Kyle Banerjee's Blog

Now that Xmas season is approaching, I was thinking about sending a holiday letter to friends and family. I know a lot of people hate those, but I like receiving them. Despite the fact that we all can be in constant touch via email, skype, IM, text, Facebook and video chat for free, I still find it interesting to hear what people are up to aside from what they ate for breakfast today.

But if you haven’t done anything, it’s kind of weird to send people a letter detailing what you didn’t do. Customarily, people yak about their kids, jobs, projects, travel, and hobbies since those things collectively absorb all our time, energy, and cash. Since we don’t have kids, I stick with the latter four.

Shirley’s done some neat things this year, but it’s been an uneventful one for me. I haven’t managed to do anything noteworthy at work, there have been no house projects, nor have we traveled anyplace special. This has even been an extraordinarily tame year cycling wise — fewest miles since 2001, fewest centuries since 2001, lowest average speeds since early 2002, no double centuries, and only one ride with over 10,000 feet of climbing. We did get a puppy, so I’m at least on even footing with many six year olds.

I’m was trying to figure out why not having anything to report bothered me since failure doesn’t bother me — the fact that I never win anything has never discouraged my competitive side, I don’t have any lofty career aspirations, and I think it’s important not to get distracted by the rat race.

In the end, I decided it was because I didn’t feel any different aside having aged one year. Taking it easy is not a bad thing, but just marking time is because we don’t have enough of it to squander. So the question is what to do next year — the normal midlife crisis things people do to kid themselves aren’t really any better. When you get right down to it, things are what you make of them, and I’m sure I have everything I actually need. I’ll see if I can make some hay out of that.

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On Sunday night, Shirley returns from Boston. She’s been working on a project there since August, and it’s been a little surreal — this is the longest time I can remember spending entirely on my own. I always had roommates in college as well as almost all of the time afterwards up until the time we got hitched.

Adjusting wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. My work hours were helpful in this regard. On a normal day, I return home roughly 12 hours after I leave. As a result, by the time I’ve walked the dog(s), eaten, and whatnot, I usually wind up just vegging out just as I would if Shirley were here.

Nonetheless, I go nuts when I’m just rattling about by myself — stewing in your own juices is a recipe for insanity. To make me feel like there’s life in the house and someone’s happy to have me around, I’ve basically been running a kennel. I don’t know how many days I’ve had only one dog in the house over the past three months, but not very many. I’ve had as many as six, though the most I had for a significant time (week or more) is four.

The time has gone by fast, but I’m ready for Shirley to come back and for whatever follows.

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Every year, we try to do something fun for our anniversary. Since we like to ski and hadn’t been out this season yet, we decided to head out to the Cascades where we stayed in the Five Pines Lodge. I can definitely recommend the place.

And what about our puppy? Well, finding someone to take care of her was as hard as giving diamonds away. Terry obliged, so she spent last weekend with two little boys, a golden retriever, and a cat.

Everyone had a great time. We skied more than 10 miles in one day, and Powder was totally zonked after playing with Goldie, Tiger, Kenny and Nathan. We all slept well that night. Next weekend, we return to the beach. Living in an area where you can cycle year ’round in proximity to sand and snow just never gets old.

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One of the questions Shirley and I perpetually face is how to make the magic happen year after year. Truth, be told, there never was any secret to it — simply find something to look forward to every day.

At the risk of sounding trite, I learn from my dog. No matter how crummy the day is, she always finds something fun and a reason to believe tomorrow will be even better. In the picture below, Powder and Bo help Shirley eat pizza after a long day of work. May we all learn from their example.

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I’ve finally uploaded a large number of photos from the India trip. To see them, just go click on the photos link above and type “India 2008″ in the search box. There’s still a bunch more to do, but you can browse at least 2/3 of the pictures that we have. I’ll also try to update the India page for my travel section sometime soon, but that might take awhile if I don’t get that done this coming weekend.

On a completely unrelated matter, I wound up dumping my New Year’s resolution before the New Year even started. Originally, I planned to not work nearly as hard on cycling next year — the idea was to do the same rides, but just have more fun.

However, being off the bike for a month has left me in pitiful shape. I lost 6 lbs during our trip (most of it muscle from my legs as far as I can tell), I’ve been hopelessly weak on my commute, and there’s no way I have a chance of completing the more challenging rides that I like.

I’ve kept my goal of having more fun, but the rides are only enjoyable if you’re in good enough condition to do them. I’ll spend the next couple months getting back in shape. Hopefully, I’ll be ready once the real rides start in the spring.

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American politics is rarely something to be proud of. Cynicism, divisiveness, and appeals to our worst qualities dominate.  In recent years, we have increasingly used flimsy pretexts to justify morally bankrupt behavior. As a result, our expectations of ourselves and our image abroad have suffered greatly.

Yesterday, we reminded the world of who we can be if we set our minds to it. Whenever there is an election, winners always celebrate, and the losers have long faces. But this last one was very different from the others.

I can’t remember ever sensing so much pride and joy in so many people — especially on the part of members of the defeated party. McCain’s very classy concession speech recognized that something special was achieved.

The best part about the election is that it wasn’t just about breaking the race barrier. Obama inspired millions by appealing to people with a message of hope and an image of who we can become — and who we are becoming.

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Three weeks ago, I posted a picture of Shirley and me enjoying some skiing on Mary’s Peak. Well, today it was over 100 degrees, so I rode my bike up there to test my new climbing wheels and alpine gearing. I’m happy to report that the wheels and gears work great.
The cyclist is another matter. Despite having better equipment, I clocked the worst time I have in years going up and down the mountain twice. I would love to blame the heat, but I have good heat tolerance and today was no exception.I drank 8 large bottles of water (I hid water along the route so I could restock), and I felt good after the ride.

Although my speed was pitiful, my legs felt just fine afterwards so there is reason for to believe I’ll be able to get ready for the tough rides at the end of summer.

Incidentally, it was a gorgeous day and the view was exactly like this picture — minus the snow.

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Oregon is known for its cool and wet weather, but this year has been nuts. Almost every time I get on my bike, the temperature drops and the sky spits on me to remind me of my role in the universe. Despite a 20% chance of rain forecast yesterday, I spent almost 4 hrs getting misted on. The day before, I enjoyed rain and temps in the 40’s as I rode into work. It’s literally been weeks since I’ve ridden without getting soaked.

This picture was taken today at my favorite place to train for climbing rides such as the Shasta Super Century and the Everest Challenge. It is within biking distance of our house and it’s short enough that I always climb it multiple times.

As you can see, conditions aren’t exactly prime for cycling. However, we did have a lot of fun skiing. I can’t believe this is how we’re spending June weekends…

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I try to keep some contact with the real world, but every now and then something happens which makes me realize how insulated my environment is. Last night was one of those times.

Shirley and I went to an authentic Russian restaurant where we decided to do everything Russian style. At the next table, 4 business travelers watched flabbergasted as we washed down an excellent meal with 10 shots of vodka. This may sound like a lot, but it is very tame by Russian standards.

The travelers asked what we did for work, and when we mentioned that we were librarians, they were in shock. They made it clear that we looked like no librarians they’d ever seen, and it never occured to them that a librarian would know anything about vodka, let alone drink the stuff. They decided that they liked us and had a new opinion of the profession on that basis alone. They invited us to knock down a few shots after dinner. We accepted and had a great night with them.

I’m glad we helped our new friends see librarians in a more positive light, but I find it disconcerning that this change of heart was based on our sense of fun and an ability to put away more high octane hooch than they could. While I find it amusing that they assumed I was trying to improve the Dewey Decimal system when I mentioned that I worked with library systems, that is also a dead giveaway that they didn’t realize we actually provide a useful service.

As a profession, we celebrate the fact that we are viewed as meek, socially inept dorks by the rest of the world. We cultivate the image of the spinster with a bun in her hair. If we want to show how hip we are, we shave off a few pounds and a few years. Then we add a bit of makeup, an updated hairstyle, and a higher energy level. It’s the same idea with a little sex appeal.

Why do we play to such stereotypes? I suppose it makes people feel warm and fuzzy, but so does the image of the milkman who lost his job a long time ago. The internet has changed the way people interact with information, and we must make it clear we’ve adapted our services accordingly unless we want to relegate ourselves to irrelevance.

We can get you any book or article held by just about any library regardless of where you live whether or not it’s in digital form. We can get you electronic articles from well respected journals that would cost you a fortune to download (assuming you could find them at all). No other outfit, including Google and Amazon, can do this. I can’t help but think that if we want long term success and continued funding, we’re much better off encouraging people to focus on what we do rather than on anachronistic images.

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This is particularly true of weather forecasting. Satellite imagery has been around for some time, but it’s only been in the past few decades that increasingly sophisticated radar and mathematical models have given us predictions that are worth listening to.

For some reason, we turn to experts who have proved incompetent at their trade. Take Punxsutawney Phil for example. He’s been predicting the weather for a long time, we wait with baited breath for what he has to say, and our faith isn’t shaken in the least when he consistently gets it totally wrong.

This year, he predicted 6 more weeks of winter. That means that spring should have kicked in somewhere about the third week of March. Normally, I’d like to be biking on weekends at this time of year. However, the snow keeps coming down — even in Monmouth where the stuff is rare in January and February. When I rode into work, it snowed on me. Last week, here is what I looked like.
Don’t be fooled by my attire. It was 23 degrees Fahrenheit out there. We got pelted with ice and snow, and today it snowed more this past week. That buried structure behind me is a shelter for skiers.

What makes us listen to nonsense like that while ignoring useful information? From the time I learned to read, there has been a constant barrage of magazines claiming you can lose weight quickly while eating anything you want. Politicians say they can bring all kinds of great services without raising taxes. People know it’s nonsense, yet if you want to go broke the best way would be to sell books explaining that if people exercise and eat sensibly for the rest of their lives they will slowly become more healthy If you don’t want to get elected, tell people that if they need to pay for what they want.

We love to believe that the outcome we’ll see is the one that seems the most improbable. That’s why we vote for the underdog, why people buy lottery tickets, and insist that the insignificant things that we like to do make a big difference, while the things we don’t like don’t matter. But in the grand scheme of things, that’s OK. Perception is probably a better indicator of reality than facts would lead you to believe.

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Normally, I incorporate a little wiggle room into my plans, but sometimes it’s just fun to operate at the margins. Today has been one of those days. I had to be up by 2:00am so I could leave for an early flight to San Francisco to deliver a presentation.

If everything had happened according to schedule, I would have arrived just as things were beginning. However, BART was much slower than planned so I was still waiting for a bus miles away from my destination when festivities started. Realizing I was going to miss my presentation, I flagged down a cab and made it into the room just before it was time for me to speak.

Still energized by nearly not making it on time, I delivered the presentation which went over well. Afterwards, I washed down a very decent lunch with some nice beer and returned to the airport for the trip home. On an aside note, the buses in San Francisco suck. You wait forever, they’re jam packed, and they crawl. I really missed my bike today. I might check to see if there’s a folding bike that can be taken in the cabin of an aircraft.

Once the plane landed, I had to drive a natural gas powered car a little over 60 miles. That would not be significant except the needle was buried on Empty within 20 miles and the low fuel light came on. It was after 11:00pm, there were no natural gas stations, so I was holding my speed around 50mph, drafting off trucks when I could, and shifting to neutral in some places to save gas for the remaining 41 miles. I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I coasted into the parking lot on fumes.

The trip from the motor pool was not without excitement. 3 blocks from home, I got pulled over by 2 cop cars (bad tail light). It’s after midnight now, and I’ve been up for more than 22 hrs straight, but strangely I’m not tired.

Today’s been a good day and having that many close calls all break my way is worth a drink. Nothing less than Auchentoshan Three Wood will do to wrap things up.

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For those of you who are fans of cloud computing, Google announced their new App Engine service last night. It looks pretty cool — you just develop your app, upload it to their servers, and they host it. Plus, the first 10,000 developers get to use it for free. Unfortunately, by the time I found out about it, the free accounts were gone so I was put on a wait list. It’s still worth a look.

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Since most people over 40 don’t look forward to getting older, you’d think that birthdays would get less fun with time. I’m finding that’s just not the case. Last year was the best one ever — which is saying a lot. And even though I specifically decided not to have any kind of special celebration, this year has already been great.

First of all, birthday wishes have been coming in from all over the world. It always touches me how many people remember since I often don’t remember until the last minute myself. Plus, I got what I really wanted. Last March, Keiko was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 2-3 months to live if her meds worked. I was never given the slightest hope that she’d be around this year. The cancer has definitely gotten much worse, and I often sleep with her on the floor by the back door because she has to constantly go out. However, she’s well enough to enjoy eating steak with me tonight, and that’s better than I would have dared hope for.

In addition, I got a nice and unexpected present on my way into work today. When I had a few miles left to go on my way into work and stopped for a light, a college kid who was obviously a cyclist (based on his build, clothing, etc) pulled up behind me on a decent racing bike. I shifted over and told him he might want to go ahead since he was probably faster and I didn’t want to hold him up.

He replied “I don’t know about that — kind of breezy today” (riding conditions were 39F, 10mph headwind, and light rain) and stayed where he was. He shadowed me the rest of the way in. We weren’t racing, but we did maintain a brisk pace. I’m not pretending I “beat” anyone, but the birthday gift to me was having a cruising pace that’s good enough to satisfy an in shape cyclist who’s half my age.

It’s been a good year.

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Yesterday, I passed a business with a huge sign on the front indicating that the premises were protected by a guard dog.

If you’re wondering what’s unusual about that, the business specializes in alarm systems.

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There are a zillion videos on the Internet, but there’s one in particular that I think is worth watching. In it, a popular professor from Carnegie Mellon named Randy Pausch shares some thoughts in his final lecture (76 min). There is also a condensed 10 minute version that was broadcast on Oprah, but I highly recommend the listening to the full version if you can. The reason it is his final lecture is that he will succumb to pancreatic cancer in a short time.

I learn from everyone around me, but there are a few individuals who I have always looked to as a source of inspiration. In addition, there are a handful of people who were in my life for only a short time (maybe as little as a few hours) who said something that burned itself into my brain forever. I never met Randy, but the full length lecture makes me think that if I did, he would have been one of the people that really affects how I do things.

One of the problems that most of us suffer from is that our priorities are all screwed up. We dedicate ourselves to the grind, passively let opportunities go by, and spend our time and energy on things we don’t even value to the detriment of what is most important.

Many of us don’t act like we have any sense until we’re about to lose it all. For example, when peoples’ houses are on fire, they grab the dog, a few pictures hanging on the walls, and the drawings the kids made from the fridge. No one thinks about the plasma TV or the other garbage that we value only because of its cash value or the status it confers upon us. When we’re not in crisis, we treat the true gold in our lives like crap and vice versa.

Randy’s lecture reminded me of the last conversation I had with a colleague who passed away after a battle with cancer a few years ago. Despite the fact that she was exhausted, in pain, and knew she literally had only a few days left, we still had a great time together and even wound up laughing. That she was able to have fun in such a situation is one of the reasons that she’s one of the people I model my own behavior from.

The fact is that we’re always on borrowed time, and we should act like it. Fortunately, it appears that Randy had this figured out long ago so he’ll be able to leave without regret even though he is a young guy. Anyway, check out his lecture. He won’t tell you anything you don’t already know deep inside, but he may remind you of a few things that are always worth keeping in mind.

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