one man can make a difference
As a sort of lesson from today’s race I reminded myself the most important thing in doing the uphills is to win them mentally over. Next up is Bay to Breakers, which has one significant climb. I’m planning to face the uphill Marco Pantani style so there won’t be any speculation afterwards.
Marco, perché vai così forte in salita?
— Per abbreviare la mia agonia.
Pantani kicking the all-time record in 1997 Alpe d’Huez.
Writing this on a stopover in Tokyo. I was here earlier this week a few days and took the following two pics from my hotel room that could be titled “Shades of Blade Runner”
Went out last week in Austin, Texas to check out how the city meets its marketing label “Live Music Capital of the World.” Pretty well. I don’t know many places on this earth to have at least ten bars on one street with live bands at a random weekday night. Austin does. The most interesting artist I found was Jamie Krueger who player pretty solid classic blues and rock stuff, finalizing his show with a cover of Are You Experienced? Now that’s a song I’ve never heard anyone else playing live before.
Just came back from a quick trip to Paris where I was a member of a PhD jury for Jan Eilhard. A great exprience. In many ways the Finns could learn from the process.
I arrived on Friday afternoon flight and took a RER to the hotel. The thesis was waiting in the lobby. Picked it up and headed to the university defense hall. It started curiously at 4:30PM, on a day which was a public holiday as well.
Upon arrival, I had no idea what was expected from me. I had submitted a 2-page report on the thesis one month beforehand. It turns our I am “rapporteur” together with Marc. Two Erics go with the title “examinateur.” So the Erics are the main opponents, I ask? No, you and Eric are what is needed, Francois responds. So you have a 10-15 minutes prepared speech, and you go first, ok? Okay…
Jan went off with a half an hour presentation of what he had done. The set went great and my commentary fit well with the others. The thesis was very good so the task was easy, and the whole event relaxed. Every jury member commented in turn. Supervisor Francois was the last one, and his comments were nice and personal. After two hours the candidate and audience left the room, the the jury discussed a final statement and signed PhD approval papers. People were called in. We went all to the stage and Marc gave the final asseesment. The candidate walked out as a PhD and served champagne to everyone. No Finnish post-process is expected.
I was supposed to work all night long. The easy landing goes through crawling the news… for some reason I spotted the latest news on Dio and his recovery from cancer. The man himself. The rest of the night, meaning the last four hours, I have just listened to Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell. So much for the work. This may be more important. Really.
Dio is the living spirit and ambassador of heavy metal. He has written and performed minimum ten überclassic hard rock / metal songs I would at any day take with me to an empty island on the sea. I have seen him live five to six times. More than any artist. Every time he has given his 100%. Horns up that there is more to come!
I can hear it screamin’ in my mind
Long live rock and roll
Long live rock ‘n’ roll
Long live rock and roll
Let it live, let it live, let it live