2007 AVS Meeting - Seattle, WA - Day 2 & 3 - Cloudy

On to the t-minus-1 day for my talk in Seattle. Typical cloudy and dreary weather descended upon Seattle which didn't really matter because I spent much of the day in the Convention Center listening to talks. Nothing really eventful happened on Tuesday, so I will jump ahead to 3:00AM early Wednesday morning, where the sick and uneasiness of talk-giving kicks me the hardest.

So, I am scared of alarm clocks, but I set one on my talk day anyway. I will do anything to wake up before the alarm clock goes off just so I don't have to hear that annoying thing while I am sleeping. This makes for a horrible night sleep. And coupled to that, I sign up for the AVS 5k run which at 6:15AM at Green Lake. With my brain in a sleepy knot, I wake up at 3AM, 4:30AM and finally at 5:30AM and get ready for the run. Outside - real Seattle weather - cold, rainy and dark, maybe the sun was up, but I would never know because of all the clouds. The run was actually pretty good and my time was 27:02 (very slow, I took it easy) and second in my age group - yes there were not many people running. I am glad my duckie kept me motivated to not chicken out of running. Here is the gps track of the run:

AVS Meeting 5k Run around Green Lake, Seattle.

I spent the rest of the day (at least till after my talk) with what I will call Seattle vision. Some kind of hazy/cloudy stare with my brain unable to process anything. Then, gave the talk, answered some questions and that was it. No big deal - damn nerves. Then I spent some of the afternoon wandering around Seattle:

Public Market

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Fruit Stand

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Dude making the donuts

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First stop was the Public market, where I got some fruit and some donuts. With my loot, I wandered around and took some random pics:

Some nasty cheese

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Erhu

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View from the back of the market

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Another Starbucks picture

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Everyone one I knew was done with their talks/posters so we could all relax.

At the Tap Room Grill

2007 AVS Meeting - Seattle, WA - Day 1 - Sunny

This is my first trip to Seattle (that I can remember). The flight from JFK was pretty nice and I got to watch "Back to School" and "Beverly Hills Cop 2." Jet Blue is great for flying because I can watch the tube, but as you get close to Seattle, the view outside is much better.

From the airport, I took the Gray Line Airporter shuttle to downtown with a driver named Roger. Oh man, he couldn't stop talking. But once I got downtown, I got to experience the full weirdness of Seattle at the Public Market (Pike Place Market).


And then, as you are walking around, minding your own business, you see one of the more weird of the weirdos. I guess when the sun comes out in Seattle, they take advantage - or is this normal?
I also had my first cup of Seattle coffee at Tully's Coffee (Mocha, whip with sugar). I wasn't so impressed, but I am not really a coffee drinker. I am more interested if the McDonalds is better in Seattle. I did walk by the very first Starbucks, but I didn't have anything.

1/2 Ironman at Montauk - Just to watch

Went to Montauk Point for the first time. It is the most eastern point of long island. There is a light house at the end so boats don't run into LI. The highlight, for me, was my first chance to test out the newly fixed Rolleiflex E2 TLR camera from my dad. I realized there is no self-timer, depth-of-field preview or ccd preview. I also liked the brightness of the viewfinder and the square format.

I ran a roll of Fuji Reala ISO 100 film through it and will get the pics back tomorrow. Those 120 films with only 12 pics sure go fast and who knows how they came out. I used my Canon 20D as my light meter - hope that worked.

East coast players aren't so bad

I was expecting a bunch of a** holes out there, but they were actually not too bad...attitude wise. Their hockey skill was, I will say, typical and I fit in somewhere in the middle. What do you expect when most of them are 40+ years old and quite a bit over weight (and no, I am not talking about me...but soon maybe). There were a few very good players and I had a good time. We had 4 goalies that were also quite good. I definitely need a few more skates before I feel comfortable again on the ice. And that damn puck was bouncing around like crazy, but I think that was just me not being used to it. I will post a short video when D emails it to me.

The next task...roller. That is going to take a little more work.

More about hockey later...

Now it is later, so here is the video. The is me in the Cobra jersey with #13...maybe one day I will wear it again in a Cobra game!

Looking for some east coast hockey

I haven't played hockey since I left Ithaca. That is more than 2 years ago. And, I haven't played roller hockey is much much longer than that. This must change! To start with, I had to dump my old roller hockey skates (Micron Mega 10-90 ice skates converted with a roller chassis). They were good for their time, but they weigh a ton and really suck compared to what is available now. I replaced them with a pair of Tour Code-1 skates (Tour - who is that?...I have never heard of them but apparently they make top quality roller hockey skates).

I got a good deal on them so that makes the JB side of me happy. Also, they are strong and light (lots of carbon fiber in there - this makes the nerdie side of my happy:) The 80mm Labeda Genesis wheels will most likely cause me to munch it when I try to stop like I am on ice. I can't wait to look like a jackass out there tripping all over myself! Here are some places to play roller around here:

Inline 1
The Sports Arena
World Gym Setauket

Good sporting good store for hockey stuff:
Plaza Surf n Sports

And what about ice hockey? Is it worth the $25 bucks a game to play? I am going to find out next week at The Rinx. I hope I don't get my ass kicked by all the crazy east coast hockey players that have played since before they could lace up their shoes. And if they play like they drive, I am screwed!

And, how is the 5k training you ask? hahahaha....

2007 Nintzel 5k

Some BNL runners came to run in the Nintzel 5k this weekend. Everyone ran a good race and, I think, we all had a good time.

Motion Based Info
3.15 miles (8:06/mile), 479 kcal, Heart Rate: 184ave, 192max

BNL Participants summary with some added age graded info.

Place Group Name Age Time Pace AG AG Time 40 4/25 Percy 36 M 19:47 6:23:00 67% 19:34 64 2/19 Ingo 31 M 21:01 6:46:00 62% 21:01 70 3/19 Marco 32 M 21:14 6:50:00 61% 21:14 84 9/30 Sanjaya 28 M 21:44 7:00:00 59% 21:44 124 8/19 Randy 31 M 23:11 7:28:00 56% 23:11 126 9/19 Robero 32 M 23:15 7:29:00 56% 23:15 134 2/22 Imke 30 F 23:35 7:36:00 63% 23:35 151 12/25 Gene 36 M 24:09 7:47:00 55% 23:54 190 6/22 Yizbie 30 F 24:58 8:02:00 59% 23:58 210 19/30 Qdot 30 M 25:40 8:16:00 50% 25:40 362 Cecilia F 30:44 9:54:00 378 8/11 Gary 51 M 31:57 10:17:00 54% 28:18 392 19/22 Andreanna 28 F 32:51 10:35:00 45% 32:51

Pain in the humidity

Another joint CFN-NSLS run around the lab. In attendence: Ingo, Imke, Sanj, Randy and Yizhi. I got dropped by the elite runners, but I managed to only walk about 10 steps before I started moving again...slowly.

4.97 miles (9:21/mile), 747 kcal, Heart Rate: 158ave, 180max

Motion Based Entry