Blog of Bermanism

Rachel, myself and my rowing team from the Marin Rowing Association had the pleasure of traveling to Seattle, WA to attend the 2006 USRowing Masters National Championships. This race is probably the third largest race held in the US, and is definitely one of the largest national races. This year boasted more than 1400 boat entries, the largest national competition ever! The race was held on Greek Lake in the middle of urban Seattle, just north of downtown. Green Lake is a small lake with barely enough room for 1000 meter course, but it worked out very nicely and the venue was perfect.

This year went especially well for me. I’ve been training very hard and really wanted to put my best effort forward at these races. I was boated in five events for this regatta, which had a maximum of six entries per competitor. I rowed in the Men’s A 4-, Men’s A 4+, Men’s Club B 4+. Men’s D Club 8+, and Mixed Club C 8+. The competition was intense and it took every last bit of strength and endurance to even be competitive on a field laced with ex-Olympians, ex-national team members, and just plain huge collegiate star rowers. But, all of the boats I was in managed to make it through the heats to the finals, and I even got a few medals. I won a gold medal in the Men’s A 4-, which effectively makes myself and my teammates national champions in that event! Very cool. We had an OK row, I was steering and I think I got a little too caught up in pulling really hard and didn’t pay enough attention to the course that I was steering. But, it worked out in the end because we won the category and got the gold medal. It wasn’t the prettiest or the best row that I had out there, but it was, at least, a gold medal performance and I was very proud to row with my teammates. The same group of guys, in the same boat with a coxswain added rowed again in the Men’s A 4+ event. We did well in the heat and made it to the finals, but the final row was just not very good. Actually, the row itself was really good, but we could get our stroke rating up (because we were using different oars, I think) and thus, we came in DFL (dead f’ing last) in that event. None of us was very happy after that row, which really killed the high we had from our gold medal earlier that morning. But, we moved on.

I was placed into the Men’s D 8+, average age of 62. I was the youngest in that boat by 12 years, with the oldest guy being 75. I love these guys. They row with such heart and muster so much strength and precision at their age that I can only hope that I can even move when I’m their age. So, it was an honor to row with them. Sadly, we ended up coming in third, which did get us a bronze medal. But, we were third out of three, so, in the immortal words of my friend Jerry, “We could have won that medal as long we were above room temperature.” Never-the-less, we did medal in that category and it was a nice row.

I personally love rowing in mixed boats. Women are amazing to row with because they have such a sense of finesse, they can always set the boat up so well and it is always a pleasure to row with them. Men just sort of pound out the row and pay much more attention to power than to style. We could learn something from the women for sure. That being said, we had such a hodgepodge of people in our Mixed C 8+, all with vastly different rowing styles, that the row just never completely came together. Amazingly, we made it into the finals in that event also. We did the race at a high stroke rating for the ages of people in the boat and they all felt a little frantic. So, in interest of slowing it down for more precision, hoping that the boat would go faster for it, we did the final race at a slightly slower pace. It didn’t go so well. We ended up in 5th place out of 6. But, I always enjoy rowing with all of the people that were in that boat, so it was fun anyhow.

Finally, I’ve saved the best for last. I had the honor of rowing with a terrific group of rowers in the Men’s Club A 4+. I am shorter than all of these guys by at least 4 inches, which gives me a significant leverage disadvantage. I have to really pull to be able to keep up with these guys and my technique helps that a lot. There was no heat in this event, but it was a stacked field and we had our work cut out for us. I’ll tell you, this was one of the best rows I’ve ever had. The boat was crazy strong, we never settled, we rowed the entire race at 38 strokes per minute, which is very fast and we had a very effective sprint at the end. I’ve never felt so spent after a race in my entire life, because this row was so good that I could just concentrate on pulling as hard as I could without having to worry about the set of the boat or my technique throughout the race. It just worked, and as a result, we came in second, probably my personal favorite medal of the race. It was a very hard fought silver medal, and I really enjoyed that race. I sincerely thank the guys in my boat for rowing with me, and that goes for all my lineups. It was a fantastic regatta, filled with lots of successes. I’m really looking forward to next year’s nationals so that I can defend my gold medal.

So, at the end of a great weekend of racing, I walked away with one medal of every color, and a lot of great memories. Rachel also got a gold, silver and bronze medal in her categories, and she was the defending champion in the Women’s Club A 4x, which I was very proud of. Rachel and I had the wonderful opportunity to bond with our teammates, and to hang out with our old team from the Austin Rowing Club. They are all such great people and so much fun, it was great to see them all again.

I must say that rowing has really found an important place in my life. I never thought that, as an adult, I would find something so consuming, but so good for me physically and mentally and that would be such a positive source of friendships. But, it has really become very important to me. I do try to keep the perspective that, while I don’t like to do anything half-assed, I’m here to work and my postdoc at UCSF is way more important than rowing. So, with that in mind, I’m going to stop writing this post and head to work so that I may contribute to society. Thanks to Jim, my coach, for being awesome and amazing. Thanks to my old coach George, for also being awesome and amazing and for pulling me out of the depths of grad school wallows and whipping me back into shape. I want to give a special nod to our current team captains, Tim and Alan. You guys are both class acts, and I’m proud to be on the team with you.

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
- Jules Renard (1864 – 1910)

Those of you that know me, know that I’m a man of few opinions and that there are very few things that other people do that bother me (yeah right). Actually, I’m pretty much the opposite and I tend to be very vocal about my opinions. This, of course, often gets me in trouble, but whatever.

I’m a pretty aggressive driver. I have a little sports car that I love. I bought it so that I could go fast and zip around the roads with relative ease (it handles so nicely). Plus, it is just really fun to drive. In general, I drive fast and aggressively not to get to my destination faster, but rather because I simply enjoy it. As such, driving slowly drives me nuts. To quote James Taylor, “It hurts my motor to go so slow.”

So, what’s the point, you ask? I have a particular pet peeve about drivers in northern California. In general, everyone drives at a tolerable speed here. So far, I haven’t been too terribly annoyed by people’s driving habits, other than tourists who don’t know where they are going (it is, however, ok with me when tourists are driving slowly to take in the amazing views that the San Francisco area has to offer). But, people around here do NOT use their turn signals! I mean, what the hell? Am I supposed to read people’s minds when they have decided to cut across three lanes of traffic because they are approaching their exit? Am I supposed to know that an oncoming car is going to turn right onto the same street that I’m turning left onto? No! Instead, when that person doesn’t signal their impending turn, I sit and I wait for the car to approach thinking that it is going to drive past me. If I had known that they intended to turn, I would have had plenty of time to turn before they arrived at the intersection. Aside from the obvious annoyances associated with this madness, it is just plain dangerous to believe that others will always anticipate that you are going to turn when you give them no warning. People, there is a clear reason that God invented the turn signal and that is to USE IT. It isn’t like the use of a turn signal is particularly difficult or energy demanding. I mean, the designers of modern cars put the turn signal switch on a stick right next to the steering wheel, which is where your hands should be anyway. I’d be willing to bet that it takes less than 1/4 of a calorie to move your finger out and press the signal bar one direction or the other. You don’t even really have to think about turning it off when you’re done turning either since the wheel will disengage it for you. So, what is the problem? Why don’t people use their turn signals?

There is sadly one very simple answer. Laziness. People these days simply do not want to exert any excess energy other than what is absolutely necessary to accomplish the task at hand. Apparently, using your turn signal is one of those fuzzy laws that exists simply to make driving more effortful. It is more of a courtesy, after all. Wait, did I just say that it is a law? It is! It is a law that you can get a ticket for if you cause an accident because you didn’t signal, or if you meet a highway patrolman who is in a particularly bad mood. I find this form of laziness akin to not taking the energy to put up the toilet seat before a guy pees, thus thoroughly soaking the seat in piss so that the next person who might have wanted to sit down, will enjoy a nice nasty seat from the previous occupant. It is also very much like not flushing the toilet after you go. I mean, how hard is it to reach down and press the little stick (much like the turn signal) to rid our lives of your nastiness? No one else wants to see it, so do yourself and others a favor and flush! The same is true for turn signals. Just use the signal! It helps everyone around you, whether you think so or not. And, it actually forces you pre-think your next turn or lane change by an extra 100 feet, which is safer for everyone.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. No one actually pays attention to turn signals when you do use them. Well, this is a sad truth of the society that we live in. People seriously are driving in a fog, half asleep, only thinking about where they are going and not paying the least bit of attention to those around them. After all, who needs to pay attention to anything besides themselves when one is in complete control of a 4,000 lb. chunk of steel traveling at over 60 mph? What could possibly go wrong? Once again, this takes serious energy and forethought. Paying attention to people other than yourself is a selfless act that requires way too much energy for most people. All I’m asking is that people assume that others will be watching for their signals and thus, just use them. In this manner, if everyone assumes that others are watching and therefore use their turn signals, then everyone will start using them and driving life will be happier. It is kind of like telling a group of kids that if you are talking, you’re doing the wrong thing. It forces every individual to take responsibility for their actions at the time. If everyone is responsible for quieting themselves, then everyone will be quiet. Likewise, if each driver takes responsibility for using their turn signal, then everyone will start using them. It is just a matter of pushing the boundaries of your laziness ever so slightly in the positive direction. I promise, you won’t feel any more taxed having used your turn signal.

Ok, I’m not balking laziness. I, after all (despite my hunger for over-achievement), am inherently lazy. Here’s another quote for you:

I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention – invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.
- Agatha Christie (1890 – 1976)

Being a scientist, I find that I’m always trying to find new and faster and better ways of doing things, mainly to save myself some time. Why do you think someone invented the wheel? It was probably because that person got tired of walking everywhere. Was that invention useless and had no impact on the world? No, in fact, it entirely changed the path of humanity. What about computers? The first calculating machine was invented so that people didn’t have to spend days upon days and countless pages of paper solving complex math problems. Someone got lazy and wanted the result faster for less work, so the first computer was invented. Now look at us? I was a sysadmin for many years and most of the innovations that I came up with in that environment were meant to save myself time and energy. The result was a more efficiently run network that made everyone happier. So, not all laziness is bad. In fact, without laziness, we’d probably still be in the dark ages. But, when it comes to things like common courtesy, lifting the toilet seat, and safety things like using your turn signal, there is simply no logical or provable excuse for not complying with these fundamental issues.

So, if you’re one of those people who doesn’t use the turn signal, just remember: it really doesn’t take any extra time and very little extra effort to use it. You have no excuse not to use them, and making the roads a little safer is all of our responsibility as motor vehicle operators. Ok, rant off.

Oh, and to promote people actually leaving comments in my blog (since the last one was over 8 months ago), I’ll give ten awesomeness points to anyone who can name the inspiration for the title of this post.

Well gentle-people, it is official. I have officially experienced my first ever earthquake in the San Francisco area. Rachel and I were sitting quietly on the couch and I was talking to my mom on the phone when suddenly, it felt like a really strong wind was blowing against the side of the house and everything started shaking. The sliding door rattled and the whole room seemed to sway for just a few seconds, then it stopped. Rachel and I looked at each other in confusion. I was feeling excited, my heart was racing, and adrenaline was coursing through my body. Rachel was feeling a little sick to her stomach and both of us were freaked out. I finally said that I thought we just experienced our first earthquake. It took a few seconds for Rach to process it, but then she finally agreed.

Once I got off of the phone with my mom, Rach wanted proof. So, I went to the USGS website for real time earthquake tracking and, sure enough, there was an earthquake at exactly the time that we felt it about 40 miles north of us (here’s the link to our earthquake data). It was a magnitude 4.4 quake centered about 3 miles west of Glen Allen, CA and about 9 miles SE of Santa Rosa, CA. It originated 6 miles down in the Rodger’s Creek fault zone. As of the time that I am writing this entry, 12576 people have reported feeling the quake to the USGS website and it has been felt as far north as Ukiah, far south as San Jose, and as far east as Sacramento.

This was quite an experience, even though it lasted only a few seconds. I have a feeling though, that I’ll never forget it. The thing that disturbs me most about it is that the quake happened so quickly and was over so soon that I didn’t even move from the couch. In fact, it was a good 30 seconds before I even realized what had happened! In the event of a serious earthquake, I wonder if I’ll be sitting on my couch wondering why the apartment has fallen on me before I realize that an earthquake has happened and think to run to the nearest door jamb. I hope, now that I have experienced an earthquake, that I’ll recognize it sooner and be able to get to safety before it escalates to a much worse situation. One can only hope.