Metrinomics

Are you old enough to remember learning the metric system?  Not the way I think they teach it now, but the way it was introduced to us then:  "Every civilized nation in the world employs this system of weights and measurements, and we will be converted in the next five years."  I can still remember the knot in my stomach as Mrs. Bischeglia pulled out the math text and began converting inches to centimeters.  And yards to meters.  It seemed so pointless.  What on earth was wrong with the way we were doing it now?

And then it seemed to peter out.  The next resurgence, if memory serves, took place in 7th or 8th grade, but this time with mounting urgency.  "This time, we MEAN it. The entire world uses the metric system, and we have GOT to get on board."  They gave up.  We couldn't learn it.  Which I find hilarious.  Some of my more enlightened friends shake their heads and express contempt for our provincialism and our U.S.-centric ways that set us apart from, literally, the rest of the world, but I find it endearing and quirky -- and possibly defiant, but in the good sense of the word.  What brought that to mind was the departure of my young friend Matt, who is leaving us to become an economist.  I asked him if they're still teaching the metric system in school, and it appears they are, but in the same way that you teach trigonometry or calculus -- it broadens the mind, but you're never going to need it.

So this afternoon, another hot and sticky one, I finally found my way back to the gym.  I'm meeting Marcy for dinner at a deli a little further north, and what with ACL in town, I didn't want to claw  my way through downtown/south of the river traffic, so I walked to the gym at 4:30. As you recall, that's a .8 round tripper, so I do 4.2 miles on the treadmill.  I always start out gradually and start ratcheting it up to 4.2 within a minute or so.  After about 10-12 minutes, that left knee started up again.  Just a twinge at first, but then it started spreading upwards. I slowed down to 4.0 and it didn't help.  Then 3.9.  Then 3.8.  I finally found a little relief there, and without using the incline, or doing any running, I was able to do the whole thing.  AND, with no tv and no headphones.  After so long away from it, the treadmill seemed new again.

When I get home, I'll take Banks on a 15-minute walk to make up for the time I missed last night, or was it the night before?  It's all becoming one, long blur....