As fall begins to hint at its return and coats become mandatory for the ride to work, familiar smells return to remind me that fall is here. Around the MSU campus, these smells seem to be those of weed-killing chemicals and road construction this week. The building has a nice neutral odor. In two weeks that all changes.
The last few weeks have been a little frustrating since the two main conduits into campus from the north have been closed (S. 8th and S. 11th). This has put all the traffic into my biking path on S. 9th and S. 10th. I did "inspect" the new roundabout on my way home recently and I think it will actually be reasonable to use on a bicycle or as a pedestrian. The roundabout is not open because the lights were back-ordered. I have two issues with this. First, you don't start construction until all the "appliances" have arrived - we got this advice over and over again on our upcoming kitchen project. Second, why can't they have it open during daylight hours and close it at dark?
I have been working on starting a neighborhood association for our neighborhood. It has a temporary home as a blog at http://midtownnorthneighborhoodassociation.blogspot.com/. More on this later...
I am writing this while I am sending a loop code off to create vectors of 1.8 million observations. I really don't need or want to do an analysis with 1.8 million observations (over 100 years of monthly observations at over 1200 weather stations), but I want to see if I can do it. First I have to get it formatted the way I want, then I need to see if I can fit the models that I would want to use for it. I guess this is a little like trying to climbing a mountain because it is there but not really planning to tell anyone about it unless you succeed and find a new route to the top. That is the danger of blogging, I guess, sharing your work before it is completely ready to be shared. I guess I've always known that research is rarely a linear process from initial ideas to final results, but it is even more obvious to me now that I've seen a few projects from beginning to end.
We always write up our research as if it was a direct process from beginning to end. It usually takes knowing someone pretty well or a couple of beers to share the trials, tribulations, and nonlinearities that were encountered between the initiation of the project and its completion. Some people are just repeating other work or sometimes publishing the same thing in multiple places - that is a linear research process until a reviewer finds the redundancy, which happens less often than it should.
As I've gotten more experienced doing research, I have been able to see the upcoming hurdles and either bypass them or be prepared to jump over them. When I am really engaged in my research, I have ideas bouncing around, some good and some bad, so much that I have trouble just working on one project at a time. I have a wall full of ideas for research topics and know some will never get worked on. Some of my great ideas have been found in articles that appeared after I had the idea but before I could even have started working on it. Some of my ideas have been so specific to my collaborative projects that some aspect of the research had to be publishable, sometimes it was even novel and useful in general. The best research is based on accomplishing things that initially looked to be un-accomplishable or maybe it is better to say that they have no direct solution to the problem at first glance.
For those wanting updates on my ruptured achilles, things progress well. I am trying to be rigorous with doing my PT exercises. I have had to face the weakness of the leg as I isolate it in various exercises. It amazes me that I can't lift my body up on my injured foot yet but I am getting close. My gait gets better every day and I have minimal pain as I work the area. I managed to walk to the store this week, which adds to the list of accomplishments on the path to getting back to normal. I haven't told Teresa yet, but I did climb the ladder to clean the gutter. And I've been commuting around town on my bike pushing harder every day. It is a long process but I am managing it well.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Boot off, learning to walk again...
I got cleared on my 8 week from surgery checkup to start walking without the boot. I am using an aircast ankle brace to prevent an ankle sprain since the ankle is so weak. The surgeons assistant was really happy with my progress and strength. I didn't mention that I had been walking around indoors for the week prior to her visit. When I mentioned that I had been biking for more than 2 weeks, she was surprised. I tried to clarify that I had been commuting not mountain biking, but got the feeling that this was not recommended. I re-read my original protocol and noticed that this is something for weeks 10-12 and I started in week 7 - oops. But I would have gone crazy without getting out on my bike when I did.
Despite not being able to play much with them this summer, I felt a strong bond with my summer league team. Maybe it was more imagined than real but I will not forget this summer. They were gracious in having me around the couple of times I made it out, especially given that many of the players were older than me and seeing me reminded them of the risks of playing at their ages. And most have young kids, so being incapacitated would be even more challenging for them than for me. Buster (our dog) wonders why I haven't gone out with him for a walk all summer, but Teresa has had great fun with him this summer so he has barely noticed my absence.
I am loving this new phase of PT. I am getting to stretch my calf (oh how I missed my morning calf stretches) and do standing calf raises while standing on a step.This is the first time I am moving from being uncomfortable to real muscle soreness. Getting to push my muscles again is great. Biking without the boot has been great fun even though I can feel my weakness on every push with my left leg. My gait is still uneven but is improving daily
It is interesting how the body compensates for injuries. When I first was doing standing calf raises my therapist told me that I should keep my knee straight. I thought I was until I looked down and saw my knee at an angle. That cheating was allowing me to use the range of motion where I had strength and avoid the range where I was weak. And it all happened without my conscious knowledge.
I have managed to keep my weight in check during this period of reduced activity, only putting on a couple of pounds, coming close to 160 when I was closer to 150 before the injury. Even though my weight didn't change much, its locations have changed a little and I get to start working on that as the fall moves along. I had made some progress in this direction in the spring and feel like I am starting over at my winter weight just as winter is approaching. I guess I need a couple more pairs of "fat pants" for the fall if I don't start seeing some changes.
I did do something this week I am not proud of. I missed an acupuncture appointment. I forgot to put it on my google calendar the day I scheduled it, then left for a conference, and never remembered it. I pride myself on being organized and early for all my meetings (and especially showing up at them). I should have been more attentive to this as I moved from co-scheduling everything with Teresa to managing my own appointments.
Despite not being able to play much with them this summer, I felt a strong bond with my summer league team. Maybe it was more imagined than real but I will not forget this summer. They were gracious in having me around the couple of times I made it out, especially given that many of the players were older than me and seeing me reminded them of the risks of playing at their ages. And most have young kids, so being incapacitated would be even more challenging for them than for me. Buster (our dog) wonders why I haven't gone out with him for a walk all summer, but Teresa has had great fun with him this summer so he has barely noticed my absence.
I am loving this new phase of PT. I am getting to stretch my calf (oh how I missed my morning calf stretches) and do standing calf raises while standing on a step.This is the first time I am moving from being uncomfortable to real muscle soreness. Getting to push my muscles again is great. Biking without the boot has been great fun even though I can feel my weakness on every push with my left leg. My gait is still uneven but is improving daily
It is interesting how the body compensates for injuries. When I first was doing standing calf raises my therapist told me that I should keep my knee straight. I thought I was until I looked down and saw my knee at an angle. That cheating was allowing me to use the range of motion where I had strength and avoid the range where I was weak. And it all happened without my conscious knowledge.
I have managed to keep my weight in check during this period of reduced activity, only putting on a couple of pounds, coming close to 160 when I was closer to 150 before the injury. Even though my weight didn't change much, its locations have changed a little and I get to start working on that as the fall moves along. I had made some progress in this direction in the spring and feel like I am starting over at my winter weight just as winter is approaching. I guess I need a couple more pairs of "fat pants" for the fall if I don't start seeing some changes.
I did do something this week I am not proud of. I missed an acupuncture appointment. I forgot to put it on my google calendar the day I scheduled it, then left for a conference, and never remembered it. I pride myself on being organized and early for all my meetings (and especially showing up at them). I should have been more attentive to this as I moved from co-scheduling everything with Teresa to managing my own appointments.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Joint Statistical Meetings in Miami Beach
I recently attended the Joint Statistical Meetings that were held in Miami Beach. This is the largest statistical conference in the US each year, held the first week in August, and rotated around different large cities. It had attendance of around 4800 and often has more attendees when it is in better places. I have to rate this as the worst JSM I have ever attended (includes '99 and 2006-2011). My perceptions were colored by the state of my recovery to some degree. But I wasn't alone in my evaluations. On the last day of the conference, I was in a meeting where it was noted that Miami Beach was not in consideration for any future meetings. There was a round of applause, the only one I've ever been a part of in a meeting like that. It was too spread out, expensive, and with little to do other than sit on the beach (for me at least).
The night before I left for the conference I got as grumpy as I've been in a long time. I don't know if it was the heat, being tired, or just the looming day of travel. Teresa was sweet as ever and eventually it faded a bit. The conference required quite a bit of walking and standing, all of which I did in my walking boot. I also had too many meetings to attend, which combined to allow me very little time to attend presentations. I had to fight that same feeling of grumpiness every day as I used up what little walking I could do. I'm not sure I completely succeeded, but I tried.
The Miami Beach convention center is extremely large and has its set of presentation rooms on east and west wings of the building with what seemed like about 5 or 6 football fields between the wings that you had to navigate via a sky walk sort of thing. The administrative meetings and mixers were at the Loews hotel near the beach and not very close to the convention center (maybe around 3/4 mile?).
I had hoped to use the city bus since it ran from the convention center to very close to my hotel but it was somewhat poorly labeled and after one adventurous ride I wanted very little to do with it. I got on the bus one day hoping to head south to my hotel. After waiting a few minutes, the bus pulled up. I hopped on, paid my $0.25, and settled in. I wondered why the bus was pretty empty but figured it was just an under-used resource. At the first intersection, it turned when I wanted it to go straight. And then it turned again and started to head north. I had researched it online a bit and knew the bus route had some odd loops in the north section and figured I would ride it around and one way or another I would get close to my hotel (it generally runs on a loop). And then the bus pulled over and I was told to get off. I was told to find a bus near the Publix a block away. Fortunately, I found one of the areas 'Decobikes' rental spots. So I grabbed one of those and started riding. I really didn't know where I was or which direction my hotel was. After a few blocks and a couple of turns, I found a road I recognized and knew how to get home. I found out that locals even get caught with this problem with the bus route and I didn't try the bus again.
I mainly used the decobikes to get around. This had its own issues. You rent them for $4 for 30 minutes and can leave them at any of their automated parking areas. A little pricey to use for commuting and you can't buy a pass unless you are a resident, but in general they are a decent idea. In retrospect, I should have just rented a bike for my time there (that would have been $15 a day) and could have parked really close to each place I needed to visit. I did enjoy biking along the beach and the exercise was nice. One time I got to my desired station that was full and the parking locations were a bit sparse near the hotels, which would seem to be an important place to have lots of spots. I guess the network is only 2 months old and maybe it will be improved in the future.
In terms of my recovery, it wasn't a great week. I was so tired each night that I didn't do a good job with my PT. I walked so much that I wore out the padding in the my boot in the heal and started to worry about doing some damage because of that. Flying was also an issue. On my flight to Miami, I was able to manage my swelling because of a long layover between flights, getting an exit row, and having an empty seat next to me. On the way back, I barely made my connection (almost had to run in Minneapolis because there were no golf carts even though I requested one) and was wedged into the wall on the flight from Miami to Minneapolis by someone that was close to needing 2 seats. The stewardess gave her a seatbelt extender on her way into the flight, if that is an indication of what I enjoyed. One positive feature was that I wasn't cold on that flight at all. The net result of my trip back was that my ankle was the largest it has been in weeks, maybe even more than a month. On a positive note, the swelling is now gone and I am getting stronger and starting to walk a little around the house. I will hopefully get cleared to begin walking without the boot on Monday morning when I see the surgeon for my 8 week check-up. I can't wait!
The night before I left for the conference I got as grumpy as I've been in a long time. I don't know if it was the heat, being tired, or just the looming day of travel. Teresa was sweet as ever and eventually it faded a bit. The conference required quite a bit of walking and standing, all of which I did in my walking boot. I also had too many meetings to attend, which combined to allow me very little time to attend presentations. I had to fight that same feeling of grumpiness every day as I used up what little walking I could do. I'm not sure I completely succeeded, but I tried.
The Miami Beach convention center is extremely large and has its set of presentation rooms on east and west wings of the building with what seemed like about 5 or 6 football fields between the wings that you had to navigate via a sky walk sort of thing. The administrative meetings and mixers were at the Loews hotel near the beach and not very close to the convention center (maybe around 3/4 mile?).
I had hoped to use the city bus since it ran from the convention center to very close to my hotel but it was somewhat poorly labeled and after one adventurous ride I wanted very little to do with it. I got on the bus one day hoping to head south to my hotel. After waiting a few minutes, the bus pulled up. I hopped on, paid my $0.25, and settled in. I wondered why the bus was pretty empty but figured it was just an under-used resource. At the first intersection, it turned when I wanted it to go straight. And then it turned again and started to head north. I had researched it online a bit and knew the bus route had some odd loops in the north section and figured I would ride it around and one way or another I would get close to my hotel (it generally runs on a loop). And then the bus pulled over and I was told to get off. I was told to find a bus near the Publix a block away. Fortunately, I found one of the areas 'Decobikes' rental spots. So I grabbed one of those and started riding. I really didn't know where I was or which direction my hotel was. After a few blocks and a couple of turns, I found a road I recognized and knew how to get home. I found out that locals even get caught with this problem with the bus route and I didn't try the bus again.
I mainly used the decobikes to get around. This had its own issues. You rent them for $4 for 30 minutes and can leave them at any of their automated parking areas. A little pricey to use for commuting and you can't buy a pass unless you are a resident, but in general they are a decent idea. In retrospect, I should have just rented a bike for my time there (that would have been $15 a day) and could have parked really close to each place I needed to visit. I did enjoy biking along the beach and the exercise was nice. One time I got to my desired station that was full and the parking locations were a bit sparse near the hotels, which would seem to be an important place to have lots of spots. I guess the network is only 2 months old and maybe it will be improved in the future.
In terms of my recovery, it wasn't a great week. I was so tired each night that I didn't do a good job with my PT. I walked so much that I wore out the padding in the my boot in the heal and started to worry about doing some damage because of that. Flying was also an issue. On my flight to Miami, I was able to manage my swelling because of a long layover between flights, getting an exit row, and having an empty seat next to me. On the way back, I barely made my connection (almost had to run in Minneapolis because there were no golf carts even though I requested one) and was wedged into the wall on the flight from Miami to Minneapolis by someone that was close to needing 2 seats. The stewardess gave her a seatbelt extender on her way into the flight, if that is an indication of what I enjoyed. One positive feature was that I wasn't cold on that flight at all. The net result of my trip back was that my ankle was the largest it has been in weeks, maybe even more than a month. On a positive note, the swelling is now gone and I am getting stronger and starting to walk a little around the house. I will hopefully get cleared to begin walking without the boot on Monday morning when I see the surgeon for my 8 week check-up. I can't wait!
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