Monday, October 15, 2007

on being famous...

Something really funny happened yesterday, which I decided after some thought was bloggable...

The weekend for me consisted of a lot of cycling, a little work, a little shopping, and a lot of sleep. On Sunday, my bike ride consisted of going out with a few friends of mine, namely to catch up with one of my friends who has moved up the coast to finish her MS at Cal Poly. She was back for the weekend, and so a few of us decided to go for a spin. Because I wanted to get more miles in, I rode from my house, which added an extra 30 miles to my ride. The ride was rather uneventful...I enjoyed the nice break from the craziness of "Sunday Worlds," which is my usual ride-of-choice on Sunday mornings, mostly for the coffee time afterwards! So, our "girls ride" happened to end up at the coffee house as well (as many good long weekend rides do). My friend Olivia happened to see a postdoc she knew (she's also at UCSB) in the coffeeshop, and introduced me and Ginger to him. As with many introductions, often the names go flying by without much mention, i.e. in one ear, out the other. I think this is mostly what happened in this case. So a couple of minutes into the conversation, this guy turns to me and says, "so you're at UCSB, too? What department are you in?" I answer, "Mechanical Engineering." He says, (assuming I am a graduate student...that always makes me feel young), "with whom do you work?" I answer, "I work with lots of folks, I'm a professor there." And then he gives me this quizzical look, and then it looks like a light goes off in his head...and he says, "are you THE Kimberly_Turner?" and I say, "I am A Kimberly_Turner, I'm not sure I'm THE Kimberly_Turner, are there many?" (I'm having fun with it at this point)...

So it turns out that someone that this postdoc knew back at Illinois where he had studied was someone who thought quite highly of my work, and had told him about me and my work before he came here. And thus the world gets smaller and smaller.

So now I am THE DrKim, I suppose...that's kind of scary! I kind of liked being incognito, especially on the bike! I guess I'll have to come up with a disguise...I do have a new team for next year....

Ciao!

5 comments:

Lorri Lee Lown -- velogirl said...

but was he cute?

who's the new team?

Itinerant Rick said...

But you are always "THE Doc Kim" with us!

We were wondering about your previous comment about a new colored kit; was the former team changing designs or were you migrating teams. Now we know. We will cheer for you regardless of the kit :-)

Kimberly (aka. DrKim) said...

I'm going to ride for "Team Chicken Ranch!" The kit colors are most satisfactory to me, (i.e. will match my bike if I don't get a new one...), and it is a great group of people! My teammate Susie and I both upgraded during this past season, and wanted to stick together so we could race as teammates again. Chicken ranch has not had a womens race team in the past, but for next year there are at least 4 of us, and we've been welcomed warmly. Plus, the team training rides are great, and there are people on the team with TONS of experience that I can learn lots from! I have already learned lots!! Now I just have to get them a team blog...

plus...the food is good! (www.sbchickenranch.com)

Unknown said...

Im thinking one of those glasses with the large nose and mustache would do the trick

Il Bruce said...

At least you are THE Dr. Kim. I am THAT Bruce. Not nearly as good.