The best trip ever

Since this blog is supposed to be a diary, I should occasionally make a real diary entry, so here goes.

The fact that I flew to Finland for a one-day meeting and was away from home a total of 80 hours brings sighs of horror to my friends and colleagues.  For me, it was the perfect trip.

My plane was scheduled to depart from Pullman airport at 11:20am, so as is custom for those of us who live in a small town and a five to ten minute drive from the airport, I planned on leaving home an hour before my flight -- plenty of time.  I always seem to get to the airport too early and end up sitting around, so this time, I decided to watch a 20 minute show on TV with my wife, which would get me to the airport about 45 minutes before my flight.  Having underestimated the length of the show and the time, I ended up getting to the airport about 30 minutes before my flight.

As I entered the terminal, I heard the PA announcement, "the ticket counter is now closed."  Since I was traveling overseas, I needed to check in, so I hectically waved at the guy at the counter to get his attention as he was about to leave the gate area through a secure door.  Luckily, he saw me and checked me in, sternly warning me that I should have been there an hour earlier.

By the time I got through security, the plane was fully boarded, so I was the last one to get on the plane.As an added perk, I got to choose a seat in in a fully open row with, giving me lots of leg space and room for my carry-on in the seat next to mine.  This was very fortunate given that the guy next to my assigned seat was overweight and spilled over into my space.

During the short flight to Seattle, I worked through a section of a book on the mathematical foundations of statistical mechanics.  Being seated at the back of the, I was able to get off the plane first (on these turboprops, they use both the front and back doors to expedite the process).

I got to the underground rail just as a train was arriving, and was at my overseas gate in record time.  Since my layover was less than two hours, I had just enough time to get a burger at a fast food near the gate.  The boarding process started shortly after I was watered and fed.

As usual, I used my optimization strategy to get on the plane quickly to get a spot in the overhead bin for my luggage.  Even so, only one spot remained free above my seat.  I read a bit more until the plane took off.  The guy in the seat next to mine was a pleasant version of me, having planned out his medication protocol to optimize his sleep cycle on the 10-hour flight to Amsterdam.

"Dinner" is typically served early in the trip, so I strategically timed my Ambien dose just at the start of the meal service.  Since much of what is served is carbohydrates, I dug into my private stash of Atkins bars and nuts to supplement the sparse airline offerings.  Next thing I remembered was awakening to a cabin that was coming to life as the flight attendants were bringing out breakfast.

We landed about 90 minutes later, during which snacked and chatted idly with my row-mate.

Next was the mad dash to my Helsinki flight.  In Amsterdam, one needs to clear immigrations then go through security.  Long lines and missed connections are the norm.  Since I had a one-hour layover, I again applied optimization strategies to minimize the time waiting in lines.  This time it worked out.  As I made it to the secure side, the monitors were flashing "flight closing" and informed us of the estimated walk time to the gate, 17 minutes.  I ran the whole way and got on the plane within 10 minutes of the doors closing.  Again, I had the luxury of choosing an empty row.

I read a bit and dozed off a bit.  In a couple of hours, we were in Helsinki.  It was 1:00pm and sunny with blue skies.  I was able to get from the plane to the curb in 5 minutes, and caught a cab with a pleasant driver with whom I chatted about Finland and the effects of the financial crises on his life.  He seemed pretty infatuated with the US because he felt he had few options for fun in his life, like doing Motocross, a passion that he could not pursue in Finland.

Mounds of snow were to be found near every plowed street and all the rivers that crisis-cross the city were still frozen.  Though there were bike paths and trails all over the place, many people chose to walk on the river, a weird sight for us Americans whose country does not allow its citizens to take such risks.

A view of the frozen river from my room.  Notice the pedestrian near the boat and others further downriver?

I checked in to my hotel and asked for directions to the nearest restaurant, and was routed around the corner to a place two blocks away.  It was 2:00pm, and I was starving.  As is usual for trips to Europe, this is when jet lag starts to take over, peaking at about 5:00pm with an urge to sleep so intense that I have almost fallen asleep while standing, a real trick for an insomniac such as me.  After a delightful steak lunch, I returned to the hotel.

Given that it was a sunny and crisp afternoon, I decided to fight the jet lag by ice skating at a park - a place that I had researched before my trip.  It was about a 10 block walk.  The ice rink was in a very picturesque part of the city, and the whole atmosphere quite happy, filled with tourists and their families.  I believe that one family, with a little girl who was learning to skate, was speaking Italian.  Given my attempts to learn Italian, I tried to eavesdrop, but with no success.  Their extended family included parents, at least one grandparent, aunts and uncles -- all of them excitedly taking photos of their wunderkid who to them was a remarkable skater.  Judging from her skill level, it was probably her first time.  I shouldn't talk because I myself looked like a beginner on the incredibly dull rental skates.  I almost wiped our several times.

The ice skating park in Helsinki.

After an hour of skating, I walked back to the hotel and did some more reading.  Concerned that I would miss my 7:00pm dinner, I set my iPhone alarm for 6:30pm.  It woke me up just in time to change and meet my host in the lobby at 6:45pm.  I was a bit tired, but without the typically intense jet lag.

We walked to a trolly and took it to a wonderful restaurant with lots of huge windows opening up to a square decorated with lots of white lights.

We had a great meal, and quite accidentally left at just the right time to catch the next trolly back to the hotel.  If we had missed this one, we would have had to have waited for an hour for the next one - an unpleasant thought given that it was getting pretty cold.

We were scheduled to start the meeting early.  Luckily, I fell asleep almost as soon as I got into bed and woke up perhaps at 5:00am.  I showered, packed my bags, did some work, ate breakfast, and checked out by 7:30 am.

The panel was comprised of 5 scientists who were evaluating big proposals for centers of excellence.  Our task was to rate four of the proposals in our areas of expertise.  We had each read and pre-ranked the proposals prior to the meeting.  For each proposal, we spent about 45 minutes comparing notes, then hearing a presentation from the principle investigator and his team (about 10 people from each team showed up), followed by questions/answers and then a post discussion to evaluate the interviews.

At the end of the day, we wrote up our final evaluations.  We had worked almost 12 hours straight with only a 45 minute break for lunch.  At 6:00pm, the building's air handler system automatically turned off to save energy, but we were not yet done.  One of the Academy reps opened all the doors to the room to make sure we had enough oxygen.  I thought she was joking, but she was truly concerned.

The meeting room at the Academy of Finland.

We were done by 7:30pm.  I asked for my host to call a cab to the airport, which was waiting for me right outside the building as we exited.  I bid my farewell to my colleges, and got in the cab.  Thirty minutes later, I was at the airport hotel.  I had dinner after checking in.  The service was rather slow, so I got back to my room at 9:30pm and requested a 4:00am wake-up call.  By the time I got to bed it was after 10:00pm, but I fell asleep immediately and was wide awake by 3:00am, so I got up, showered and packed.  On my way to the breakfast, I stopped at the front desk to cancel my wake-up call.  (several years ago, I did not cancel a wake-up call and found security banging on our door as we were coming back from breakfast).

I checked out and walked to the airport under covered pathways surrounded by the dark early morning and producing vapor in the crisp early-morning air with every breath, the silence broken by my roller wells and those of other passengers in the distance.  I checked in and started my long voyage home.  Being exhausted, I dozed off here and there, but took no sleeping aids.  All the connections went smoothly, and I was home in time for dinner on Tuesday evening.

I went to bed and got up at the next morning at the normal time (about 6:30am), and eventually made my way to work and taught my morning class.  It was the perfect trip! I had no down time to contemplate the miseries of travel, and was back without missing a beat.

The Mortgage Crisis

I am on the way home from Case Western. My colloquium went well and my visit with faculty members was stimulating and informative. Travel continues to be exhausting. My flight from Detroit to Cleveland three days ago was delayed for three hours due to a blizzard. Getting in late and having to get up early each day compounded my weariness. This morning I got up at 4:30 am EST, or 1:30 am in Pullman. The flight from Cleveland to Cincinnati went smoothly. As I ran the length of the terminal to make my tight connection, the gate clerk in Cincinnati informed me that my seat to Seattle was upgraded to business class; so, I enjoyed a good meal and a long snooze. Hopefully, I will be ready for my ice hockey game tonight in Moscow.

There must be some principle of nature that forbids air travel to go smoothly. Upon landing on time in Seattle, I learned that my flight to Pullman was delayed. So, I decided to pull out my laptop and complete a posting about my thoughts on the mortgage crisis, made poignant by my colleagues in Cleveland who told me a story of a friend who purchased an $800,000 home for about $250,000.

My thesis is that the sub-prime mortgage crisis, which has led the world into a great recession, was caused by both good intentions as well as opportunistic greed.

The simple fact is that homeowners will default on a mortgage if they can't afford to make payments. Conservatives blame the Community Reinvestment Act, which encouraged lending to a group of borrowers who did not qualify for traditional loans. Liberals blame greedily-exuberant mortgage brokers who approved unqualified borrowers. And what of the stupidity of people who borrow more than they can afford? I would also pin some of the blame on Ginnie and Fannie Mae, who provided a ready supply of cash to organizations that sold mortgages. When the housing bubble burst, Ginnie and Fannie Mae held almost 20% of the sub prime loans. Many parties were responsible.

Then came securitization of mortgages. Financial institutions bought mortgages and bundled them together in the same way that an equity fund bundles stocks and sells shares to investors. Under the assumption that housing prices would not drop, the rating agencies gave these bundled mortgage products their highest ratings. If a borrower defaulted, the bank owned the home, which it could sell to offset losses. What could be safer?

The consumer demanded high rates of money market interest in a low inflation economy that could not realistically meet these demands. The specialists responded by being highly creative. Exacerbated by the combination of the government's good intentions, exuberant sales of mortgages, and consumer greed, this led to an unsustainable and unstable state.

The whole game unraveled when housing prices started to drop. At this point, many mortgages went under water (the home is worth less than what the borrower owes the bank), making it impossible for banks to recover losses. But perhaps worst of all, the bundled mortgages combined both good and bad loans, so it was difficult to ascertain the risks of the whole package. This lack of information made it difficult to sort things out and made the banks overly cautious. This extreme caution brought lending to a trickle. That's when the government stepped in with the bailout.

Repercussions continue to propagate through the housing market. Homeowners with underwater mortgages find it more cost effective to default than to sell their home at a loss. Even homeowners that can afford to make payments choose strategic default. Mortgage Bankers Association of America president John Courson criticized homeowners for this practice. Ironically, the MBAA strategically defaulted on their $79 Million headquarters building, saving tons of cash by moving 5 blocks away to another building.

The direction of finger pointing depends on one's ideology. As another example of supreme irony, consider the Obama administration's criticism of predatory lending -- the idea that mortgages were given to people who could not afford the payments for a big profit to the lender. While making such accusations, the administration announced the first-time home buyers program that provides incentives to people who would not normally qualify for a loan to buy a home. While the intentions may be noble, the net result may be the same; borrowers who can not afford the monthly payment.

I would argue that even if all parties acted within the law (which they didn't), the net result would have been similar. The problem is that our society is highly complex. The answer is not in legislating detail. It is tempting to outlaw specific financial instruments; but, I claim that people will find new ways to make a buck with ever more dire consequences. Stifling creativity may prevent specific problems but could stifle true innovation that moves our civilization forward. The trick is to mitigate the downside without suppressing progress. Sadly, the world is too complex for any human or even collection of geniuses to take all factors into account and produce constraints without unintended consequences. We must accept the downs as a necessary consequence of progress.

My flight is scheduled to depart shortly, so I have to run. In my next post I will continue along these lines to speculate about the inevitable demise of our civilization. Have a good day...

When the lights go out in Budapest

After a kind introduction by one of the conference organizers, I presented the Monday afternoon plenary lecture at ICOOPMA 2010, an international meeting on optical materials and technologies. Budapest is a beautiful city rich in history and culture, but also the host to the horrors of World War II. The lecture hall, which was a large room in the lower level adjacent to a pool and reception area, could have been anywhere.

The gentle hum of the air conditioning system was barely perceptible, as it toiled to protect the room from the hot and muggy air that blanketed the city. My wife and I had traveled almost a full day to get to Budapest from Pullman, albeit in the relative comfort of business class, courtesy of a complimentary upgrade from Delta Airlines. The five star Intercontinental Continental Hotel provided a tad of luxury at a bargain price of $49 per night, thanks to Hotwire.com. But the purpose of my trip was to attend the meeting and to give my talk.

With 25 years of public speaking experience, I am pretty calm in front of crowd, but only when talking about physics. Ask me to say a few words at a wedding or a family event, and I am barely able to stammer out a few words before feeling sick. Physics provides the ultimate comfort. The enjoyment of presenting my work is akin to a parent bragging about the accomplishments of a child. But pride is not an accurate characterization of the feeling. It's more of a mutual admiration for the beauty and depth of how mother nature has written her story in the fabric of our universe. I am merely the story teller.

I derive great satisfaction in sharing insights with a couple hundred scientists, many of them strangers, but all having in common an appreciation of the beauty of the physical world, and the potential for new wonders that it offers.

``So as you can see, the Photomechanical Optical Device represents the 5 device classes, but using only optics rather than electronics..." My trance-like state was briefly interrupted by the rumble of distant thunder. I continued to present my talk with great excitement. A second bolt shook the building, the lights faltered, then the room went dark for an instant until the emergency backup power kicked in. The main transformer for one region of the city was fried, leaving a nonfunctional projector for the second half of my Power Point presentation.

I continued to speak, waving my hands, and making air drawings to get though the remaining part of my talk. While the lack of visuals undoubtedly detracted from the information that I tried to convey, it made my talk more memorable than if all had gone smoothly.

At the end, I fielded many questions and comments - a sign that people were listening and were interested in the topic. After the Q&A, the conference organizers presented me with a bottle of Chardonnay with a special label sporting my name and the conference's name and coordinates. I was also given a Rubik's cube, which I believe was invented by a Hungarian. After the event was over, several more people hung around to ask questions and make comments.

We hailed a cab back to the hotel, and prepared for our return trip, which commenced with a 3:00am wake-up call and a 4:00am shuttle to the airport. We ended up missing a connection that prolonged our travels over eight hours. In the end, I was satisfied with the trip - not because I could add another destination to my list of travels, but for the opportunity to share with others the work that I love. We will be landing in Seattle in an hour, and will make the 5-hour drive to Pullman, getting us home by about 3:00am. The stresses associated with the start of an academic year will be upon us when we awaken, but I am also looking forward to all the new results awaiting me in the minds and notebooks of my students and collaborators.

I can't wait to get home!