Mental "Sci-Fi" Vacation

I am still in the midst of considerable cyborging work for the U.  It is at a manageable level however.  I am still working through in my mind, the ideas/impacts/effects of my negative?/positive? adventure as well.  I am thinking I likely may take a stab at explaining it during tomorrow's post... I think by then, my thoughts will have gelled as well as they can.  

So, for today, a bit of a bulleted list, and then after that, some thoughts (flights of fantasy, I suppose) that I have also been allowing myself:

• Running has been going well.  As I think I mentioned previously, I did now complete my June 1/2 Marathon run (13.1 miles (~21 km)).  This run, however, was especially enjoyable because I veered off of my normal paths and ran in a completely different part of town.  I had been hesitant to do this to any appreciable sense as I have worry that I will not be paying adequate attention in these new areas and will trip on some unnoticed crack in the sidewalk or some wonky curb that I did not notice.  I HAVE tripped once a year over the last few years in this fashion and have each time, very badly skinned my knee in such a way that it would take SEVERAL weeks to heal as I would peel away most of all three layers of the skin.  And, when I fall, I have always fallen in the exact same way, where I keep re-injuring that same spot.  But, I decided to bite the bullet, so-to-speak, and give it another go.... vowing to remain vigilant of the road surface the entire time.  It is MUCH more fun to run in new places than I am used to, and I think I run faster, and enjoy the new scenery.  

• The impetus to run outside of my well know paths was brought about by how much fun it was to run in the new location I found myself in with the U related trip I spoke about where I had to run somewhere new.... or run on a hotel treadmill (dreadful).  

• I had a little bit of some grant money left over that I had to spend before the end of the month, so I ordered some fun gadgets that I think will be very helpful to my students and also to me as we work on new research projects this Fall (presuming Covid stays at bay).   

• I am going to have to buy a new pair of running shoes.  My kids and wife were aghast when I told them on Father's Day that I had ~1,450 (~2,334 km) miles on my current pair.  "Supposedly" it is recommended to get a new pair at 500 miles (~805km) of use.... so the family gave me some grief about that.  

• I wore my son's sport watch on a run the other day, and his gizmo has sensors that purport to determine what is called the "V̇O₂ max" measurement.  V̇O₂ max is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption measured during incremental exercise; that is, exercise of increasing intensity (Note, I just looked this up today.). When I finished the run, my son showed me this V̇O₂ max reading for my run that showed on his gizmo.  My reading was "48" which I feared was pretty damn poor, as I thinking more of "Pulse O₂" which I am more familiar with as it is used widely in clinical/hospital settings (and a "Pulse O₂" reading of 48 would be horrific).  So, after the run, I gave him back his watch and didn't say much about that "48" not wanting to discuss it with him.  
  

• But, I have to say, that "48" number stuck in the back of my mind, and had me fretting about it.... and at the same time I was NOT wanting to explore it further, because I did not want to read any sh*tty news, to be frank.  But, finally, this morning, after I got to the U, I gave myself permission to look more deeply into this measure, figuring I could quietly stay in my office if the news was as horrible as I was fearing.  When I read and saw charts about this, I was shocked to see that my reading of "48" was actually considerably in the "superior" category for my age group, and I would actually still be in the "superior" category even if I was a large number of years younger than I am too!  So... that was surprising and happy news.  But, of course, the gizmo watch's reading could be b*llsh*t too, for all I know.  But, it is nice to think I had a good number.  

So, onto my "mental 'sci-fi' vacation"..... I have had this sort of mental exercise be something that I would think about before, to this is not really new.  But, I had not done this in a while.  I was imagining if it were possible to truly time-travel, and was thinking about the two times I would most like to go to visit and submerge myself into the culture and the times.  The caveat is that in this version, my parameters were that a) I would be my current age, b) I would be working in a U as a professor like I do now, c) I *would* be free to be smoking my pipes, and d) I would be able to run like I currently do, even though I might not run on these "vacations".  In my mental vacation, I have decided that at the moment, the three times I would most like to visit and immerse myself in for a week or two each would be:

a)  Late 1800's (probably 1870-1890) East Coast of the US or in Europe.  Imagining working, living, and experiencing the U life and the city life in one of these regions and during that time would be fascinating, eye opening, and just feeling the societal culture of the time would be very interesting.

b)  Late 1940s (probably 1948-50), most likely in the East Coast of the US.  Being able to experience at my current age, the society and societal constructs that my parents experienced.  I think it would be especially interesting to live in this period as a person who would have been older, sort of akin to the age group of Heminigway or a decade or so older at that time.

* * * * * 

I have been listening to my Pandora channels this morning, moving back and forth a bit between different genres I especially like.  But, I must admit, the song that most resonated with me today is:

Urge for Going - Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Please give that song a listen.  It may be one you are unfamiliar with.  But, CSN has so many wonderful gems that *do not* get appropriate space on oldies channels.  

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