Author: vargocity

Over the weekend Lauren and I hosted our sisters as guests of Atlanta and our home. We had an event-filled couple of days over which the weather varied. My original intention in suggesting this weekend to them was to get them here for The Dogwood Festival and some lovely Spring weather. I thought it would be a welcome respite from the mid-April snow showers they’d been enduring and Spring in Atlanta is great. Plus the braves were in town.

On Thursday and Friday we had great weather and took a stroll around Atlanta’s CBD – not what I considered to be a stop on most tourists lists, but looking back maybe it’s the most touristy place of all with World of Coke, Underground, and Centennial Olympic Park. We also had the chance to catch Dr. David Kleinbaum on the jazz flute at the Old Scottish Rite. On Friday we visited the aquarium and that night went to the Braves’ game. Braves got killed but we had a good time and saw some fireworks.

I told my sister to bring her soccer gear so we could go play on Saturday morning at Tech. The weather held up but we almost couldn’t find parking because of Barack Obama. It was fun and she showed me up a few times. Then the weather got ugly but we had all indoor events planned. John and Shannon had a dinner party and then Priya was celebrating her 25th birthday and their place.

Finally on Sunday we tried to get over to Dogwood. It was remarkably cold and ugly outside and to see the festival so empty was pretty sad. We decided to go see Hurricane on the Bayou and later Lauren made some awesome lasagna for dinner. Then Jennie was shipped off to the airport and I turned to face homework.

The weekend had concluded but for a few days it was a assemblage of family, keeping the generation together.

Viente y ocho, hai mui tam, er shu ba, however you say it, I have that many of them in years. To mark the occasion I thought I’d research the number. Google returns 28 million results.

Wikipedia is the first hit on the search and has some great info. For example, it is a Keith number, because it recurs in a Fibonacci-like sequence started from its base 10 digits: 2, 8, 10, 18, 28… Also, it’s a happy number, which only 12% of all integers are (considering numbers up to 10^20). A happy number is any number that eventually reduces to 1 when the following process is used: take the sum of the squares of its digits, and continue iterating this process until it yields 1, or produces an infinite loop. AWESOME!! This is gonna be a great year.

Years normally follow a 28-year cycle, since there are seven days in a week and leap year occurs every four years; a calendar from 28 years ago is the same as this year’s. This is the first time (of several, hopefully) that I’ll get to relive a year exactly as it was the year I was born. Need to break out the almanac.

It’s the atomic number of nickel, and the number of dominoes in a standard dominoes set. There’s also a band called twenty eight out of Cape Cod. I wonder if they are good. One album that people apparently think is great is one that I picked up in college called The Great 28, by Chuck Berry. I never knew it was so well regarded, I thought is was like a greatest hits.

Other people also blog about turning 28, but this guy is not as excited as me. And some people receive bills from their fathers when they turn 28. Like this guy whose dad sent him an itemized invoice for his life to that point totaling $2 million. Thanks mom and dad for the millions you’ve put into me.

When I think about the years… the number, I guess actually last year was a happy number year and maybe I should be researching 29 now…

Without Lauren around I find myself talking more. Often just to hear a voice. I’ll talk to animals, repeat lyrics and just have no one to count on in carrying on the conversation like I do when she’s here. Also, I’ve been participating in focus groups and interviews at school for classes. All this is to say that sometimes when you are forced to speak up and answer questions you wind up thinking things through for the first time and (especially with the focus groups) you wind up revealing things to yourself at the same time that you do to everyone around you.

The first focus group I was a part of dealt with stress at school and the second was about physical activity at Rollins. The second is the one I’m really here to talk about. In talking about my own activity patterns I described them as “opportunistic and utilitarian.” I’ll jump into a game if I have time and I’ll ride my bike if it gets me somewhere, but I’ve known that I hate gyms and jogging for awhile now. This focus group was on Thursday, a timely discussion with the first-ever Georgia Marathon taking place this weekend.

A marathon is about as far from opportunistic as you can get. I have been talking a lot with Liza about her training for the marathon, which I witnessed today. And yesterday I had the opportunity to have dinner with the Ironman himself, Chuck. Chuck’s done at least 8 full Ironman races and several other races, such as the Iceman Mountain Bike Race. The Ironman is something that baffles me. I may never have the capacity to understand how it is possible. I think I need to see it, and today I got a glimpse of it by following the marathoners around Atlanta on my bike.

Chuck’s a good source for information and advice on how to keep going all the way to the finish line, in a figurative and literal sense. While watching the Tour de Georgia a few years ago at Brasstown Bald he gave non-race riders encouragement all the wat up the hill and told me that you just “gotta keep turnin’ it over” in that situation. I keep that in mind when I ride today on my comparatively simple routes. For the prospective marathoners he says to take it easy early on, “once you take it out of the tank, you can’t put it back in.”

Well, Chuck & Liza, I gotta say that you make me think about my motivations and whether or not I can really do something like that. That’s what inspiring people do. Maybe you can expect some calls from me about how to get into this stuff, what kind of bike to ride and maybe you’ll even see me at the Iceman one year. And, Chuck, I’m always here to answer your questions and perhaps provide some inspiration if you’re thinking about a blog.

And here’s a pic of me and a probable future ironman; Chuck’s grandson, Bodhi.

Spring break has always been a welcome respite from the life of homework and lectures that is school. What it has never been for me is a hedonistic romp on a remote Caribbean island.

One year I went to Italy with Paul to visit our girlfriends who were ‘studying’ in Spain. We made a whirlwind tour of it hitting up Venice for Carnival, Rome to see the Pope, Sienna and Florence with a Leaning Tower sighting, and back to Milan for what I will always remember as a wonderful Sunday walk through the city with crepuscular light shooting between the towers of a Gothic church and down the narrow streets. That last day was just Paul and I oddly.

My senior year I thought I was getting ready for law school. My friend Hilary was also looking at grad schools (for an MPH) and we decided to spend our spring break on a NorthEast Tour of schools. All my house mates went to Jamaica. We started in NYC where we stayed with Paul’s cousin in a posh West side condo. Near 78th and Broadway. We ate in possibly the only bad Chinese restaurant in the city, but had an awesome time. This was not my first time to New York but really my first opportunity to spend a good amount of time there (more than a day trip) and get out and see some things (not bound to tours). I loved it. Took a look at Columbia, NYU, and made it up further north on the island than I’ve ever been since to see Columbia PH (@the Med school) with Hilary. I remember we noticed that a lot of people were sporting berets and Hilary bought one on the street, which I don’t think she’s worn since.

We also stopped by New Haven to look at Yale and stay with a friend, Darius. He is a really cool guy and we had a lot fun. Some students there seemed to have connection to politicians, and people of power that baffled me. It was amazing. You could tell Hil loved it there, she even picked up a sweatshirt before leaving. Ultimately she ended up going there and I think it was a great decision.

We also made a stop by Boston, still my only real visit. I don’t count the pre-wedding trip to Malden for Lauren’s threading appointment in Little India. We stayed with a friend of Hilary’s at BC and visited BU well. Looks like areal fun in the sun kind of vacation, huh? We even took the tour of Harvard. Yale’s was more impressive. I still remember little tidbits about the rare book library and the fitness center.

Still I think all of these were really great spring breaks. This year I have been thinking about what I did over spring break. You’re probably sick of hearing about them but I built another fence on the west side of the house. Now the yard is finished. But, really I did all the stuff that needed done that wasn’t getting enough attention with all the schoolwork flying around. And, I watched lot of basketball. It, too, was another great spring break spent on my own little island away from the hustle and bustle of school.