Playing Doctor

A letter to a few online journals

Dear online journal,

I have noticed that your main journal content page search function has only let me search by name or title for some time now. This is unacceptable, cease and desist this ridiculous behaviour. As far as your front page goes, I don't care what else is there but you must—MUST have a search by volume and page number. I already have my reference, I found it by doing those name and title searches on some other database that is far more suited for that sort of thing. I am at your site because I already know exactly what it is that I want. Stop obfuscating and frustrating with your unhelpful search interface.

Yours faithfully,

A postdoctoral associate

Taxing

Filled out my first US tax returns. I don't remember ever filling out a tax return before, anywhere. These returns were completed a shade close to the April 15th deadline but on time nevertheless. Separate federal and state tax returns are required for federal and state taxes. Both of these levels of government tax income. There is also a wonderful 6 % tax called 'use tax' in CT. Almost any possession you purchase to use in CT has a 6 % rider attached to it by the state government, that you have to keep track of and then report in your statement. That is a whole year of saving receipts and remembering so that you don't under report your tax, super.

The essence of these returns is that you figure out how much tax you should owe then compare that to the tax you actually paid. The difference is then what the government cares about, at both levels. I didn't realise that for a bit. It seems much simpler now, after figuring out exactly which form should be filled out (non resident alien, part year resident, resident, etc.) it is pretty straightforward. I can see how people can find this frustrating, but it is mainly just keeping track of the paperwork.

Happily it appears I am due a couple of refunds.

Boulder Brawl

I competed in my first bouldering competition this weekend. Bouldering is rock climbing without a rope on routes (referred to as 'problems') that are quite close to the ground and often very difficult. It is an activity in its own right and also an immense boon to those who wish to develop skill top-roping (the usual sort of rock climbing, with height, on a rope).

I entered the competition in the recreational class, which is for beginners, having only been really been bouldering once before, the previous Wednesday. Turning up the gym at 4:30 in the afternoon and registering I hung around looking at the routes for an hour before climbing started. The gym was really full, the most people there I have ever seen; students competing in the collegiate climbing series had traveled from RI and even Westpoint to compete as individuals and for their teams.

Climbing in a competition feels a very different to just recreational climbing. Having a judge observe is part of it I think but mainly it is the thought of losing the flash bonus, that you can't fall or just start again if you make a mistake. It is a different mentality. In that sense it is a real disadvantage to go first on a climb and quite useful to observe how others attempt the route. At least under these competition rules. There were plenty of nerves to get started, but I became more comfortable later on. The thrust of this competition was really to push yourself and try to climb the most difficult climbs you could do, not so much attempting to win, in and of itself.

In the recreational division I flashed every climb I attempted (that means that I completed the climb the first time I tried it) apart from one which I 'sent' (a contraction and bastardisation of ascended) on my third try. The scoring works by each route having a set amount of points, which you get if you climb the route, but only your top five contribute to your score. This competition didn't deduct points for falls, but there was a 10 point flash bonus (on top of 1000-4000 point scores for the climbs). The route which I found hard didn't end up contributing to my final score because there were five more I did with higher point scores contributing to my final score first. I think I should try the next difficulty up next time.

My Prize for winning the men's recreational division was a prAna cap (100% nylon) and a little tub of Climb On! skin repair ointment, for those fingers.