A lot have happened in the past few days and I thought it is a good time to jot them down.
1. I tried my hands (and legs) in indoor climbing with Greg and Dmitry. Dmitry did a super splendid job for a first-day climber. I did average. This was expected because I really have bad forearm strength. That is the reason why I can't do chin-ups in the gym. At first you think rock climbing about climbing or lifting yourself up with your hands, but that is actually wrong. Thankfully towards the end of the practice session, I realized that a LOT depends on your legs. Though Greg (a semi-expert climber) was telling me this all the time, but it took me a while to get the grasp of it. But once you start concentrating the placement of your feet, the hands are really a lot relaxed.
But you can't apply the same into "bouldering". Or let me put it this way - you can put this into bouldering, but you need great strength in arms too. For a big guy like me, it really take a lot of strength to perform bouldering. I failed to do it, as expected. But I must say, I enjoyed climbing more when I was belayed by Dmitry than the time I was belayed by a machine. How can I forget the first time when I had to let go and jump backwards with the belief that the belayer (the machine in the first case) will stop you. It was really difficult to let go this fear. Here are some pictures:
1. I tried my hands (and legs) in indoor climbing with Greg and Dmitry. Dmitry did a super splendid job for a first-day climber. I did average. This was expected because I really have bad forearm strength. That is the reason why I can't do chin-ups in the gym. At first you think rock climbing about climbing or lifting yourself up with your hands, but that is actually wrong. Thankfully towards the end of the practice session, I realized that a LOT depends on your legs. Though Greg (a semi-expert climber) was telling me this all the time, but it took me a while to get the grasp of it. But once you start concentrating the placement of your feet, the hands are really a lot relaxed.
But you can't apply the same into "bouldering". Or let me put it this way - you can put this into bouldering, but you need great strength in arms too. For a big guy like me, it really take a lot of strength to perform bouldering. I failed to do it, as expected. But I must say, I enjoyed climbing more when I was belayed by Dmitry than the time I was belayed by a machine. How can I forget the first time when I had to let go and jump backwards with the belief that the belayer (the machine in the first case) will stop you. It was really difficult to let go this fear. Here are some pictures:
Dmitry
Me (left) and Greg (right). Don't get carried by the fact that I am a bit higher than him ;)
Dmitry bouldering. He did great!
My "try" at bouldering
2. Greg left the lab. Yes, the only guy who knew some music and seemed a bit chilled out ( a bit like me), left the lab. Though he had a top tier publication (In SPAA) and his static analysis may be the major reason that our paper gets accepted in ASPLOS, he left. He told that he did not find anything cool to do with polyhedral model. I don't now who took the decision (whether he left or Torsten fired him), but that's that. BTW, Marius is also on the verge of leaving. Tomorrow he will talk with Torsten and decide whether he is staying or not.
3. There was a department bbq in the restaurant top floor. It was fun. Here are some pictures.
4. Yesterday Torsten presented the progress of his lab and he was greatly accepted. That means he is only 2 more steps away from getting a tenure (3 presentations had to be there before you get this). I was a bit surprised by this because I have seen people fighting so much about this and also heard dreadful stories but for him it seemed like easier!
I haven't told Torsten yet about me going to Canada. Probably I will tell him that during our meeting this Friday. Tomorrow is some religious holiday. 8 more days to leave for Canada! Can't wait to meet my parents.
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