previous unsuccessful attempts, I managed to get all the way from Longyearbyen back to Cambridge in a single day.

On our 'Vacation'

I hurry to use this image on my blog before Mary Lou uses it on hers. We took fresh horse pictures yesterday - perhaps those will distract her for a few days. In this image I see us enjoying time together in a beautiful location, amidst turbulence and uncertainty.

As we departed Eden St for the rail station, the taxi driver gave us a fresh and friendly send-off, inquiring about our journey and interested in our plans. At the station we met, to our surprise, N.O., dressed, to our further surprise, for Ascot: top hat, tails, grey waistcoat, pressed shirt and pink tie, special Ascot trousers, polished plain-toe black oxford shoes. On the train he explained this mandatory apparel with good humour before we launched into an enjoyable discussion of the the periodic table and IPY chart. What will you do in Oregon?, he asked. I dissembled: friends, our kids born there, chance for some time together. But hadn't we already told the taxi driver about our job interview?

We flew Heathrow to Chicago, and then on to Portland. We had nice views of Greenland, but the flights, especially the second leg, seemed endless. We did have good leg room thanks to preferential seating on United. The immigration agent in Chicago also asked about our plans. Oregon, he asked? Middle of nowhere. Rather, we agreed, edge of nowhere. (Edge visible in the picture above.) Helpful driver to the car agency, drove the rental car to a hotel in central Portland, sleep. End of a long day.

Awake, exhaustion not withstanding, by 3 am. We opened the laptop, checked emails (particularly to find information about our accommodations in Newport, which we had not, until that point, received), and then explored. We identified the nearest Whole Food grocery and noted its opening time. We used our browsers and Google Earth to find the locations of horse boarding stables from a list sent to us, and we searched for additional equestrian centers. Planned our day's activities. I worked on my presentation. Arrived at Whole Foods as the doors opened for business. Should we eat breakfast first, or buy food supplies first? Too tired and hungry to make a decision, I think we did both.

We drove through quiet Sunday-morning Portland, noting of course the bicyclists, into the rich farmland and varied crops of the Willamette and Yamhill valleys, across the forested coast range, and finally down to the coast. We stopped for a view (picture above), a stretch, and a deep inhalation of the fresh fresh air. We continued through Newport south toward Waldport, to explore one possible horse boarding location, all the time enjoying the views, the trees, the hills, and the smooth roads. We toured the Aquarium together (as paying customers), picked up our access card for the guest condo, bought some food at the local coop, and arrived, finally, at our destination.

For the next three days we explored, primarily by car but occasionally on foot, Newport and its surroundings, assessing bike routes, bike stores, libraries (as we have not had one in Cambridge for nearly 3 years!), horse boarding possibilities, housing possibilities, and the beach and coast range environments. Oh, and I did two days of interviews, including a very positive (I felt) presentation to Aquarium staff. We felt welcomed and well-treated, and we enjoyed very nice weather. We visited friends in Corvallis and reminded ourselves of the long drive back to Portland. A couple tens of hours of travel and back to Cambridge.

What did you do on your 'vacation'?, people may ask. Enjoyed some time together in a beautiful location, rediscovered a part of Oregon that we knew only casually, and, perhaps, got a job.

A lowly sign

We had substantial rain during the morning, as forecast.  Mary Lou, developing the radar skills of a nowcaster - someone who predicts weather within the next 30 minutes to 2 hours, tracked the storm movement carefully, watched the trailing echos edge past Cambridge, and predicted the end of the rain and sufficient clearing for an afternoon at the barn.

So on our bikes we went, but following the paved route through the city rather than the gravel path along the river.  At about the fourth or fifth substantial turn, near the end of Izaak Walton Lane, I saw it.  A sign, an omen.  A slug, yellowish-green, on the wet pavement.

To the casual eye, unnoticeable amidst the abundant debris and garbage.  Even to the observant, just a slimy invertebrate.  But I, consumed with hopes and speculations while trying desperately to avoid too high hopes and wild speculations, saw the portent and meaning immediately.  Answer D: It is written.  You can tell which movie we enjoyed last evening.   

We did get to the barn un-dampened, although we crossed through some big puddles along the curbs and in the underpasses.   It rained briefly as we unpacked, donned boots, and set out the horse gear.  And we heard thunder often during the afternoon.  But overall, as Mary Lou predicted, we had a dry and pleasant afternoon.  It is written.  

High Expectations

Months ago, after I had written a modestly pessimistic assessment of IPY progress toward its original goals (I and several others considered my evaluation accurate and realistic), the Joint Committee concluded that I had "too high expectations".  Their assessment of me comes to mind lately, as I consider the remaining tasks of IPY and as I consider future jobs.  

I consider all human endeavors and systems improvable - constantly and relentlessly.  We don't, individually or collectively, always pursue the improvements, of course, but they always, in my mind, beckon, occasionally as linear paths but more often as unexplored possibilities.  I may have picked up the language of this line of reasoning from Isaiah Berlin, but the fundamental motivation of personal improvability probably arises from my nature and nurture, the latter particularly from my mother.  In its best form that motivation should, I hope, translate into humility, empathy, generosity, and tolerance.  In my case it also results in high expectations, applied personally and inherent in my leadership of these grand projects.

I get positive feedback on the improvability theory from bicycling.  Despite modest talent and advancing age, I can see, as favorable weather, reduced travel, and long hours of daylight allow more and more kilometres of riding per week and per month, increased endurance and speed.  Not as much as I would like, of course - room for more improvement!  But Saturday I had a surprisingly good ride, even though I felt tired at the time.  Sunday I came back with not quite the result I hoped for, but with a very good ride nonetheless.   Today, after a day of rest, I went back to work on the improvements by riding in the local hills.  Four times up the steepest local hill I can find within an hour's ride, with a rest on the descent.  The image shows those four loops, elevation (55 metres minimum, 110 metres max) in green and heart rate (85 beats per minute low and 160 bpm high) in red.  Four times, working hard, at a high but not maximal effort, and each time repeatable - same recovery heart rate, same exertion heart rate, even as the speeds stayed the same and in fact got slightly faster.   Hard work but in control, pushing myself, feeling very good on the bike, confident that this workout will help me ride my measured courses at a reduced, or should I say improved, time next week or next month or certainly by the end of the summer.  

Often, working with a new partner provides unexpected improvement.  After recording the interview with Kirsten Murphy for the CKLB show 'Ends of the Earth', I thought I had not done a very good job on the science questions and that we spent too much time on my personal attitudes and behaviours.  Listening to the broadcast, I know that I did overstate - I said we had doubled carbon dioxide when I should have said that we would soon double CO2.  But in the way Kirsten edited and mixed the material, I think the point about science as an honest line of inquiry, free (largely) from political bias, came through surprisingly well and that she helped me, big scientist guy, sound like a rather human, partly funny and partly foolish, fellow.  She helped me present an improved view of science generally and an honest (generally a form of improvement!) impression of myself.  Thanks, Kirsten!

Improvements needed, how do I get them?  In the whole Oslo 2010 conference planning processes.  I have to work with Research Council of Norway to get some influence, perhaps even control, over OO.  I have very high expectations for that conference, expectations that follow directly from what we have achieved and the partnerships we have formed during IPY.  I can't watch those expectations, mine and others, fall and fail.  And as I think about next jobs, about application letters and interviews - how do I convey this sense of improvability not as criticism or arrogance but as optimistic and motivating and enabling?  To cynical, funding-starved groups of employees. 

I found both comfort and motivation in the 'Sleep Furiously' movie.  Even as the community declined, as the population aged and the culture changed, essential human qualities of friendship, compassion, curiosity and humor persisted; the substance and stimulus for improvement.   High expectations founded in the persistent (although unfortunately not pervasive) positive facets of individuals and communities.  

SLOW

SLOW.  I frequently see, and often ride directly over, that word, painted in large white block letters, extending across my lane of the local roads.  On a typical two-hour bicycle ride I encounter SLOW at least 10 and perhaps 20 times or more, at the entrance to and exit from each village or town and at many intersections within or between the towns.  

For an automobile driver the SLOW messages provide a warning of bumps, barriers or chicanes ahead, physical impediments designed to reduce the vehicle's speed.  On my bike I regard the SLOW messages as taunts, invariant and impassive reminders of my pitiful efforts at riding fast.  Like the colourful messages that fans chalk or spray across the road to encourage their favorite bicycle racer up a steep climb, but with a discouraging, perhaps even disparaging, intent.  SLOW as I finish my pretend sprint between towns; don't I know it.  SLOW as I pick up my cadence and raise my heart rate at the leaving edge of town; please don't remind me.  SLOW as the hilly lane I have just climbed merges with a busier road; well I can't go much faster.  SLOW as I ease back into Cambridge after a long ride; pretty much sums it up.

Occasionally I smile as I pass a speed limit sign with two simple digits: 30.  Often I rip past well in excess of 30, but of course I ride kilometres per hour while the sign refers to miles per hour.  Then the next SLOW marker passing beneath my wheels reminds me of Protoslow, a viscous solution used to slow down protozoans in a drop of pond water so one can examine them under a microscope.  I wonder who watches me through a great lens, gradually adding cycloslow to determine at what concentration I lose enough momentum to fall over.  Funny what a long ride can do to an old mind.

Imagine my surprise, then, when not once but twice in the past several days I had to touch brakes as I approached a SLOW mark, a mark I have crossed 30 times already this year.  On the Black Sheep of course, and perhaps with a slight tail wind, but not on a descent, not at an intersection, and not because the traffic ahead slowed.  No, I actually carried enough speed into this particular broad and gradual junction that I had to slow down, just as the message implied.  Getting faster after two months of reasonable mileage and training?  Feeling stronger as the weather improves?  Gradually losing my bicycle handling skills?  Small victory, I don't care the reason.   Ahead, six more SLOW reminders before I finish at Eden St.  

Trimming the Hedge

Sitting with my feet up, right heel slightly sore, after a good run today.  I estimate, without checking either of my two GPS exercise logs or my composite exercise spreadsheet, that I ran 35 km this week, 3 days in Washington DC plus today.  In some months I only run 35 km total so I can understand a little soreness.  

I trimmed the hedge at the front of 20 Eden this morning.  Voluntarily, albeit stimulated by Mary Lou's comment that I spend too much time at the computer.  The hedge had grown to a ragged and rambunctious state, infringing seriously on the pavement, so I cut it back severely.  Same strategy I apply to haircuts.  

I thought of my dad, who, around this same time of year (often on the US Memorial Day, last Monday in May) would trim, also by hand, the shrubs in front of our house in Illinois.  I would help by raking and picking up the cuttings - those bushes had thorns!  In my earliest memories the cuttings would go into a wood-slat basket with wire handles.

Strictly speaking, I did not volunteer my help.  I merely understood, without an explicit request (although perhaps with a nudge from my mother to put down my book, get out, and help Dad) that he expected my participation in the day's tasks.  Just as I understood the expectation that I would mow the lawns of our house and those of the elderly neighbors (the latter, at least, for compensation) each Saturday.  In spring, during the school term, I would often also have a track meet (athletics competition, in the UK) on Saturday, in the afternoon, or I would anticipate, even then, a long or hard run for training or pleasure.  I remember very clearly thinking that 3 hours in the warm sun pushing a mower through thick grass did not represent a very restful preparation for a running race.  True, no doubt, but in those days I also knew less about hydration and pre-race nutrition.  Today, working for a couple hours in the sun, I thought both about Dad and about the day's run.  After the trimming I had sports drink, an energy bar, and a nap.  

I did enjoy my run, again down the Cam on this side, back on the other.  I pushed for 3 km on this side, and again for 3 km on the return.  Not very fast, but faster than last week and better than just a passive old-guy run.  I feel that I gradually regain a natural stride; earlier in the year I felt that I corrected for pain or stiffness.  I try to remember, as I get tired and my stride shortens, to increase speed by relaxing rather than tightening.  I recall terms I hear most often: rounded, balanced, collected, supple, forward.  Applied to Tetley, not to me.  Perhaps I should consider half halts.  

Nice temperature for the run.  I don't look forward to a summer of 30C as predicted.  Now we plan to get on our bikes and pedal to a pub over in Coton, a nice ride to the other side (western edge) of Cambridge.  

Skeptical of the skeptic

IPY phone calls and emails, all with today's urgency, started from the (late) moment that I awoke.  I prepared breakfast but didn't get to enjoy it until after the third activity.  Many EOC activities; I gradually begin to understand the amount of time Rhian needed to devote to phone calls.  I wore my Skype earphones much of the day.  I did talk to Nicola; it took us only a moment to find a reason to share laughter.  

I spent the morning writing a rebuttal to a climate 'skeptic'.  I feel uncomfortable in that role.  I know a lot about climate, but I hold no detailed expertise (nor credentials) in any aspect.  Now, of course, I know a lot about polar issues, arguably more than anyone, but again without formal expertise.  On the other hand, I have willingness (such as by making time) and communication skills to relate climate information in accessible language, both of those perhaps rare attributes.  In this case, the radio station - our friends at CKLB in Yellowknife, Canada - asked me to prepare a rebuttal to an interview they had broadcast last week on their IPY show 'Ends of the Earth'.  We had the idea that I would submit my comments to their blog, so that they could ask me questions during an interview this afternoon.  

I didn't want to rebut point by point or error by error, matching one person's 'facts' with another set of 'facts'.  Instead, I wanted to provide a more general common sense view of how climate works, to help the listener understand why I (we, in this case, most of the scientific community) disagree with the skeptic.  I think I achieved my goal, although I know the few paragraphs I wrote could use a bit more 'aging'.  But the show must go on.  

(Later, I learned that CKLB wants to put my comments in their newsletter, online and print.  I re-read and then fixed a few typos in my little document.  Now they want a picture.  I thought we used the radio format to get away from pictures.) 

I enjoyed the interview.  I told Kirsten Murphy that she reminded me of my favorite radio personality, Susan Stamberg - funny, fresh, friendly.  We talked about the Senate hearing.  I allowed an impression to develop of a well-attended and active event.  Next we talked about climate skepticism in general terms, without specific reference to the interview from the previous week.  Kirsten surprised me (good!) with a question about political influence in climate science - how I would answer the frequent charge from skeptics that the climate 'enthusiasts' control the funding and publication processes, and exclude the skeptics, for their own political and financial benefit.  I rejected that viewpoint, without labeling it another lunatic conspiracy theory, but probably not very effectively.  Perhaps I should have voiced the conspiracy idea.

Then Kirsten offered some fun challenges.  Do I consider myself an important person?  Do I travel around the world (with the implication of a large carbon impact)?  Can I confirm what a little bird told her, that I often fall off of my bicycle?  (Now how would she know to ask me that?)  Did I come from the US or Canada - she thought I had a Canadian accent.  My answer: when people hear me speak, they often guess my identity as Canadian, but when they see me they group me with the Norwegians.  

Not all of this, in fact very little of the closing chatter, will go into the final interview.  But I look forward to hearing what she and William do with the material and the show.  Not in the live broadcast (0300 UK time) but in the audio library tapes.  

I have had positive feedback from people who attended the Senate hearing; several asked for the transcript.  I will prepare a summary of the hearing for the consideration of my fellow 'experts', as my second task of the weekend.  

Easy bike ride at the end of the day; hoping for a longer ride tomorrow (today, when I finally finished this entry).  

Old Runners Tales

I ran again in Rock Creek Park this morning.  I felt that an easy run would help shorten the duration of this cold.  I have read this idea in running literature and discussed it with other runners, that running, by raising the body temperature in imitation of a fever, assists in the body's defenses.  Just an easy run, to raise the temperature but not push one into exhaustion.  One of several old runners tales, I suppose. 

I think even a walk in the cool moist air helps clear and sooth the irritated sinus surfaces.  I hope I can avoid ear pressure problems on tonight's flight.

Most members of the USA Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not take a personal interest yesterday in The Global Implications of a Warming Arctic.  But the Chair, Sen. Kerry did, as did the two Senators from Alaska.  And so did many people, perhaps support staff for other committees or personal staff for Senators or Representatives, who filled the room.  I counted more than 60 and could not see those seated behind me.

Rather than having the Senators arrayed in their high formal seats surrounding and overlooking the 'witnesses', we utilized a central table, three or four seats on a side, everyone at the same level, for a discussion.  Senator Kerry used the format particularly well, to ask questions and stimulate discussion.

I thought we, the 'experts', made a weak and dissolute impression.  Two of us, Lawson (the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2009 Report, just endorsed) and I (IPY), had fresh product.  We presented and distributed short written summaries of highlights and urgencies.  To my ear, our material sounded un-surprising, more of the same, although my points about sea level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and about methane release from permafrost provoked questions and discussion.  The other three experts worked from hasty notes, referring to previous reports or to documents they had already written.  They basically worked through a familiar (to them and the Senators, I suppose) list of requests - compliance with such and such treaty or previous Senate resolution, funding for this or that program, icebreakers - things they had suggested or advocated before.  

As a group, I thought we failed to bring forward a clear or cohesive message.  We raised a list of issues, some of them with fresh and troubling information, but failed to match those urgencies with a consensus on steps forward.  I think the Chair sensed the lack of direction.  He proposed to hold the 'record' of the meeting open for a week, to allow us to present some concise recommendations.  I will propose that we prepare one set, together.  I doubt that I will find much cooperation. 

Bright yellow fields

I enjoy looking at grass-covered landscapes.  Not manicured golf courses, but the wilder, rougher fields of the prairies and grasslands, expanses broad enough with plants tall enough to show the sweep and ripples of the wind.  In our travels across the US we often sought out relict or restored plots of tall-grass prairies or the wide-open windy spaces of the dry grasslands. I also like orderly fields of corn or soybeans in Illinois and I smile to remember the fields of many colors and textures in the seed-growing areas of the Willamette Valley.  

But for pure garish shock one has to see the bright yellow fields of rape in England and Europe.  From the air they look artificial, as if someone has imposed a yellow polygon layer on top of the green and brown background.  To my eye they seem to glow as the airplane descends into the English gloom.  From the ground on a bright day, as from the train from Cambridge to London on Saturday, they still look un-real - a uniform and spotless carpet of brightest yellow flowers.   A prime example, I suspect, of mechano-chemical-monocultural agriculture (and European farm policy?) at its worst, but a remarkable view.  Just now we also have bright bursts of buttercups in the pastures of the Cambridge common areas.  Imagine that bold yellow of buttercups, raised to prominence and dominance to the exclusion of all other color, even leaf green, over multi-hectare patches, and you get a sense of the rape fields in blossom.  

The train station in Cambridge seemed quite busy for a Saturday.  Some special event, I surmised, sport no doubt.  But not in London - the train in that direction ran only half full.  "Passengers for the races in Newmarket will please make their way quickly to platform 6."  Ah, the races.  That explains the fancy dresses, the fancier hats, the ties and coats.  And, perhaps, also, the abundant containers, in many shapes and form, subtle and otherwise, of alcohol.

I rested on the un-crowded train to London.  Mary Lou had tucked an apple and a chocolate bar into my bag - nice.  I felt the weary satisfaction of a hard bicycle ride, better than I had expected for a tired start, still on my relentless search for long (I would settle for 5 km!) challenging hills.  I tried a new route this morning, from Six Mile Bottom up to Carlton, not bad, small rough roads but not much traffic and a decent, by East Anglia standard, ascent.  

Mad in Kings X, people crowded everywhere, traveling to who-knows-what events on a holiday weekend.  Weekend closure of two Tube lines for 'planned engineering works' probably contributed to the crowds on the Picadilly Line.  Some danger, as the masses poured down the escalators to over-crowded platforms below, but TfL employees worked throughout the station to keep people safe and moving.  West toward the airport, where the Picadilly Line comes above ground, one could see high activity in the allotments (community gardens) - taking advantage of fair weather at the weekend.  I thought of the rainy forecast for the Oregon coast.  

In Terminal 5 I saw NHS medics on bicycles. Don't they have a smooth ride and clean bikes!

Fat Head

Started early, anxious to transfer my restless overnight thoughts to email before they dissolved in the day's affairs.  Checked the UK East Anglia weather forecast.  Then the swine flu forecast, to learn if travel restrictions might disrupt plans for an international meeting here tomorrow or my trip to the US at the weekend.  Not here, but in many other locations I would also check the air quality forecast, thinking about exercise plans for the day.

The image to the left shows a DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan of me.  This scan occurred as part of a very complete physiological and biochemical analysis that I had a few weeks ago.  The tests, designed to look at diet, exercise, and metabolic influences on weight and diabetes, occurred as part of a large Fenlands (east England lowlands) study, but also at a perfect time for me as a check on my overall fitness and recovery from my bike injury last August.  I had a stress test, all kinds of blood tests, and all kinds of weight, body mass, and body fat tests - part of the study seeks to define the most reliable and least invasive indicators of obesity for most people.  I wore a combination accelerometer (to record my activity level) and heart rate monitor for several days.  Overall, and no surprise whatsoever, the data show me as extremely fit for my age but also overweight.  

Of course I started fiddling with the data.  Since they had to estimate my fitness from my VO2 max, and had to estimate that from my max heart rate, what if they had my max heart rate, calculated from my age, too low compared to my real max heart rate which I reach during intense exercise once or twice in some months?  What if they had my height too low, how would that affect my body mass index?  I did not do any long or intense exercise during the time I wore their activity sensor - how did that affect my ratio of activity metabolic rate to resting metabolic rate?  Just like a scientist, I want to fuss with the data rather than confronting the main problem, too much weight.  The DEXA scan shows my fat head.

I did get my Arctic text done for the Senate hearing, in about 6 hours on Sunday.  I had a brief message from the Committee staff on Friday, but nothing since on time, length, other invitations.  Travel restrictions due to swine flu now seem unlikely, at least to the US.  Unless things change substantially, I plan to fly on Saturday.

Today a long run east on this side of the Cam, back on the other side, almost 12 km.  Very pretty and fragrant run this time of year, down river to Baits Bite Lock, about 80% on grass or soil.  But I agree with Mary Lou - the ground has dried out and we need some rain.  As they often, for mysterious reasons, do, the two most recent rain systems crossing England avoided East Anglia.    

All in a day

We heard that the daughter of local friends, along with classmates, went to Paris for the day.  By train and ferry, apparently.  That sounded fun to me.  I have occasionally invited my sister Barbara to come to Cambridge for a visit, primarily so that we could do what the students did - go to Paris for lunch.  I went from Cambridge to Vienna for the day, albeit a quite long day 4a to 11p.  I travelled by airplane, not my preferred form of travel in Europe but necessary in this case.  

I attended the final day of the annual meeting of the European Geophysical Union, to deliver an invited talk to open a session entitled 'The Cryosphere - How Much Longer'.  Evidently that title caught people's attention.  We had 150 people or more in the room, remarkable for the afternoon of the final day of a week-long conference.  After me, international experts spoke on glaciers, permafrost, and Arctic ice shelves; I had used Arctic sea ice as one of my examples of prediction challenges.  All of us made an identical point - that components of the cryosphere have changed (disappeared) beyond historical precedent.  I gave a new talk on my current most-used theme - the need to quickly convert our IPY discoveries into predictive skill.  I used Arctic sea ice, an Arctic marine ecosystem, and Arctic vegetation as examples, showing innovative (in my view) modeling efforts in each case, drawing the conclusion that we have many components of an integrated prediction skill if we can only put them together.  Given that I composed the talk the day before, finished it in the airport before the flight, and polished and practiced it on the flight, I thought it went rather well.  As conveners and speakers gathered for a post-session coffee (or beer, Vienna after all), prediction and predictability dominated our discussion.

Mary Lou doubted that I would get up this morning for an early bike ride.  She didn't know that I had planned my workouts over the past week toward this ride or that I anticipated it during last night's travel back to England and Cambridge, particularly as the limo used the same route into Cambridge that I would take.  I did start early, 6:15, and had a great ride, one of my best (fastest).  Perhaps not as fast for a similar distance (30 kilometers here, 20 miles there) as I used to do in Boulder.  But that route had straight roads with wide bicycle lanes, four corners (two of which favored full-speed turns), and only one stop sign.  This route has narrow rough roads with no shoulders, 6 villages with speed-calming (reducing) impediments at entry and exit, 9 round-about intersections, and 3 km on Cambridge streets at start and finish.  Today's route also has ten stoplights.  I had green lights for most of them and went cautiously through the others; I never clicked out of my pedals.   

Tired now, writing this blog when I should work on my text for the Senate hearings, probably due Monday.  If weather allows I hope to do a long ride, at a relaxed pace, tomorrow morning.  

Rolling Recovery

I still have not quite 'returned' to this time zone; I gain about an hour each day.  Supposedly, exercise, especially late afternoon, helps one reset one's biological clock due to exposure to a setting sun.   Having cycled at a very high (for me) level of effort on Sunday, and having taken a long albeit easy run yesterday along the Cam, and hoping for the end-of-the-day time zone re-calibration effect, I made a very easy ride home from work late this afternoon.  Why does an easy ride get mentioned in my blog?  Because I never ride easy!  I always chase or push or climb - anything to feel the effort and sense the speed.  So I had to 'work' at keeping today's ride easy - 22 km, 55 minutes, only 2 minutes in my lowest heart rate target zone - perfect.  What the professional bicyclists call a 'rolling recovery'.  

I have a GP (General Practitioner) appointment tomorrow, to review the array of fitness tests I had a couple weeks ago.  I had complete blood analyses, of sugars, enzymes and lipids.  I had three or four different kinds of body fat / body mass measurements, an electrocardiogram, and a treadmill stress test.   Also a glucose response test.  And several others, I don't remember - a full morning's worth.  I already know the blood pressure numbers looked very good, that the electrocardiogram had the usual occasional arrhythmia, and that I passed the stress test with flying colours.  I suspect the GP will talk about weight and cholesterol tomorrow, familiar topics.  

I work on a presentation for the European Geophysical Union meeting, for a time slot on Friday.  Before I get too far into the graphics, I should remind myself what I wrote in the abstract.  I also work on text for a US Senate hearing scheduled for the first week of May.  I anticipate that they will want written text of the testimony beforehand, as soon as next week.   Written testimony without graphics! - a first for me, at least during my time with IPY.  Just to keep my graphic skills sharp, I did a nice little video for ICSU for their Executive Board meeting next week - edited down from a longer version I produced a few months ago.  Fun.

Back to Cambridge

I arrived early yesterday at Heathrow to a very gray damp morning - even British travelers remarked at the dismal weather.  I used the coach (bus) service to Cambridge because I had a normal suitcase plus my bike case - too hard to handle two cases on the Tube and train.  The coach had too much heat, which the driver could not reduce, and didn't work properly in reverse. In our experience British coaches often have transmission or heater problems.  My luck to get one with both problems simultaneously.  Mary Lou met me at the coach stop and we dragged the cases home (two blocks).  

After a nap, and as the weather improved, I unpacked, cleaned and re-assembled my bike.  I made a short test ride, then parked the bike and went for a short run.  By 8 pm I had fallen asleep - I had not slept during the overnight flight and for only a few minutes on the coach.  Mary Lou, out and about on Saturday errands, left me a note and a periwinkle flower this morning.  The 'Good Morning' greeting of the note almost expired, and the flower had wilted, by the time I woke - I slept most of 14 hours.

I attended to various computer update and backup tasks and finished work on my bike, then headed out for a moderate (length and speed) ride.  First the dilemma of how to get out of Cambridge - which route will involve the fewest pedestrians, dogs, prams, cows (summer on the Cambridge commons), construction, traffic?  In any direction it takes about 20 minutes to escape.  Once out, though, one has green hedges, many trees and shrubs in blossom, bright tulips and bedraggled daffodils along the roadside, and green (or bright yellow - rapeseed) fields.  Despite vehicle traffic and very rough pavement in many places, I enjoyed this English countryside ride after never really getting out of the city during two weeks of riding in Washington DC.  Of course, with rarely more than 3 or 4 km between villages in this part of England, and various constrictions, impediments, and barriers in the villages, I maintain a continual search for undeveloped stretches suited to longer and harder efforts.  And hills?  Forget it in East Anglia.  

But now, with sounds and smell of dinner (including fresh local asparagus) in preparation, and unlimited daily first-hand reportage on horse health and performance, I feel very glad to have returned home.  I noticed that Mary Lou had one of the DVD cases from the 'Lord of the Rings' out.  I knew she viewed DVDs during her break, but I thought she must have felt pretty bored to have watched 'Lord of the Rings'.  In fact, one of her equestrian friends knows a person who owned one of the horses used in the movie - we will have to view it again but with an equine focus.  

Cold and wet but warm and friendly

Busy all day yesterday at the Antarctic Treaty meeting in Baltimore.  This time I found the commuter train, direct to a station immediately next to the Convention Center so I avoided the taxi ride from the Amtrak station.  But did I get on a historical train run for rail enthusiasts, or a commuter train? Not sure.  Only a few passengers northbound at approximately 715a, and fewer coming back at 330p.  Three cars, they really only needed 20% of one.  I thought about the Cambridge to Kings X 0715 train, one of the busiest in England we read, 8 cars with 150% passenger load to seating capacity.  I found today's train convenient, inexpensive, and pleasant, even if old, slow and under-used.  On return to Washington I had a working dinner with a colleague here, then finally returned to our apartment.  Gus had explored westward from here, farther into Virginia, on my bike for a couple hours - another good reason to have brought it. Pack it up tomorrow.

Today we braved the rain to visit several museums.  We used Dave's personal preference route, starting at the Renwick then to the Freer and finishing at the Sackler.  I do this route to view works made by artists who work with their hands.  Not in painting and sculpture, but in wood-working, weaving, glass and ceramic making, calligraphy.  I know each of these museums has pieces that I enjoy for their appearance and their craft in their permanent collections and I know that I have a good chance of seeing fresh (to me) works of the same type.  I explained my reasoning to Gus and we set out.

We had excellent luck today.  In the Renwick we found a special exhibit of drawings, furniture, and decorative pieces by Greene & Greene, early 20th century US architects whose work I greatly admire (many books in my design library and strong influences on several of my own furniture pieces).  I should say also that I particularly admire their Swedish builders - whose work got very nice acknowledgement in this exhibition!  In the chronology of the exhibit we could see the Greene brothers' work develop from primary influence of Morris and Stickley, with their own gentling touches, through the incorporation of Japanese decorative features, to the almost abstract design of their final products.  Gus and I enjoyed this chronology and had a close look and thorough discussion of many of the furniture pieces: what they had added, how they had built (the Swedes, actually), similar features and techniques that we could recognize from my own work.   We also enjoyed a quick glimpse of the Renwick's massive collection and display of Catlin paintings of the high plains Native Americans.  

In the Freer we found a very nice special exhibit of Japanese use of gold and sliver leaf, inlay and paint in screens, boxes, and paintings.  We felt amazed at the quality of work and of the luminous effects, and we identified distinct design features that clearly influenced the Greene's work.  We also saw amazing and beautiful glass work and calligraphy and enjoyed the large Japanese screens on display.  We walked underground (out of the rain) to the Sackler and, tired by this time, sought out only the display of contemporary Japanese ceramics.   But what a find, in the bottom-most gallery, eight pieces of the most amazing hues, patterns and designs. Awesome, unbelievable what these artists have achieved.  Hand work and artistry of the highest order, just what we wanted to see and a nice completion to our visits.  I felt that the museum staff welcomed us everywhere we stopped.  

We entered the National Gallery, but only to walk to the below-ground restaurant for late lunch. We didn't find anything particularly interesting in the East Building (although we stared for a while at the Calder drifting above us), at least within our focus on hand-made work, so we walked up to the metro and came back to the hotel.  An hour or so later, my sister Barb came out to join us for the evening - she had meetings (on health care, of course) yesterday and today. We went again to the local roast chicken restaurant around the corner, even warmer and friendlier tonight with the dining room full of families getting out of the cold rain.  We came back here to talk and look at videos and pictures and then Gus and I walked Barb back to the metro station.  We might have bought an ice cream or two, and a few Clif Bars for our airplane journeys tomorrow. 

With Gus

Gus did arrive, approximately on time.  I met him with no problems.  He said the delay involved a change from a larger to smaller aircraft, with re-assignment of seats.  We feel lucky that, flying stand-by, he still got a seat.  

After a quick dinner, we took the Metro train into the District and walked down to the west end of the the Mall.  Nice evening, clear, wind had dropped.  We encountered many other visitors, particularly kids as part of organized tours.  

We visited the two hallowed places, in my opinion, in the city: the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Monument.  We talked about our understanding of the history and impacts of those times and events.  

Today we went back to Dulles, by Metro and bus, to visit the Air and Space Museum housed in an enormous hangar out there.  We spent several pleasant hours wandering through the exhibits of more than 100 aircraft - gliders, fighters, jets, pedal-powered, commercial, military, experimental, including a full-sized space shuttle.  Our knowledge of aircraft (especially mine) and our knowledge of history both improved.

We traveled back into the District for some father-son shopping.  We realized that I have probably bought Gus a new pair of shoes almost every time I have seen him over the past 3 or 4 years, approximately every 9 to 12 months.  Not often enough, from the condition of his current shoes!  He buys model airplane parts in preference to footwear - who could disagree with that?  We also visited a bookstore and a bakery.  A little further out, into Maryland in fact, on the Metro and we reached an REI store, where we bought him a new tent for his summer hiking and bicycling.  Another Dad to Gus treat.  

Tired, we traveled back through DC to Arlington.  We ate at a family roast chicken restaurant around the corner from this hotel, with hundreds of chickens rotating over charcoal fires in several big ovens.   We had smelled their product from our balcony.  We enjoyed very good very friendly food in a very popular local establishment - long lines of customers came for take away as we ate.   Fun.  

I will travel again to Baltimore tomorrow for a day of meetings, followed by a dinner meeting once I get back to Washington.  Gus plans to visit the White House and perhaps, if it doesn't rain (but it probably will) ride my bike.   

A Bright Day

A bright day, cool and windy, in Washington DC.  I cycled early, but for just a short ride because I felt quite cold.  I rode to the bottom of the local hill, turned and rode up the entire hill at a brisk warming pace, then finished with an easy ride downhill and downwind.  With a clear night, temperatures dropped below 5C, and I don't have clothes with me for those temperatures.  I did not want to wait until later, for warmer conditions, for two reasons.  First, on a nice weekend day the bikeways will get quite crowded during the mid-day.  Second, I did not know Gus' schedule other than that, coming from Denver, he would not arrive early morning.

He will arrive late afternoon, in fact, if his plane ever takes off (I watch its departure time slip by 10 minutes and then additional 10s of minutes as I write this).  I think he flew successfully from Gunnison to Denver.  As an airline employee, he gets a certain amount of 'free' stand-by travel, but I think he didn't know his overall schedule until he checked in for his first flight this morning.

If we have time this evening, we may take the metro toward the Washington mall and then walk to the Vietnam Memorial.  Gus has never seen it, and wondered what kind of memorial could properly represent that time and that event.  I told him he will understand when he sees it.  I read about a concert today, free, at the Lincoln monument, to commemorate the open-air performance that Marion Anderson gave there on easter sunday 1939 after the DAR refused to let her perform for an integrated audience in their Constitution Hall.  Unfortunately, the concert today will end before Gus and I could get down there.   

We will have Monday and Wednesday for exploring.  I will go back to Baltimore for Antarctic Treaty meetings on Tuesday, and both of us leave on Thursday.   I see that Gus' plane has left the gate!

An Odd Route

I rode this oddly-shaped route this morning.  I started around 9 am, after morning traffic but before afternoon thunderstorms.  30 km, just over an hour. Going further in any direction I would encounter street crossings, in some cases very busy highway crossings with multiple signal lights.  By staying within these boundaries, I can ride on paved bikeways for an hour and climb a few hills (uphill to the left on this map).

These bikeways follow, sometimes very closely, major highways but also connect a series of small parks.  I see all types of flowering shrubs and trees: forsythia, quince, plum, cherry, apple, dogwood, even some early magnolia today.  I hear cardinals in many of the parks, and encounter a few bicyclists, many runners, and pedestrians.  Where the maintenance crews have mowed, I smell fresh crushed chives (onions), a familiar odor from when we lived here.

At the weekend these close-in trails get very crowded so I will try to go farther west.  I started in that direction the other night, continuing on the Washington and Old Dominion Railway path.  I enjoyed the stretches between the cities (Falls Church, Vienna) but within the cities the path crosses all the streets at grade level, which means three or four major stoplight intersections and eight or ten stop signs over a mile or two.  I could cross to the north side of the river and ride on the canal path, with no intersections of any kind for 50 miles or more, but that path has a gravel surface.  I prefer not to get this bike dirty when I have no means to clean it and when I would have to bring it into this hotel.  

Antarctic Treaty meetings in Baltimore

Meetings of the signatory parties to the Antarctic Treaty occur annually, each of the 30 countries taking a turn to host the meeting.  The USA asked to host this particular meeting in recognition of the signing of the treaty 50 years ago in the US, and organized the events in Washington on Monday (previous post) in celebration.  The actual work of this Treaty meeting occurred in the Convention Center in Baltimore; hundreds of people attend.

I made a very early start yesterday, to build a short presentation.  We had submitted a working paper to this section of the meeting (everything happens through submitted materials, almost nothing happens spontaneously), and I had gone to sleep the night before thinking that I would merely introduce that paper, consider it as read, and then sit back to hear responses, if any, prepared by national delegations - the normal procedure, would not require extra effort on my part, and I could do it from my expected seat at the far periphery of the room (where IPY sits along with WMO, UNEP, World Wildlife Federation, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, and other interested parties - all of us attending by invitation and assigned to specific locations in an outer circle behind the delegates table).  But I woke early thinking: no, they will expect something special from me, I have done presentations for them in the past, they will want to hear (and see) fresh news of IPY, the chair (a friend from New Zealand) will have preserved a time in his agenda for a presentation.  So I built a short but colorful presentation, using images from a presentation I had done for the French - German student event in Paris a few weeks ago and text from the IPY Ministerial Declaration adopted Monday morning in Washington.  Anticipating that I could not use my Mac (correct, as it turned out), I used no animations and converted the final product to a .pdf, display-able on any computer.  

I finished a few minutes later than I hoped.  After a quick walk to the nearest metro, a relatively quick Metro trip (two lines) to Union Station, a brief stop at the ticket machine, and a run to a far gate, I managed to get on a 730a train to Baltimore.  I realized as the train departed that I had assumed the European travel model - buy a ticket from a machine immediately prior to travel for any train to any destination.  That model did work in this case, although I got tickets for specific trains (outbound and return) and I ended up on an Amtrak train headed for Boston rather than a commuter train.  Looking afterward, I did not see a commuter service between Baltimore and Washington; perhaps not enough people want that service.  No problems, Amtrak had seats and traveled just as quickly and directly to Baltimore.  Taxi to the Convention Center and ready to work!

I did give a quick presentation, from the front.  The chair had protected a space in the agenda for me (I gave him a very short presentation in return, that helped him save time) and the assembled group greatly enjoyed it - a refreshing change from their endless sequences of working papers and interventions, all in hard copy. More to the point, this group (the Committee on Environmental Protection) can now share the excitement and ownership of the IPY, collectively (internationally) and nationally.  Of course, in my preparations, I had tried to find a way to mention many of the countries and many of the other groups around the room.  This CEP makes slow but steady and important progress (with ASOC, mentioned above, agitating, thank goodness, for faster and more aggressive actions) on crucial issues such as invasive species and resource protection.  At this meeting they heard (from ASOC of course) a proposal to establish higher protection (essentially, to reduce or eliminate fishing) in the Ross Sea, one of the few regions of ocean anywhere that still has most of its big fish and higher predators intact.   I wanted to show them that IPY will provide helpful information not just about invasive species (we have a big project on that topic for Antarctica) but also on the nature and future of the integrated ice-ocean physical and biological systems.  And, by giving a good presentation, I can thank many of my friends around the room, friends who have supported IPY nationally and internationally.

   

Lunch with Secretary of State Clinton

Well, not just she and me, more like she and 100 of us.  She sat at the central table with Foreign Ministers.  I sat at one of 12 secondary tables with good friends on my left (the Swedish Ambassador for Polar Regions and the Chair of the Swedish IPY National Committee - we often hang out together at events like this) and a new friend on my right, the Russian Ambassador to the US - my friend the Russian Senior Arctic Official had introduced us earlier.  On his right sat the new (since January) head of Policy and Planning for the State Department and on her right the Peruvian Ambassador to the US.   Benjamin Franklin dining room, tres elegant, eighth floor of the Department of State.  Live music, excellent food and drink served on gold-edged plates and from gold-edged goblets - several of our State Department partners who we see at many Arctic and Antarctic events around the world said they had never entered this room.  

We had just finished an excellent morning of speeches on the occasion of an historic first joint meeting of the Antarctic Treaty members and the Arctic Council members.  The USA served as host for this event as a way to celebrate 50 years since the initial signing of the Antarctic Treaty in Washington in 1959.  But the joint meeting, and the speeches of the morning, by Secretary of State Clinton, by Norwegian Foreign Minister Store, and by Director of US Office of Science and Technology Policy Holdren, focussed on IPY and its success.  

In previous years we would have exercised caution in calling IPY a climate research programme; we called it instead a polar research programme.  Today, from all parties, we heard an explicit description of IPY as a climate wake-up call and as a reminder to the public and the politicians of the urgent need to address climate change.   At our table we also discussed, with great interest, the Obama - Medvedev initiative on a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - the Russian Ambassador had just returned from London where the two leaders made a joint commitment.  I don't know if that story got much play in the USA, but we certainly read about it in Europe.  At our table and throughout the morning's events we heard constant enthusiasm about a completely positive change in attitude on climate and on international cooperation from the new US administration.   

Organic greens with grilled pear; pecan-crusted fillet of grouper; strawberry mouse.  Water, iced tea, white wine.  Coffee.  I kept my copy of the menu.

Sunday Bicycle Ride - Wash DC

First day, Sunday, of a long visit to Washington DC (Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, IPY celebrations, other various meetings).  I took my bike out of its traveling case, put it together, and took it for a ride on the bicycle paths of Washington DC. Very nice day.  I saw many other cyclists.  In several places crowds of pedestrians, runners, and dog walkers brought the bikes to a halt.  The bikeways travel within breathing distance of major highways in many places, and go right next to National Airport, but in the parks and wooded areas I heard cardinals, saw many flowering trees, and many picnickers under the flowering cherry trees. 

Almost 70 kilometers, 40-some miles.  My map and the signs along the cycleways disagreed in places, but I managed to do approximately the route I intended and to get back to my starting point.  At one point I went past the same corner three times; checking the map got me out of that trap.  

The bike has some strange squeaks; I'll tighten everything again before the next ride.  The Custis trail, from the river up toward Falls Church, has some decent hills, but for the most part this route allows only a casual ride, not an exertion ride.  I may try going farther west next weekend.

Initial Post

I have a less-used blog, but with some older picture links.

Now I try this one, to see if I use it more often.

I attach a recent picture, of my main squeeze and her big squeeze.