A taste of spring

Helvetica is a fine font, wouldn't you say? It's so fine, in fact, that I make use of it in nearly every post on this here web log. Don't get too caught up on it, though, or you might end up as a person who loves Helvetica so much that they make a movie about it. That movie -- called Helvetica, of course -- was released in 2007 and apparently (I haven't seen it) is so good that it currently has a Tomatometer score of 88% (!) on Rotten Tomatoes. The mind boggles, does it not? But before you go falling too in love with this font, let me note one important thing: if you're reading this on a stock (i.e. no specially purchased additional licensed fonts pack installed) Windows machine, you're probably defaulting to the knock-off and far-inferior (and super lame) Arial. If you're on a Mac, however, and (I think) an iPhone or iPad, you're most likely experiencing this drivel in a beautifully flowing sans-serif wonderland of Helvetica. But enough about that and let's talk about the weather.

Today we had our first real taste of Bavarian spring for 2017. In fact, the mercury reached all the way up to 20 degrees Celsius at one point in the early afternoon. Not bad for February 23rd. I sincerely hope it's a preview of what is soon to come. Especially as we have some nice trips lined up in the pipeline for the coming months. In April we will spend a week in the northern Italian autonomous province of Südtirol. On the off-chance that Helga isn't super sick and we are forced to cancel the whole thing, we will experience mountain relaxation at its not-finest because Helga wouldn't allow that. Hopefully we'll have some nice weather though. Immediately upon our return I will head to the sunny South coast of France and spend a week on the Côte d'Azur as we once-upon-a-time often did back in the early 2010's. First I will be based in the resort town of Toulon where I will mix and mingle with the deep learning celebrities of 2017 at the International Conference on Learning Representations. I'll then most likely drift East-ward to visit friends in Antibes. If all goes according to plan, Joelle and Helga will join at this point for a family vacation.

What happens between then and late August is anyone's guess, but everyone knows that at some point during those intervening months we will have to find a way to do a little bit (actually a lot) of bicycling so that we don't embarrass ourselves too profoundly when we get to Copenhagen. I've heard rumours now that not only has Thony been performing daily 5AM trail runs around the shores of the Gothenburg peninsula, but he's also used his ill-gotten lawyer money to purchase carbon wheels (tubulars no doubt) and a Garmin Vector pedal-based power meter is on the way. He is playing a strong game of intimidation and at this point is winning. But we are early yet!

I better get to bed now. It's late and tomorrow morning Helga auditions for the Munich symphony baby orchestra. Cross your fingers for her!

Five years ago today...

Pemulis and Joelle flew from the world's least skiable location SW Ontario to Lyon to start a new life as ski instructors in the Alps. Since it turned out that neither of them could ski, instead Pemulis started a career as a machine learning researcher (way less cool than ski instructor and way less ski-bunnies involved but whatever) at XRCE in Grenoble in the heart of the Alps. Living within 50 km of many of the Tour de France's most famous mountain climbs, including less than 10 minutes away from the start of the climb to Lans-en-Vercors, Joelle took up road cycling in a serious way. She ascended the Alpe d'Huez on multiple occasions and performed serious training on said mountains that helped lead her (along with many miles ran along the banks of the river Isère and 1 or 2 swims at the Meylan pool) to an 11.5 hour Ironman in the inaugural Ironman Kalmar in Sweden. Pemulis just kind of hung out in a château and learned to not only function but thrive as an amateur ping pong enthusiast and wine connoisseur. After 1.5 years had passed and there were no more opponents for Pemulis to destroy in table tennis, the two decided to keep their European / Alp ski dream alive. While they hadn't even attempted to go skiing a single time in the previous eighteen months despite living at what is the centre of basically the world of both modern and historical downhill skiing, and within one-hour driving distance from what are widely acknowledged as the world's premiere ski resorts including les Deux Alpes, Alpe d'Huez, and others, their dream of having at least some tangential connection to the world of Alpine skiing remained alive; they decided that they were just too close to the action in Grenoble and that maybe being fairly close to the Alps but not directly in them could possibly help the situation. So, they picked up shop and moved down the road to Munich. Munich seemed ideal because it's about an hour's drive or train ride from world-class skiing in the Alps, but you're not right there in the thick of things in a city that just entirely revolves around skiing. This seemed to be the solution they were after. 3.5 years quickly went by, however, and along the way they added a third body to their small family which made getting out to the ski hill all the more complicated. Nevertheless, they didn't give up hope; a baby girl might be just what they need to finally have that true connection to Alpine skiing as they could start her off right -- you know, learning to ski before even learning to walk like all the greats claim to have done. Hold that thought because after these five years, an opportunity presented itself that would bring the protagonists back from whence they came to the Great White North. They deliberated this chance deeply and extensively and examined at great detail the idea that since they still hadn't become world-champion skiers despite living sort-of close to the Alps then it seemed clear that the only solution was to live really far from them. But in the end, they decided to stay for now because little Helga still can't walk on this five-year-to-the-day after flying to Lyon and therefore there's still a chance for her to learn to ski first.