The YankeeVox summer vacation is over. First and foremost, I hope that everyone has come through the recent East Coast natural disasters--the August 23 earthquake and Hurricane Irene--relatively unscathed. Ellen and I were extremely fortunate that we were almost entirely unaffected by the storm (and completely unaffected by the earthquake). As it happened, we were on the West Coast visiting Ellen's family during the worst days of the hurricane/tropical storm, and the only snags we hit were travel-related.
We were originally scheduled to fly from Manchester Airport to Newark and continue on from Newark to Portland last Thursday afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, an unrelated rainstorm delayed our flight out of Manchester for more than three hours, which meant we missed our connection in Newark. Maddeningly, our Newark-to-Portland flight was also delayed, so instead of missing it by a matter of hours, we arrived at the gate literally minutes after they shut the cabin door (the plane had not yet left the gate, but they refused to reopen the door to allow us to board). There were no more flights to Portland that night, so we were rebooked onto an early-morning flight to Seattle instead. A good friend from college lives near Newark, and he graciously offered to let us spend the night with him and his family, as well as providing rides to and from the airport. Thanks again, John!
Once we boarded our Newark-to-Seattle flight, things went more smoothly. We had an uneventful trip and brief layover before our final flight, from Seattle to Portland. My mother-in-law picked us up at the airport, and we began our visit, albeit regrettably about fourteen hours later than we'd hoped. Our time in Oregon itself will be the subject of a subsequent post.
Except for the text message Ellen received from Orbitz partway through Friday afternoon, which informed her our Portland-to-Newark return flight on Sunday evening had been canceled (our Newark-to-Manchester flight wasn't canceled until Saturday, but it was a moot point by then). As Continental Airlines had canceled hundreds of other flights too, their phone lines and website were overwhelmed by people attempting to rebook. Fortunately, we were staying only a few minutes from the Portland Airport, so we drove over there on Saturday morning to attempt to rebook in person. The ticket agent, who was remarkably pleasant considering the barrage of no doubt stressed-out passengers with whom she'd been dealing all morning, told us that the next available flight combination ending in Manchester would be on September 3. If we couldn't wait that long (which obviously we couldn't, as both Ellen and I had to go to work), then she could put us on a flight into Dulles Airport the next morning. With no other options we could see, Ellen and I chose to fly into Dulles.
Sadly, this meant cutting short our visit by close to twelve hours on the tail end, too. It also meant trying to find a way from Washington, D.C. to New Hampshire when many trains were not running due to flooded tracks and many buses were sold out. Renting a car was an option, albeit a sufficiently costly one that we considered it an absolute last resort. Finally, we were able to find bus tickets from Baltimore to Boston. And once again, we were bailed out in a major way by college friends of mine. One friend, who lives outside Baltimore, offered to pick us up at Dulles, let us spend the night in his apartment, and then drop us off at the bus terminal in Baltimore in the morning. The other, who lives in the Boston suburbs, agreed to drive us from South Station to Manchester Airport, where we could pick up our car. Ryan and Chris, thank you so much!
By the end of the day on Monday, nearly thirty four hours after we left Portland, Ellen and I had arrived safely in Enfield. It was a great trip, well worth the travel hassle. Pictures and a trip report to come soon!
About Me
- Robert
- I'm a 2009 graduate of Dartmouth College who loves Jesus, my wife and all things Northeast.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Turning 24
I turned twenty four years old on Sunday. To celebrate, Ellen and I went down to Manchester for the New Hampshire Open chess tournament. Manchester plays host to several of New Hampshire's biggest chess tournaments throughout the year, and perhaps none is bigger than this. The tournament is open to any member of the U.S. Chess Federation, but the top-scoring New Hampshire resident in the Open section is crowned State Champion. In the final round I was paired with Black against five-time state champion FM Brad Bournival. Unfortunately, after a game filled with ups and downs, neither side could break through in the end. Our draw gave IM Joseph Fang his fifteenth (!) state title. All in all I was pleased with the way I played, and I had a great time! And it was especially nice having Ellen there with me. Maybe next time I can convince her to play!
Other than the birthday festivities, it has been pretty much business as usual around here. I am in the process of joining Enfield FAST (First Aid Stabilization Team); they are a paid-on-call transporting ambulance company serving, you guessed it, Enfield. The call volume is not high--last year they responded to 132 calls and this year is on pace to be even slower--but the equipment is fairly nice and most importantly it's a way for me to help out and give back to the community. Their biggest personnel need is daytime hours during the week, and that just happens to be when I'm home with nothing to do. I've been granted "ride-along" status currently and I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the paperwork so I can become a full-fledged (or at least probationary) member.
Ellen is doing well; she has begun what will probably be the final year of her Ph.D. and is otherwise keeping busy training for her first marathon. I am proud of her and extremely impressed (but not in the least surprised) by all she has accomplished.
In other news, the space shuttle program officially came to an end today. I've been to Cape Canaveral, and it was an impressive site to visit. I wonder how this latest development will affect the area, tourism and all.
Other than the birthday festivities, it has been pretty much business as usual around here. I am in the process of joining Enfield FAST (First Aid Stabilization Team); they are a paid-on-call transporting ambulance company serving, you guessed it, Enfield. The call volume is not high--last year they responded to 132 calls and this year is on pace to be even slower--but the equipment is fairly nice and most importantly it's a way for me to help out and give back to the community. Their biggest personnel need is daytime hours during the week, and that just happens to be when I'm home with nothing to do. I've been granted "ride-along" status currently and I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the paperwork so I can become a full-fledged (or at least probationary) member.
Ellen is doing well; she has begun what will probably be the final year of her Ph.D. and is otherwise keeping busy training for her first marathon. I am proud of her and extremely impressed (but not in the least surprised) by all she has accomplished.
In other news, the space shuttle program officially came to an end today. I've been to Cape Canaveral, and it was an impressive site to visit. I wonder how this latest development will affect the area, tourism and all.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Enfield Family Fair
The Enfield Family Fair was held this past weekend at Huse Park in, you guessed it, Enfield. Since it took place just up the street and admission was free, I really didn't have any excuse not to go. And as the annual fair is an institution that seems to have bypassed Chappaqua during my childhood, I was eager to see what it entailed. Unfortunately, our schedules didn't work out for Ellen and me to go together, so we each went separately (and I went again with a family from church) and compared notes. Ellen was interested to note that it was extraordinarily similar to the fair that had come to her hometown each year. She said all the rides and booths were identical, although the Enfield fair was held in a much smaller space and consequently had less to offer. While nothing really drew my attention as far as attractions were concerned, I was nevertheless pleased to see this little town placed on the map, if only for a few days.
Speaking of Enfield on the map, it recently received attention of a slightly less flattering nature. According to The Dartmouth, a researcher at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is investigating the link between the presence of a toxin in the algae of our very own Lake Mascoma and the unusually high rate of Lou Gehrig's disease in people who live near the lake. So much for our plans to go swimming this summer.
In other news, the Yankees are back on top of the American League East. Where they belong and where they'll stay.
Speaking of Enfield on the map, it recently received attention of a slightly less flattering nature. According to The Dartmouth, a researcher at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is investigating the link between the presence of a toxin in the algae of our very own Lake Mascoma and the unusually high rate of Lou Gehrig's disease in people who live near the lake. So much for our plans to go swimming this summer.
In other news, the Yankees are back on top of the American League East. Where they belong and where they'll stay.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Summer begins
Happy third day of summer! Tuesday's solstice marked the start of my favorite season of the year. To make things even better, we had a church league softball game on Tuesday. Warm weather, lots of light, softball ... you just can't beat it. Ellen was a little bit apprehensive about the arrival of summer since that often heralds extremely high temperatures, but she has been pleased to see high temperatures in the upper 60s these past couple days. Not even a rainy, Marchlike day can dampen my enthusiasm for this new season, though.
Speaking of Ellen, she departs on Saturday for a weeklong conference in New Mexico. At the conference, she will presenting a poster summarizing some of her recent work as well as attending sessions of interest and reconnecting with space physicists from other schools and labs. It's an annual conference and this is not the first year she has gone; she's looking forward to being back. I'm excited for her and proud of her, although I'm certainly going to miss her while she's out West.
On the chess front, I contested a match last weekend with Dave Carter, the top-rated player in Vermont. Although I am not the top-rated player in New Hampshire (I come in at #7), we met at a tournament a couple months ago and play for the same online correspondence chess team. Dave, who has been a master for twenty nine years, is an extremely genial fellow and a strong chessplayer to boot. I had to battle back from a disadvantageous position in game one, ultimately securing a draw, and in game two the roles were reversed, with me carrying a slight plus into the endgame. Then disaster struck, however, and I blundered away the game in heart-breaking fashion. Until next time!
Conan O'Brien delivered the Commencement Address at Dartmouth's 241st Commencement on June 12. His speech deftly mixed the humor you would expect from a famous comedian with profundity you might not, and Ellen and I enjoyed watching it (albeit later on Youtube later that day). Congratulations Class of 2011! And perhaps most meaningfully for me, Commencement of two weeks yore marked the two-year anniversary of this blog. Thank you for reading, and here's to years more!
Speaking of Ellen, she departs on Saturday for a weeklong conference in New Mexico. At the conference, she will presenting a poster summarizing some of her recent work as well as attending sessions of interest and reconnecting with space physicists from other schools and labs. It's an annual conference and this is not the first year she has gone; she's looking forward to being back. I'm excited for her and proud of her, although I'm certainly going to miss her while she's out West.
On the chess front, I contested a match last weekend with Dave Carter, the top-rated player in Vermont. Although I am not the top-rated player in New Hampshire (I come in at #7), we met at a tournament a couple months ago and play for the same online correspondence chess team. Dave, who has been a master for twenty nine years, is an extremely genial fellow and a strong chessplayer to boot. I had to battle back from a disadvantageous position in game one, ultimately securing a draw, and in game two the roles were reversed, with me carrying a slight plus into the endgame. Then disaster struck, however, and I blundered away the game in heart-breaking fashion. Until next time!
Conan O'Brien delivered the Commencement Address at Dartmouth's 241st Commencement on June 12. His speech deftly mixed the humor you would expect from a famous comedian with profundity you might not, and Ellen and I enjoyed watching it (albeit later on Youtube later that day). Congratulations Class of 2011! And perhaps most meaningfully for me, Commencement of two weeks yore marked the two-year anniversary of this blog. Thank you for reading, and here's to years more!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The provenance of leadership
Below is a conversation I carried on via Facebook with a friend of mine last month. His question: "Are leaders born or learned?" He went on to set the question in a purely secular context (so considerations like spiritual gifting did not enter into the equation) and to define a leader as "Someone who others follow, and willingly. Not a manager - a manager is someone who can spin many plates on sticks, do all the paperwork, keep a business running...a leader is bigger - people follow a leader/obey a leader, etc, but they want to..."
My reply:
"I'm going to go with learned. The cultural relativism card is often overplayed, but here it is useful. Throughout time and space, men have followed other men for a range of reasons that defies any one "inborn" trait. Loyalty itself has no one universal manifestation, and there is therefore no one personal characteristic that can elicit it. Rather, you must grow up in a society, becoming steeped in its constructions of valor/leadership/loyalty, before you can successfully wield them. Some people take to this better than others--which is often mistaken for "born" leadership--but in fact there is no such thing. (Remember, this is a secularly posed question.)"
His rejoinder:
"Rob, I think I disagree somewhat. I have found that some people are just naturally the leaders in any crowd. I've been trained in leadership for over 20 years - heck, I have an MBA with an emphasis in leadership, but I've found that all the training in the world only goes so far. Observe a situation with little kids - why do some kids 'lead' the group? They've no training in leadership or motivation. I've had leaders that I would follow through fire, and other leaders, with the same training, whom I would-uh-not follow...I think there is a very strong element of innate leadership that cannot be taught."
My response:
"Mmm, I don't find the example of children very persuasive. There are a lot of reasons some children 'lead' and others 'follow' ... peer pressure, politeness, timidity/assertiveness, the first kid to speak up happened to have a good idea the others like ... I'm skeptical that these young 'uns possess some transcendent quality that accrues them followers (in part because, as I wrote above, I challenge the notion that such a transcendent quality exists in the first place). I will add, though, that just because leadership must be learned does not necessarily mean that it can be taught ..."
What are your thoughts? Agree/disagree? Leave a comment.
My reply:
"I'm going to go with learned. The cultural relativism card is often overplayed, but here it is useful. Throughout time and space, men have followed other men for a range of reasons that defies any one "inborn" trait. Loyalty itself has no one universal manifestation, and there is therefore no one personal characteristic that can elicit it. Rather, you must grow up in a society, becoming steeped in its constructions of valor/leadership/loyalty, before you can successfully wield them. Some people take to this better than others--which is often mistaken for "born" leadership--but in fact there is no such thing. (Remember, this is a secularly posed question.)"
His rejoinder:
"Rob, I think I disagree somewhat. I have found that some people are just naturally the leaders in any crowd. I've been trained in leadership for over 20 years - heck, I have an MBA with an emphasis in leadership, but I've found that all the training in the world only goes so far. Observe a situation with little kids - why do some kids 'lead' the group? They've no training in leadership or motivation. I've had leaders that I would follow through fire, and other leaders, with the same training, whom I would-uh-not follow...I think there is a very strong element of innate leadership that cannot be taught."
My response:
"Mmm, I don't find the example of children very persuasive. There are a lot of reasons some children 'lead' and others 'follow' ... peer pressure, politeness, timidity/assertiveness, the first kid to speak up happened to have a good idea the others like ... I'm skeptical that these young 'uns possess some transcendent quality that accrues them followers (in part because, as I wrote above, I challenge the notion that such a transcendent quality exists in the first place). I will add, though, that just because leadership must be learned does not necessarily mean that it can be taught ..."
What are your thoughts? Agree/disagree? Leave a comment.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Heat wave
I originally published this post by mistake on the Collegiate EMS blog to which I contribute. Eight days later, no one seemed to notice. I wonder what that says about how many people read the other blog ... Anyway, here it is now, lightly edited for timeliness.
Last week saw a brief but brutal heat wave, with temperatures regularly topping out in the low- to mid-90s. Those of us without air conditioning welcomed the challenge! Ellen is a big proponent of closing all the windows and drawing the blinds early in the morning to keep the sunlight out, which works pretty well, and I would add to that the less thermodynamically-sophisticated tack of taking a shower in the afternoon.
Dartmouth has been in the news recently for a handful of positive occurrences. First, Charlotte Johnson has been named the Dean of the College. Ms. Johnson, who previously held that post at Colgate University, replaces Acting Dean Sylvia Spears. Second, the Dartmouth rugby team was just crowned the victor at the national championships, and finally, All-Ivy pitcher Kyle Hendricks '12 was selected by the Texas Rangers in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. As of yet I can't find any information on whether or not he has signed with the Rangers or intends to do so.
On a smaller scale, the Upper Valley Church Softball League is finally underway, despite starting the season with a few weather-related cancellations. I didn't play last year because I was in Buffalo, but I had a blast playing the year before, when Christ Redeemer Church won the championship of the three-team league. This year two more churches have joined the fray, and I am thrilled to be back out there!
In other news (and since I can't let a title like this one go to waste), the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat four games to two to win the NBA Championship. I admit that the original version of this post concluded with the line, "At this point I have resigned myself to a Miami triumph, so at this point any Dallas victory just seems like dragging it out." I am pleased to see that I was mistaken!
Last week saw a brief but brutal heat wave, with temperatures regularly topping out in the low- to mid-90s. Those of us without air conditioning welcomed the challenge! Ellen is a big proponent of closing all the windows and drawing the blinds early in the morning to keep the sunlight out, which works pretty well, and I would add to that the less thermodynamically-sophisticated tack of taking a shower in the afternoon.
Dartmouth has been in the news recently for a handful of positive occurrences. First, Charlotte Johnson has been named the Dean of the College. Ms. Johnson, who previously held that post at Colgate University, replaces Acting Dean Sylvia Spears. Second, the Dartmouth rugby team was just crowned the victor at the national championships, and finally, All-Ivy pitcher Kyle Hendricks '12 was selected by the Texas Rangers in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. As of yet I can't find any information on whether or not he has signed with the Rangers or intends to do so.
On a smaller scale, the Upper Valley Church Softball League is finally underway, despite starting the season with a few weather-related cancellations. I didn't play last year because I was in Buffalo, but I had a blast playing the year before, when Christ Redeemer Church won the championship of the three-team league. This year two more churches have joined the fray, and I am thrilled to be back out there!
In other news (and since I can't let a title like this one go to waste), the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat four games to two to win the NBA Championship. I admit that the original version of this post concluded with the line, "At this point I have resigned myself to a Miami triumph, so at this point any Dallas victory just seems like dragging it out." I am pleased to see that I was mistaken!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Canobie Lake Park
Ellen and I visited Canobie Lake Park on Saturday. Neither of us had ever been there before, and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. It's an amusement / water park best described as a scaled-down version of Six Flags. I'm not nearly as much into the extreme rides and roller-coasters as Ellen is, but the park offered enough to satisfy us both. And Ellen was able to get me to step outside my comfort zone a bit and join her on some rides that I would never have considered previously. We were amused to note that we occupied a somewhat unique demographic among park-goers; that is, we were neither in high school nor walking around with children in tow. All in all we had a great time, and I would definitely recommend it.
Ellen has been occupied lately with helping her advisor host the annual meeting of the international radar group to which they both belong. The conference, which took place at Dartmouth all last week, gave me a unique insight into what Ellen does. More precisely (since I still have no conceptual grasp of what Ellen actually does), I got to meet a number of her colleagues from around the globe and listen to their conversations about their work. As I've mentioned previously, it is thrilling for me to watch Ellen in her professional element, to see her interact with scientific luminaries and be treated as an equal. I'm extremely proud of Ellen and everything she has accomplished!
Last Wednesday, the conference participants embarked on an "excursion" to Mt. Moosilauke in Warren, New Hampshire. As best I can figure, each year's conference host plans an outing for the attendees that showcases the local offerings / attractions in some way. And on a beautiful spring day at Dartmouth, you just can't beat a hike up Moosilauke and dinner at the Lodj (sic). It was, embarrassingly, only the second time I'd ever summitted Moosilauke. Since I did not participate in First-Year Trips as a freshman (though I led a trip my sophomore year), my first time up the mountain came my freshman summer. And although I had journeyed to the Lodj for dinner a couple times during my undergrad years, this was only my second time up the mountain. It was even more beautiful than I had remembered.
In other news, graduation season is here, and my brother Alex graduated from Princeton University last Tuesday. Congratulations Alex!
Ellen has been occupied lately with helping her advisor host the annual meeting of the international radar group to which they both belong. The conference, which took place at Dartmouth all last week, gave me a unique insight into what Ellen does. More precisely (since I still have no conceptual grasp of what Ellen actually does), I got to meet a number of her colleagues from around the globe and listen to their conversations about their work. As I've mentioned previously, it is thrilling for me to watch Ellen in her professional element, to see her interact with scientific luminaries and be treated as an equal. I'm extremely proud of Ellen and everything she has accomplished!
Last Wednesday, the conference participants embarked on an "excursion" to Mt. Moosilauke in Warren, New Hampshire. As best I can figure, each year's conference host plans an outing for the attendees that showcases the local offerings / attractions in some way. And on a beautiful spring day at Dartmouth, you just can't beat a hike up Moosilauke and dinner at the Lodj (sic). It was, embarrassingly, only the second time I'd ever summitted Moosilauke. Since I did not participate in First-Year Trips as a freshman (though I led a trip my sophomore year), my first time up the mountain came my freshman summer. And although I had journeyed to the Lodj for dinner a couple times during my undergrad years, this was only my second time up the mountain. It was even more beautiful than I had remembered.
In other news, graduation season is here, and my brother Alex graduated from Princeton University last Tuesday. Congratulations Alex!
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