Sometimes You're not Crazy

So, I don't know about you (the metaphorical one), but I have a tendency to know very little about what is going on immediately around me.  I have a good idea of what's going on in the world, like the big stuff.  We're still at war, they saved the Chilean miners, the Tea Party candidates are chillingly moronic (I will resist the temptation to throw in a dig.  Not because I'm kind but because there have been so many that its kind of pointless).  The basics.

I know what is going on with my research.  In a great level of detail.  I had an interesting experience today in which I and another researcher had an entire conversation in which we were repeatedly using the same word.  cluster.  And we were using it to mean two completely different things.  We're both doing genetics research.  He's an economist/psychiatrist and I'm a neuroscientist/geneticist (neurogeneticist? is that a word yet? It seems we tack neuro on the front of everything so why not).  You would think two people in the same general field of research could speak the same language, but no.  He called a haplotype a vector and I seized up and couldn't hear anything he said afterwards.  Indeed, a haplotype can be thought of as a vector, I just had never done so, or had any reason to do so because its much simpler to call it a haplotype.  And good lord throw a computer scientist into the mix (and we do) and you can't understand half the words that leave their mouths.

So, I'm good on the micro level, above average on the macro level, and then there's in between.  I suck.  I never have any idea when there are events going on around me.  I have a hard time remembering what day is trash day.  Parades, festivals, concerts, they all fly right by me because I have no clue what's going on around me.  However, today I observed two things.  Admittedly I did not connect them at all, but I successfully logged them as unusual and thought to myself that something might be going on.  I was right!

So, first, I noticed that there were a lot of rowing boats (like sculls) out on the Charles River this morning.  While I assume Harvard and probably MIT have teams and have boathouses I had not regularly observed multiple boats out on the river in the morning, and it seemed very cold.

Then, as I was going from one hospital to the other (this is my life, not as a patient though) I noticed that there were frequent very large gatherings of people.  This I do not see usually.  Seeing at least 30 people standing around (still cold) multiple times, I found myself thinking: Did I miss something? The answer to which is obviously always yes, but not necessarily what I think I missed.  Sometimes it turns out something I think is strange is completely normal and I just have no idea what normal is.

I don't remember where or why I saw the answer, but there is indeed the Head of the Charles Regatta happening this weekend! Apparently loads of people come and watch (extra people milling around not knowing what they're doing) and they come to watch boats, or the people rowing them. (extra boats out on water).  Both abnormal data points explained in one and I actually have a clue what's going on just a few minutes from my home.