Distractions, reflections

Sometimes, getting the opportunity to meet with old friends is an occasion that gets put off too often. Diana sees Paul now and then for lunch, but we don’t often see Paul and Mohamed together. I asked Diana to set a long date — we probably planned out 6 or 8 weeks in advance.

The restaurant was somewhat besides the point, since we all get out quite often. We chose The Pomegranate, as Persian food isn’t something that we have often. The food was good, and the company was great. We got to catch up on travel stories, because we all seem to spend more than our share of time away from home.

Since we had visited Maya in Kyoto, she came to Toronto to spend a bit of time understand what our lives are like. For dim sum, since our favourite restaurant (Soon Foon Tai) is no more, the boys recommended that we try River Seafood House.

I haven’t figured out the meaning of the V sign that Asian kids do. It’s common in Asia, and not so common in Toronto.

The dim sum was fine. (It’s really hard to get really great dim sum, when we have have it sufficiently frequently that it’s not worth driving all over the city).

I’m a fan of contemporary art, and the Kiasma is one of my favourite art museums in the world. On Friday nights, admission to Kiasma is free. Karlos and I had plans to meet for dinner, so I suggested that we take a quick browse of the exhibits. While there’s a video documentary playing in the stagelight constructed by Tuomas Laitinen, the observer becomes a part of the exhibit titled Lighthouse Vol. 1.

I liked, from Kiasma’s permanent collection, Drought Circle by Richard Long.

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When I was in Tokyo in July, Kyoichi (Jim) Kijima and Hiroshi Deguchi were interested in the work I’ve been doing around Services Science, Management and Engineering. They said that they would come visit me in Canada. I told them that I wasn’t doing anything in Canada, but they could come visit in Finland. Thus, we scheduled dates three months later to meet in Helsinki. With Akira Tokuyasu, here they are in atrium of Nokia House.

Since my schedule from Chicago put me into town after the three professors had arrived, I arranged for some friends to show them around town. Ville graciously showed them the market and downtown area on a walking tour. To sample the local specialty, we had the reindeer at the Suomi on a Plate restaurant.

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When “take your kid to work day” comes around, I flunk. My sons are used to seeing me work at home, at the computer on the desk in our bedroom. I go into my office once every two months to pick up mail. Thus, a trip to Rosemont, Illinois is a good representation of what research life looks like … at least when it’s a little bit fun. The Systems Sciences Connections Conversation was started up by five of us who decided that we were spending too much time running the society and not enough time on research. We all flew into Chicago — from the UK, New York, Hawaii, Kentucky and Toronto — to converge at an airport hotel to work out some ideas. On the Friday evening, since we were arriving on ragged schedules, I took advantage of the suite’s cooking facilities to prepare dinner.

Here’s what research looks like. Sometimes it’s better to have a relaxed venue, as an alternative to sitting around a conference table.

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If I have a choice of hotel locations when I’m on business travel, I prefer one next to a Chinese “duck hanging in the window” rice-and-noodles joint. The menu is predictable, and these places survive on repeat business. In Washington, DC, one of the corporate negotiated hotels happens to be next to Chinatown, and a key Metrorail station at Gallery Place. I took the subway from the airport. Coming up from the subway platform, it seems as though the station designers took the Chinese neighbourhood theme seriously.

Chinatown in DC isn’t more than a few blocks long. There’s probably fewer than ten Chinese restaurants there.

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