ICT indicators

constant vigilance! and other lessons from being robbed

My handbag was snatched as I was walking home at night last week. Some dude came up behind me on his bike and grabbed it, and took off. I yelled, but there was no one around, and I happened to be wearing heels that night so the chase was rather short. This happened within a couple of blocks from home, so I ran home, rang the doorbell like crazy and got Seb to call the police.

The night of, I was just shocked. Couldn't believe it happened. I couldn't tell the police anything of much use, since I only saw the back of the guy's hoodie, but I spent most of the night unable to sleep, brooding over the scene in my mind. By next morning, I guess the shock had worn off, and I was really mad. How dare this guy steal my stuff! What an asshole! Fueled by my fury, I spent a couple of hours prowling around the area where my stuff was taken, looking suspiciously at anyone on a bike, to see if the thieves had discarded anything. I kept going over what happened in my mind, to see if I could have done something differently.

I was regretting that I hadn't taken off my shoes and thrown them at the perp as he was making his getaway, when the police called to say that someone had turned my stuff in. Along a little side street within a few of blocks of home, one of the residents had found my bag on a bench in front of their house. Missing was the cash and my phone.

I was happy to get my stuff back - at least I would be spared some of the replacement expenses - but at best I had mixed feelings. I was thankful to the person who had turned my stuff in, but I was still really angry that this had happened at all. But I was also starting to think that it could definitely have been a lot worse.

So the lesson here is this: These things happen when they happen, even in "safe" parts of town, and the best you can do is minimize the chances that the thieves will choose you as their victim. Like, always be aware of your surroundings, especially when there aren't a lot of people around, look around to see if someone is coming up behind you. When in doubt, just take a taxi. Even if you are generally paranoid about these things, the thieves will choose to strike the one time you didn't stick your cash and credit cards in your sock and you're wearing heels instead of sneakers. So constant vigilance! Because it could happen to you too.

Bright red bird at the Biodome

Little monkey at the Biodome

Know thyself

Among the things I've done in the past few months, there are a couple of things I can point to and say "I have accomplished THIS." First is the MCAT that I wrote in mid-September, and the second is the mémoire for my Masters of Statistics. The grueling, torturous struggle I went through to complete the latter, in particular, has driven home the fact that a career in academics is not for me. I'm just not that into it. I'm not good at forcing myself to slog through a research problem for months and months and produce a paper on some undetermined timetable. The satisfaction I get out of it is insufficient. There's always something that could be fixed, something that could be improved, something that should be justified further, explained better. In short, I'm a tad too perfectionist for this, and never fully satisfied with my final product. But at the same time, I really enjoy learning new stuff. I had a total blast the year I was taking courses for my Masters in Geneva. It was stressful, but very fulfilling. Which brings me to the first thing: the MCAT. I studied two and a half weeks for it, starting when I first decided to write the thing. And I got a very good score, in the 97th percentile or so (except for the essay part, I suck at writing essays under time pressure). And this was very satisfying, I felt well repaid for the time I spent studying like a maniac.

So why is this so? In terms of hours spent working, I'm sure I worked more in the year I was taking courses. In terms of acute stress, I'm sure I was a lot more stressed during exam time than at any point in the year I spent working on my mémoire. Yet I felt more depressed, more discouraged, more dissatisfied, and less well working on it. Taking into account my experience with the crazy MCAT business, I think my talent is learning stuff and then taking an exam. And I enjoy it. Which leads me to conclude that I should find a career as a student. Anyone want to hire me as a professional student?

Things I miss

This weekend is the wine festival in Bourgogne. We went both years we were in Geneva, taken there by some generous wine-loving friends. These two occasions are among my fondest memories of Europe. (I confess that thoughts of the wine figure rather more prominently than they perhaps should in my daydreams of living in Europe again.) As I think back to the good times we had, I can almost smell the wine fermenting in oaky barrels ... the dim lighting in the wine cellar ... the crunch of the salty homemade crackers in between mouthfuls of wine ... racks upon racks of dusty wine bottles...

Here are a few pictures, while I go soak in the nostalgia...





"Mais du Bourgogne tout le temps." Indeed.

Winter is coming

Today, as I was walking through Rittenhouse Square, I saw a little three or four year old boy chasing pigeons. I couldn't help noticing that the pigeons were looking rather more plump than usual. Stocking up for winter, no doubt.