September 05, 2005
The Old Timer's Reunion
After much idle flirtation with the idea, I decided on a whim to go to West Virginia for the Old Timer's Reunion, a gargantuan (>2000 people) gathering of cavers from all over the East Coast.
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| Just another late-night drive... |
Polar, Amy, and myself started off on Friday afternoon around 4pm. We arrived quite late, actually registering for OTR at sometime around 2am, and finally getting camp setup and going to bed by 3am.
I woke up entirely too early on Saturday, walked around and saw the sites on the campground. We thought about caving, but opted to lounge in the party-tent instead, talking of "Old Times," arguing the tenets of carbide lamps versus LEDs versus halogen, and otherwise making asses of ourselves. The legends of OTR are true -- there is much talking about caving, and very little actual caving.
Thankfully I brought my road bike down with me, and convinced myself to go for a (albeit brief) ride. I came back to camp to find a bunch of folks playing an interesting new game -- Jenga with instructions written on each block. Pick a block out, follow the instructions, put it back on the top. If you knock the pile over, you have to do a naked lap around the campsite.
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| Thankfully most people don't remember what the instructions had us do that night |
Jonas and I weren't much for multiple days of drinking and sitting with the OTR crew -- there was a bit of awkwardness given the intricate social history of a club like SUOC. We opted to leave Sunday morning for Lake George, where we hoped to climb Little Finger (I had planned to climb it once before, but backed out so Tom's girlfriend could go). We drove and drove and drove. By about 8 o'clock PM we were in Binghamton, a mile from I-88 north to Albany/Lake George area. Unfortunately, seeing the "68 miles to Syracuse" sign made us decide to not drive until midnight for what would probably turn into another aborted climb anyway -- the group partying in Lake George was out of cell contact and theoretically would have packed up early Monday morning. So here I am, back in Syracuse, rested at last and ready to take on the Sunshine State again...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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Close to the Machine
Ellen Ullman is one of those authors that somehow avoided my radar. Until now...
Close to the Machine is less a book than a collection of loosely related personal anecdotes from Ellen's time as a very rare thing -- a successful female bisexual independent computer programming consultant.
In the course of her work and relationship life, she learns hard lessons about programming, running a business, being lonely, and loving the wrong people. I found it particularly poignant being a crypto-nerd with difficult times in relationships and a more-or-less NDA'd, secret work life.
This book is a must-read for anyone into running their own business, programming, or anyone dating a person that is a business-a-holic or programmer.
Rated 
by reid
on November 23, 2009
by reid
on November 23, 2009
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The Long Trip Home
I had the joy of dining with the author in Florida. We went to a little Brazilian BBQ where he spoke with our waitstaff in (what I can only assume was) flawless Portugese.
Brian Wyllie spent 1969-1971 living in Brazil working for the Peace Corps. His recent book outlines his trip back to the United States via Bolivia, Peru, and the Carribean chain, by way of bus, train, and sailboat. The format comes spattered with observations from the modern day, and makes me think, "this must be what John McPhee's journal looks like."
The trip sounded like a fantastic one, but I was left wanting more detail...where did the gun (being snuck through customs in a variety of places, no doubt) come from? And how did Geneve's hair smell? Alas, we'll have to wait for another book to find the answers.
Rated 
by reid
on April 16, 2009
by reid
on April 16, 2009
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007