Pakistan Video Sample: 4 of 10

Here is another video that is not good enough to make the full length feature film. This is authentic camp two. That's what it's really like up there. People don't move fast. This was the first time I made it to camp two at 6200 meters or 20,300 feet. Watch, enjoy, and remember that September 10th at WPI I will be showing a 5-10 minute trailer during the WPI Outing Club meeting. So come watch and join the Outing Club!

Bring on the Muslims!

After spending the summer in an Islamic country I have decided I would like to know more about this culture. Fortunately I have a friend at WPI from Pakistan and I just found out that the new guy that sits behind me in the office is from Saudi Arabia.

Why does Islamic culture interest me? Well, unfortunately 95% of what Americans know about Muslims comes from the news. The news is great but it only reports the major events of the world. If NBC covers the Islamic world as well as it does long distance running then we are going to have an education problem. We only end up hearing about bombings and oil sheiks and terrorists. The thing is: it's not like that even in Pakistan. I never had to dodge suicide bombers or anything like that. However, I should explain that a little bit more. On the way out when I stayed in Islamabad they gave us newspapers (in English) at the hotel every morning. I learned that Pakistan has far more bombings than we ever hear about. Most are directed at military road blocks or places where westerners gather like expensive restaurants. Some bombings are even directed at mosques. So it is dangerous.

They also have a slew of political problems. From education and safe drinking water to the bureaucracy and tribal conflicts that we often hear about. In that part of the world, families and tribes often carry more clout then official governments. The nations, or at least Pakistan, is divided roughly into valleys. I spent most of my summer in Baltistan, where they speak Balti, as well as Urdu and a little English. There are other locations as well such as Waziristan, which is a very dangerous place and is a breeding ground for terrorists due to the extreme levels of poverty and education. I learned from Three Cups of Tea that some of the Muslim teachers that are pressuring boys into terrorism can not even read. Teachers that can not read!

We happened to be in Pakistan on July 25th which is a Shi'a (Shiite, spellings vary by source) holy day. We were stuck in a traffic jam for a religious self flagellation ceremony. We were with one of our Ismaeli cook staff and he said that Ismaelis never did that kind of thing. They were very peaceful, despite the fact that I learned recently that Ismaeli is a form of Shi'a so it might have been a Twelvers holy day and not a general Shi'a holy day... I asked the man from Saudi Arabia about this and he said that most 99% of the people in Saudi Arabia and most of the people in Egypt were Sunni and they never did that either. Another holy thing that caught my eye was the issue of prayer five times a day. The loud speakers could be heard whenever you were in a large enough town but I never once noticed a change in the people on the street. I saw only a handful of people pray the whole seven weeks. There was never a rush to the nearest mosque when the loud speaker came on. People didn't rush to their homes and the street never emptied around prayer time. However, Friday morning is their weekly holy day and you could easily tell that most stores were closed and there was far fewer people on the streets than normal. The point is: "Muslims" are just like "Christians" and "Jews" when it comes to practicing their faith, most don't practice too hard.

There is also the issue of the women covering themselves up. Which is not a bad thing at all. The thing is that for seven weeks in Pakistan besides the woman at the hotel desk in Islamabad and the women at customs in the airport the only females I talked to were a pair of nine year old girls in Hushe (the middle of nowhere). It seemed in general that the women worked in the fields and took care of the children and the men walked around main street. So I don't understand the whole male/female relationships thing yet.

Teaching Myself Business

I took the plunge yesterday. I asked Gina Betti (Associate Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at WPI) to help me write a business plan. When I thought I would be devoting all of my waking hours to the research for finishing my thesis I was mistaken. Honestly, it shows that I still overestimate my ability to focus on one thing and one thing alone. Which is bad because it means that it sometimes takes me longer to do things than a more focused person. It also shows that I must be doing more than one thing. I can not stick to only one thing. Which is good because it means I'll keep running and climbing mountains for a long time and it gives me a broad range of experience so I know what a mountain runner wants in a pair of pants as well as an ice climber, and I know how one pair might work for both of them.

One piece of wisdom I was imparted this summer went something like: "People want modular stuff. One ice tool that can do it all. Everything from 35 degree snow to vertical ice. That's the future." That's probably a terrible misquote but that's the message that I understood. The only way that I am going to be able to create something that does everything is by doing everything myself.

So much to learn. So much to do. So much time spent waiting. So much time with no perceived progress. Eventually, some day, far down the road... so much accomplished.

Ritz sets the American 5000 meter record

This was a record set in the 90s that several people have been looking at for some time but then this guy who no one expected to break the record takes two seconds off it. Dathan has been a marathoner the last few years but recently he switched coaches and went back to the track. I guess with all those base miles he was able to push harder in the 5k. So the new record is 12:56. For him it was a personal record by 20 seconds. His slowest lap was 63.9. Most were 61 or 62 and the last 800 was in 2:00.6. There are a handful of people I expected to break 13 in the near future but he was not on that list. Who is going to take America under 27 in the 10,000 next year?

Watch the interview for more information.

Daily Adventures

On Friday I did something unusual: I ran until I was tired. That turned out to be only 12.5 miles (3.5 were at 6:00 or faster pace). Then I went to bed at 9 and slept for 12 hours. Not much of a party animal this weekend.

It rained a lot yesterday. So what did I do? Go shopping at a mall like a good American. I bought a pair of jean. I also managed to talk my way to borrowing a bed from one of my friend's parents. On the way to Rhode Island I got a flat tire. It was the first time that I was the oldest male around, thus it was my responsibility to do the work. It is something that I had been fearing for several years. When it actually happened I just changed it. There was no fear, just some uncertainty that I put the jack in the right place (it was). Totally anticlimactic and uneventful. Then I had a terrible sleep because I wasn't on the floor and the bed was so nice and soft instead. This is the beginning of a chapter in my life that will be very entertaining in the biography...

Today, after church, I went on a long run. A run that ended up being around 17.7 miles. A little longer than I anticipated. The up side is that I'm not that tired. I think that for awhile, maybe permanently, my runs and days in the mountains are going to be less mentally taxing and subsequently feel less physically draining. Oh they'll still be wicked hard and I'll sleep a lot and be tired and want to cry now and then from the pain but compared to a double marathon or people dying at 26,000 feet a 17.7 mile run is pathetically easy to comprehend.

What is hard work?

I have no idea. I was lifting weights yesterday after I ran ten miles and my Indian friend asked where I got all the energy. I don't know. I said it was because I know there are people out there working three times as hard as I am so I should at least be able to do what I do. Then I have been staring at the computer screen all day that I'm having some trouble telling the difference between a gear tooth root, flank, and top land. But I haven't really accomplished anything besides a few boundary flux conditions and some refined elements. It's somewhat stressful so it feels like it's hard work but I'm just sitting here. It makes me maybe 1% closer (probably less) to my thesis. Add to that that different people are good at different things so what's hard for me is no problem for someone else.

I guess it's in the eye of the worker. The person that benefits may have no idea how hard it was to do. Does it really matter though? Results are what matter not effort. It's harsh but what boss is going to say "well you didn't do anything productive this year, but good effort"? Maybe it's a spectrum of results and efforts and a really complicated thing. I have no idea.

I am (blank).

Something I find helpful to do sometimes is make a bunch of I statements. People often feel that they are trying to find out who they are. Well, just say it or write it down. I am an engineer. I am scared of the future. I am tall. You get the idea. Just keep going and you may say something that surprises you, but something that you know is true.

"Hello Seattle, I am a mountaineer

In the hills and highlands.

I fall asleep in hospital parking lots"

- Hello Seattle, by Owl City

I prefer hotel parking lots and residential side streets myself. It's funny, the adrenaline rush of sleeping in my van is almost as fun as the route sometimes. The past two weeks and actually my whole summer has been full of hanging out with an older generally more mature crowd. Despite that, I realized that I will probably keep sleeping in my van on trips for awhile. I am willing to sleep in my van and not shower every day if it means that I get to climb, hike, run, and live in some really cool places.