One of those days!

Ever have one of those days .. when you feel like the forces have decided to conspire against you! I think today was my day.

Most of my friends know I recently bought a road bike and have begun my venture into the world of biking. Thanks my overexcitedness, another friend of mine also got a bike. We planned to go bike along the coast at Nahant, MA (look it up, it looks really pretty) today. In preparation, I went to the bike store yesterday and purchased a map (waterproof no less - paid $10 extra) and an spare tube. This is where the issue started. I shouldve taken my bike to the store. Instead, I took the guy there at his word and purchased the tube he gave me (mistake #1). The guy assured me that even if it was bigger, it will fit fine with my bike. Me the guy green behind his ears when it comes to bikes, accepted that.

Come today morning, I work up at 7:30AM and called my friend. I got up, got ready and called him ten more times before he got back. I finally left my place at 9 AM, a good hour later than what we planned. Thats when I shouldve known that things werent going to go the way I had planned. I then took the back allies of Cambridge (mistake #2) to harvard square where he lives. When I got close to my office, I felt my rear wheel feel unusually bumpy. With a uneasy feeling, I got off the bike and found that I had a puncture. Annoyed with the proceedings, I called my friend and took my bike to my office which was the closest location I had access to. Next half hour, my friend got to my office and we detached the rear wheel and took it to his house which was half a mile away. The idea was that the lady at his place had a pump and we had a spare tube from mistake #1. Being a true CS engineer, I watched a couple of youtube videos on how to fix a flat.

We arrived at the house all excited to put to action our new found knowledge of fixing a flat. Its not that different from what we did in India, but as you will find out, we excel at screwing the simple things up. To start with, the spare tube was quite a bit bigger than the wheel. Undeterred, we put the tube, put the tire back and
started filling air in. Bang!! The tube burst and the two of us who were initially startled burst into laughter. Our  first experiment was clearly not well executed. Like we had learnt something out of the experience, we took the old tube, filled air into it and examined the holes. There were three holes which we meticulously patched. Satisfied with our handiwork, we started putting it back. I started filling in air once everything was in place. The tire said 130 PSI and I went all the way to 100 PSI. Satisfied with everything, I was attempting to remove the air pump when, for the second time, the tire went BANG! The very thought of the second bang makes my ears ring even now. We had successfully managed to rip the original tube into shreads - and when I say we, I mean me.

Cursing our bad luck, we looked up bike shops. Turns out all bike shops open at 12 noon on sundays and there was still half hour. We roamed around and got to the bike store in time. After waiting outside their door for ten more minutes, we got the tire fixed at the place. That took another 15 mins. The bike lady filled air in the tire to 110 PSI - I guess we just didnt have the talent. After another pit stop to quench future hunger, we came back to my lab all excited that our venture was about to begin.

After putting the tire back, we started to head out when I didnt feel right. I look at the front tire, and that had gone flat. I could not believe our fscking luck. We pushed the bike to another bike shop. Half an hour later, we got to ATA bikes on Mass ave. The guy there pulled the tube out and filled air in it and couldnt even find a leak. How's that for bad luck. Another $20 wiser, and armed with another spare tube, we finally headed out.

Five hours, fifty dollars and five tubes later we were on our way. We had now lost enthu to go all the way to the coast and decided to do the minutemen trail. Some would say the forces took a kind heart to me finally, but I'd like to believe that I overcame them. The twenty five mile bike ride was great - probably even more rewarding thinking about everything we had to go through to get there.

Yeah, it was one of those days ...

Update and introspection

It's been a while, and I thought I'd put some up before the hiatus hits a year. Lots of changes in the last few months since I've been here. First, I graduated!
I found gainful employment (debatable if one can call it that) across the country. I am now a postdoc at Harvard continuing being on paltry wages to do things that are closer to science fiction but more importantly exciting to me personally.
I went back to LA and did the whole wearing-robe-being-hooded-by-advisor-switch-tassle-from-right-to-left thing a couple of weeks ago as well. It was nice to have my parents visit as well - boy have they waited for this occasion :-|

It also seems like a transition in life for me. Somehow, grad school let me be in that irresponsible stage of life way longer than most of my friends. The past decade (2000-2010) was spent enjoying life in a very not-a-responsibility-in-the-world kind of way. I suspect the next decade (2010-2020) will determine what I have done in my life and what it all means. If the thought of writing a thesis was scary, this seems more daunting.
At the same time, I'm excited. I have the opportunity to work with some really good people in a fairly high profile project. I have also been given enough freedom to do things I consider interesting as long as I can make a good case for it. The coming months will tell how much of the opportunity I take advantage of.

The other change has been moving from LA to Boston. I like Boston a lot. I'm almost not missing LA. There is so much happening around me in Cambridge. People have scared me of the winter, but it is summer now and I'm loving it. Its a little too hot and humid at times, but the city is so vibrant. I suppose one of the benefits of being in a place that gets really cold in winter (unlike LA) is that people appreciate the good weather they get. So every one is out and about doing things. Weekends are filled with activities and I'm never out of a list of things to do over the weekend. Going from driving to public transport is also something I like for the most part. The only time I missed a car was when my parents were here last week and I could not really show them around. But we did go to places were the T went (like the JFK library) and took long walks which I really enjoyed.

Let me end with a renewed enthusiasm toward blogging (with the caveat that that might dwindle anytime).
Go Lakers!