Yesterday I flew from Atlanta to DC. Delta Flight 1125. Seat 2A. Today I fly back from DC to Atlanta. Also Delta. Also Flight 1125 (same number!). How is it that both have the same number? If that was not enough, my seat today is 2A too!! With any luck, it will be the same equipment and I can retrieve the book I left in the seat pouch yesterday. 🙂
Forgot to post a puzzle on my flight back from DC.
Here is one I remember from my childhood days.
Think about a simple picture of a star with 5 corners (not 6). I have attached a picture. So, there are 10 points – 5 outside and 5 inside (I marked them 1 thru 10 in the picture). The goal of the puzzle is to check off as many of those points as you can. The process of how to check off is the following: You start from any unchecked point and then going in a straight line, skip the next point (checked or unchecked) and the next point you land on gets checked off. So, if you start from 8, you can skip 6 and check off 5 or skip 10 and check off 1. Then you start from another unchecked point and keep doing this. You always have to start from an unchecked point. Question is – what is the maximum number of points you can check off and how.
(as always, if you know or think have found the answer, send me a personal message)
Today was Georgia Tech area run again. First three miles were really boring – my Nano had run out of battery – so none of those learning new words in “Says You” podcast today. I was literally checking my watch every other minute counting how many more minutes to go. Then I heard somebody running very fast behind me and yelling my name – turned around and sure enough it was Andy and Rachel out for a run too. So we ran for couple of miles together. Talking with friends while running completely took out the boredom. In fact, I was surprised that I had reached five miles already. Although talking does slow me down since my lungs have to do double duty. In any case, that is my story regarding why I asked Andy and Rachel to slow down for me. And I am sticking with it 🙂 (Both are very fast runners).
5 miles in Milton/Alpharetta. Very early in the morning. It was cool – 59 degrees!! Stretching over, now sitting outside Starbucks watching the sun come up from behind the trees. Light breeze. Almost as if, the world has come to a standstill. Blissful.
Once in a while pierced by the nagging new pain on the top middle part of the left foot 🙁
Something really surreal happened this morning. I had just finished up my 7 mile run in Greenway Trail and come out of the Fowler Park entrance. As I started my stretches, I could hear a couple of guys talking in my mother tongue (Bengali). It is uncommon enough to hear that language that it peaked my interest. I saw two gentlemen on bikes and from the conversation, I understood that they were wondering how to get back to the main road. When they came close to me, I asked them if they needed help with directions.
Of course, they were surprised that I could speak Bengali. One thing led to the other and soon one of the gentlemen pointed out that although he is a Tamilian, he can speak Bengali since he was born and brought up in Durgapur!! And that his dad was a teacher in St. Xavier’s School there. That was my school !!
You should have seen my face !!!
In a jiffy, I realized something. So I offered – “You know, I think I know who you are. Your brother and I were classmates in middle school. He might have mentioned me to you recently. I had a drink with him in June in Kolkata.”
This time, you should have seen his face!!
His brother – my classmate – had mentioned about him living in Atlanta when I met him in India after 29 years. I told him about the classes when I was his dad’s student. And in a full circle, we realized that my elder daughter goes for their Indian culture classes to his school!!! Every Sunday!!
Whoever said running is boring? 🙂
Today was the day to meet old friends! After the running incident this morning, in the evening ran into dear oldJonathan Colehower and his family. Had not seen his daughters since Boston and Debbie and him in the last 4 years. It was simply awesome to run into such a honest to earth and beautiful family as the Colehowers!! I was amazed that Jonathan recognized me in the dim lights in the Bowling Alley especially since I have changed a lot in the four years…
What goes up, must come down. Or so goes the old adage. The said adage is remarkably quiet on whether the aforementioned object must come down the exact same way that it went up 🙂 And that is what happened to me this morning.
One more time, I managed to get lost in the streets inside Georgia Tech. On my way back, once I realized that I was not retracing my path anymore and that one uneducated turn deserved another, I kept on taking alternate left and right turns till I found myself on a familiar street 🙂 I am taking that as a learning experience. By the way, before the advent of GPS, that is how I learnt my streets – by getting lost. Of course, it was much easier when I was in a car than on a foot!!
Anyways, 5 more miles and I think I can see my first month of 100 miles of barefoot / minimalist running. (62 so far this month)
