A Day of General Goodness

El Parto Uno

Yesterday started off with a 75 minute lecture to a group of high school seniors. My talk was titled "Generalization in Motor Control". It went well.

In fact, my talk didn't just go well. It went superwell. I've spent the past few minutes looking for metaphors by which to describe the wellness with which the talk went.

If this was prison, I'd be able to trade my lecture for cigarettes. If this was a 1980s action movie, the lecture would be my witty pre- or post-violence one-liner. If this was a RPG, my lecture would give me +10 defense against orc-sword attacks.

Figurative language, baby. Don't leave home without it.

The reason I'm so excited about this is that it's further confirmation of this whole "I want to teach" idea. For me, lecturing is genuinely fun, and exhilerating. After years of taking classes taught by Professor Uninspiring and his colleague Dr. Unintelligible. It is reassuring to me that I am neither.

El Parto Dos

Bicycle riding is fun. Riding with a group is even more fun. Riding in a group of 17 is unheard of in these parts, and it was fantastic. When we hit Washington Rd., there were fireworks, with early attacks, well-timed bridges (nicely done, Jenks), and the explosive sounds of people going "POP!" halfway up the climb.

A big Thumbs-Up to SpikyHairWill, who waited for me when I paused on the descent to fix a silly little mechanical. He and I chased hard to get back into the group. We chased for 15 miles. We never found the group. Apparently they'd split into short-distance and long-distance subgroups, neither of which did the loosely agreed upon medium-distance route that Will and I rode. So, again, thank you to Will, without whom that ride would surely have sucked.

We found the short-distance group in Bound Brook, which resulted in more fireworks on the way back to Highland Park. Alessandro and Will launched the first attack (drafting off an 18 wheeler, I might add) while I was chatting with Harold. In the ensuing carnage, Alessandro, Craig, Will, and I rode the legs off each other. I had a chip on my shoulder, since this was my first ride with Alessandro since hiring him as my coach. The ride was aggressive and brutal, just like I likes it.

El Parto Tres

Aaron half-jokingly asked me to help him write a toast for an upcoming wedding (that is, this weekend) in which he is best man. After Seds' unexpectedly perfect toast at Diak's wedding, I've been wondering if I have what it takes to write a good toast.

It turns out that I do.