Nobody Knows Anything

Welcome to Diane Patterson's eclectic blog about what strikes her fancy

Archives for June 2003

Running laps

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My new schedule is this: on days when there is no preschool, try to get up at around 6 and go for a short run. On days with preschool, drop Sophia off at 8, come back home, strap Simon into the jogging stroller, go for a longer run.

This seems to be working out pretty well.

Of course, I’ve only done it one day.

Yesterday morning Sophia said, “It’s time for school! It’s time for school!” and since it was only 7am, Darin and I were more underwhelmed by her enthusiasm than we might otherwise have been. I got her to school and had to ask her for a hug and a kiss before she raced off to try out all the cool toys in the classroom.

C’mon, would a little separation anxiety kill you?

I realized that I would have lots of morning time, and since Simon is still too little to say, “No, not the jogging stroller!” I decided I could use some of the morning to run. Which we did today and I think this plan is going to work out fine. It will work better if I get into shape (puff, puff), but one thing at a time.

Something funny I’ve noticed about Simon when we’re in the kitchen is that he likes to run laps around the kitchen island. Thud thud thud thud thud thud THUD THUD thud thud… I suspect he runs there because I’m standing at the island using my computer. (Soon my office will be cleaned out and usable. Soon. If I believe hard enough, it will be so.) But he just goes ’round and ’round. It’s hilarious.

Maybe one day we’ll go running together.

Mental models of the world

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Okay, possibly this is the stupidest question ever posed, but…

Imagine the land between San Francisco is completely flat. No hills, no Grapevine, nothing. Both SF and LA are at sea level. Now imagine you’re going to ride your bike from SF to LA and back again.

Here’s my question:

  1. The ride from SF to LA is harder.
  2. The ride from LA to SF is harder.
  3. The two legs of the ride are equally difficult.

My mental model is that the ride from LA to SF is harder. Darin says I’m wrong, that maps of the world are purely by convention.

As I drove yesterday I thought about why I imagine going from LA to SF is harder. Was I somehow applying the law of gravity to a north-south axis? Then I realized I had a mental model that rivers like the Mississippi go north to south (though that’s probably because they get such a good headstart coming off the Canadian mountains). Except, of course, the Nile, which goes south to north…and in my mental model of the world, the Nile is below the Equator. (I know this is wrong. I knew the second I vocalized it. But I had never thought about it explicitly before.)

More data: it takes about a tank of gas to go from our house to LA. I filled up right before leaving both times and the gas light came on toward the end of both trips. But I had to stop to refuel on the way home yesterday because the indicator dipped below the E mark—but on the way to LA it didn’t get that low. Did I use more gas coming home because I was coming north or because I drove, um, speedier?

Can anyone help me out here?

Home again home

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We came, we ate, we left. Never took Latin, can’t give you the cute version.

We had a splendid time down in Los Angeles. We stayed at Maureen’s magnificent house, where Sophia and Rebecca played for 14 hours a day (clearly Sophia was trying to make up for lost play time) and no one got any sleep. We visited with a few of Sophia’s friends, including Tamar’s Damian, and we had dinner with Fernando (he of the plaintive comments in the previous entry).

On Saturday I took a 4 hour nap with Simon while Sophia played with Rebecca. It was heaven.

Driving back yesterday was not quite as much fun as driving down was. For one thing, I knew what I was in for this time. For another, we were doing it in the middle of the day, so the kids were awake and vociferous. The hour or so stretch where they both napped was lovely, because it happened through the Pacheco Pass, which when not at a complete standstill is a very beautiful drive.

I learned a few important things while I was down in Los Angeles. One is, I miss my friends from down there more than I knew. (And I didn’t plan this trip at all well—Michele couldn’t make time to see me because the visit was so last minute. Waaah.) Two is, I don’t miss LA at all.

Despite the various hardships of this move (yes, yes, I know: on a scale of “the life of an heiress” to “life is Appalachia” this move is closer to the former than the latter), Silicon Valley really is better for me and better for the kids. As I drove down Ventura Boulevard I thought, God am I glad I don’t have to drive this every day any more. There are huge open spaces near where we live. I often can’t tell where I am on the freeway because there are too many trees. I always knew where I was in LA because you can always see the buildings.

So now if I could only get all of my friends to move up here…