Natural lessons

I finally completed a task I had been putting off for too long. I was procrastinating because the task sounded tedious, long, and annoying. Then I finally did it, and it was quick and painless. Lesson: The mental agony I spent reminding myself, "You gotta do that" probably took more time altogether than actually doing it.

New pet peeve

I've seen this several places recently, and the newspaper today was the last straw. People of the English-speaking world, "illusive" does not mean the same thing as "elusive."

Elusive means something is hard to capture or find. Think of nature documentaries where the narrator says, "Ah, a rare sighting of the elusive red-throated grottlenose titmouse." Illusive means illusory, not real; "The titmouse proved to be illusive, being merely a holographic marvel designed by my archenemy."

In today's final straw, the newspaper reported that cougars are menacing the tony town-within-a-city of Belle Meade (it's where Nashville's celebrities actually live). The headline said that solutions were illusive, suggesting the mayor had tried several that failed. This led me to wonder if the town leaders were gullible or if the cougars were particularly hard to eradicate. Instead, the article revealed they had not yet come up with any solutions to try.

That's animal cougars, by the way, not the new slang cougars. (Which is a horribly misogynistic term that needs to go away.) Or at least I assume, given that shooting them had been discussed.

Gift idea

I could sure use one of these.

Looking for tips

I'm going to be in DC and I'll have one day all to myself. The next day I'll be doing some sort of touristy stuff with a friend. Last time I was in DC, we did the "walk around the mall" thing and visited the Smithsonian museum of arts and industry.

So there are a lot of places left that I haven't seen. In fact, the choices are rather overwhelming. Anyone have suggestions for what the must-see attractions are? Or for attractions that are a little unusual and not quite overrun with people? (I'll be getting around by Metro and on foot.)

Testing Google Maps walking directions

Google Maps has added walking directions. It's a great idea, but it definitely deserves their "beta" designation.

To test it, I asked it for directions from somewhere vaguely near my house to Shelby Park, and it came up with six possible locations for the latter. You can see the result for the location I chose here. Google Maps and Mapquest are both very sketchy about the park. For example, Google shows the nature center in the wrong place. You can drag endpoints, but if I was actually looking for directions, presumably I wouldn't know the location was wrong. Moreover, you can only drag it to what Google recognizes as a street, not to where the center actually is. The map doesn't show all the park roads, including a major entrance off where Lillian dead-ends into the park and the parking lot for the nature center.

The biggest drawback is that Google Maps still relies on roads only. It's smart enough to know you can walk on one-way streets, but it doesn't know anything about non-motorized paths. There is a trail from the dog park (not shown, but it's where Lillian dead-ends) that runs into the park. The greenway isn't shown, nor is the new pedestrian bridge across the river to the Stones River greenway. The upshot is that the path it show me is more direct than it driving path it shows, but it's still not the fastest way to get there.

July to-do list

• Finish state governance changes report by Friday
  
• Renew AERA membership
  
• Submit research proposal to AERA
  
• Revise and resubmit journal article
  
• Revise co-authored article so we can send it out to a journal
  
• Revise lit review and send to advisor
  
• Write up cycle 2 of teaching certificate
  
• Cook some of my CSA vegetables
  
• See a man about a horse
  
• Continue to work on dissertation

Well, I have a couple of deep, insightful type of posts half written that won't get posted for a while. Last week ended up being a little crazy. Then yesterday afternoon, my iBook's screen died. I have to take it in Monday - the days when you could get a walk-up Genius Bar appointment are long gone. (I don't understand why they don't do triage, or allow someone to pay extra for an immediate visit. For a lot of us not having a computer almost stops our work in its tracks - it's not like when I needed to have a key replaced a couple of weeks ago, or even like an iPod breaking.) In any case I am now sadly unplugged once again.

I'm hating Merrell even more

New ad: "Capsizing in class 4 whitewater and getting back in the boat made for a great water-cooler chat on Monday"

Because you don't do your hobbies for intrinsic enjoyment, but to impress other people. I picture this dude (you know it's a guy) as Drew from Office Space bragging about how he "bagged some class 4" over the weekend while everyone else just waits for him to shut up.

Not buying Merrell products. Ever.

I hate those Merrell ads

I don't know where else they appear, but they're on Facebook at least:

• "Remember how you talked about hiking the Appalachian Trail someday? Why don't you take a hike this weekend?" Message: Yeah, you big lazy lug. Stop just talking and get off your arse and do it, or shut up. Who is this supposed to appeal to? I'm already hiking this weekend, thank you very much. And if I wasn't, do they really think an ad is going to motivate me via guilt? Now if my mom calls me up and says, "Geez, you keep talking about doing the AT," maybe that would work. Merrell? Not so much.
  
• "Remember when you ran further than the guy who got you into running in the first place? Like you'd forget." Message: You are the kind of competitive jerk who has to remind everyone else of exactly how good you are. Ah, yes, July 15, 2006 ...and I was wearing Adidas at the time.

Apparently Merrell is the brand of choice for bullies and jerks. In any case, all these ads make me want to do is not be associated with Merrell in any way. Not that I am now, as their hiking boots don't fit me well. I believe this works out well for both of us.

Conclusion: Nature still constrains us

On Saturday I went for a walk at Peeler Park in northeast Nashville. But this entry isn't about the hike itself; it's about getting there. Nashville is a city with a river running through it. (I have linked to an old map because it does the clearest job of showing the Cumberland River.) Most of the time you'd never notice the impact of the river - oh sure, you see it when driving over, but it doesn't affect navigation. I cross it every time I leave east Nashville and really only notice when a bridge is closed.

But the majority of bridges connect east Nashville with downtown or are part of the interstates. Other parts have town have few or no bridges. Occasionally it becomes obvious, like when I want to go to Opry Mills and go shopping. It's not far away as the crow flies, but I'm not a crow. The only bridge over the right part of the Cumberland is a new greenways bridge, not open to cars. And I noticed it on Saturday as I tried to go to Peeler Park. A bird would cross the river twice, but I had to drive a long way around. The result is that the area, Neely's Bend, still feels pretty rural and undeveloped, despite being close to several more populous areas. On the other side of town is another park in a similar situation, Bell's Bend.

The upshot is that these parks are much less visited than your average greenway, because few people live close to them. Peeler Park does not offer anything other than the greenway and an equestrian path to draw visitors. So, sure, it feels nice and secluded, but to my mind that's not the point of a greenway - it's an urban path, not a wilderness. Yet the seclusion is why these parcels were available in the first place.

Friday

Magnolia
Originally uploaded by TheTurducken

One of those days ... the government promised my stimulus check would arrive by today, and yet it hasn't. Still waiting for my refund, too. At least I'm working from home today and not spending $2 to drive to and from campus.

Sigh. I'm supposed to do stuff this weekend ... not even expensive stuff, but it costs money.

Well, flowers are still pretty.

Ways in which I am Not Cool

• I don't like The Decemberists. I think the lead singer has a voice almost as irritating as that dude from AC/DC's.
  
• I'm still aggravated that there are now blue M&Ms.
  
• I'm spending my summer working and dissertating rather than backpacking through Europe or something.
  
• I've never seen So You Think You Can Dance.
  
• When I saw the new Weezer video, I had to look up most of the references.
  
• I'm not in a band. I don't date anyone in a band.
  
• See above, except replace "band" with "singer/songwriter."
  
• I don't own a bicycle.
  
• So you can probably figure out I don't do triathlons, what with not having a bike.
  
• I don't own a Vespa, a loft, a Mini Cooper, or a hybrid.
  
• I haven't been to a dance club in, geez, since I moved to Nashville for sure.
  
• I'm over 30.
  
• Really, that settles things. I'm pretty sure you can't be considered cool once you've hit 30, especially if you did so without having a quarterlife crisis.

Update

Whoo, it's only 80 degrees out!

This week there is no conference to work at, so I'm mostly working from home, dividing time between the dissertation and the work my chair has hired me to do. Not much to report on that, I'm afraid.

Other than that ... I'm still exploring the fun world of vegetables with my CSA share. The second-year students have taken their comprehensive exams and are awaiting the results. I'm eagerly awaiting my tax refund and my stimulus check.

Half done

The second of our four conferences ended today. With two in a row, everything else falls by the wayside, and I realized tonight that my apartment is a mess. I couldn't face tackling it all, but I did clear off my desk. Normally I can't stand having crap on my desk, yet it was piled with books and papers. I should have also gone to the gym to work off some conference food calories, but I really preferred to cocoon.

Tomorrow I will spend most of the day at this event. While on campus, I'll stop in the library to pick up some books on topic x. My chair emailed me today to ask if I had any new thoughts on it, and my response was, "Since yesterday?" (We'd chatted somewhat extensively.) Really, all I'd done was to download some more articles and look up books in the card catalog. So tomorrow I will attempt to acquire said books. Hopefully this weekend I can dive into getting some work done.

On a totally unrelated note, I hate to admit this, but what the heck is RSS? Why would I want to use it? Can anyone explain this to me?

What's up

I haven't posted in a few days because there hasn't been much to post. On Sunday a few of us went canoeing on the Narrows of the Harpeth. It was a nice, easy trip, which was what I needed after the long hike of the day before.

It looks like my summer is getting worked out; I'm working on three different projects, plus trying to work on other research, not to mention the dissertation (let's not). I'll be busy but the upside is pretty good pay.

And we won't talk about the dissertation!

Gas money

Yesterday I saw an article that asked, what if gas goes to $7 a gallon? The article didn't actually explore the ramifications as promised, but it did say that $7 gas was likely in the next four years. And I remember being horrified when gas went up to $1.50!

Whatever the magic number, I can imagine a scenario in which within a decade gas has reached a point where consumption patterns for most Americans will have to change because we won't be able to afford the old ones. That's why I disagree with a piece such as this one, which says environmental change may be possible without deprivation. Anything that gets us out of our cars (or off airplanes) will be felt as deprivation. Anything that raises the costs of goods will be felt as deprivation.

So imagine you can't afford to use your car for your daily commute, and you don't live in a city like New York. How do you get to work? In most smaller cities, suburbs, and towns, the public transit isn't sufficient - there aren't enough routes at the right times and places. Nashville, for example, routes everyone through a downtown hub, and therefore no one uses it if they can afford anything else. Some people might move closer to their jobs, but our housing stock isn't in the right place for this to happen en masse. (And then think of the dual-income households where the partners have jobs on opposite ends of town.)

And what about longer trips? Green advocates say things like, "Take the train." To do that, I'd have to drive eight hours to catch one! And it's the medium-haul trips that are the problem. I suspect that barring complete economic meltdown, Nashvillians who want to visit, say, Alaska are still going to fly. But what about trips to Memphis?

In the short term, I guess we throw buses at the problem. We have the roads, after all. I've harbored sentiments for a while that it was a mistake to dismantle so much of our railway structure. I can see the day when "rails to trails" goes in reverse as we convert greenways back to railways.

And while you think about that, I'm going to get into my conventional vehicle and drive to campus five miles away, a distance which is certainly bikeable and for which there is public transport, although it takes three times as long as driving. You see, I'd like to make changes in my life, but I can't afford them. You add people like me to people who like the current way to doing things just fine, and you end up with no change until the economy forces it.

P.S. This just in: Mass transit ridership is already increasing.

Goodbyes

This weekend was graduation weekend, meaning that all kinds of events were held ranging from The Party to graduation. I ended up not going to graduation (I couldn't decide which of two ceremonies to go to, and split the difference with neither.) But it is a sad time of the year; some of my best friends are graduating. Naturally, I'm happy for them, and happy for the ones who have found great jobs and will thus be leaving town, but I'm going to miss them. Even my officemate, who isn't graduating, is likely to spend most of his summer with the in-laws.

Among other losses, I must say goodbye to - my umbrella. Almost exactly ten years ago, the CWRU alumni association gave them out to graduating seniors. It wasn't very attractive, but it was the one umbrella I couldn't manage to lose while nice umbrellas always disappeared. The cap had recently fallen off the end, and it had to be whacked to make it open. This week I realized I couldn't find it. It wasn't in its usual spot in the car, nor in my office, nor in my living room. I suspect it had an expiration date; if Case was actually having a ten-year reunion, I bet a new umbrella would magically come into my possession. As it is, I'll have to buy one.

However, umbrellas are much easier to replace than friends. So good luck to all of you graduators!

Saving gas

With the high price of gas, I feel guilty and broke every time I drive. This is especially true if it's a longish drive by myself. So I'm trying to cut back on my driving.

Since classes are out, I have to spend less time on campus, although I still need to put in some face time. I'm trying to go in only three days a week instead of four this month. And I'm trying to make one of those days a no-drive day. The trick is to not just put off all my errands until the next day, thereby saving no gas at all. So Tuesdays and Fridays I don't go in, and Tuesday I don't drive. Tomorrow I'm going to go to the library to return a video, and then I'm going to the grocery store. Those are the sorts of errands I shouldn't be driving for anyway, since they're so close. Well, the library, definitely, because books and videos don't melt, I don't check out enough to be hard to carry, and I can always put it off until a sunny day. If I need groceries and it's 102 degrees or pouring rain, forget the walking.

Of course, with this Friday being graduation, I'm going to go to campus anyway. I'm just not going to work.

Random

• Terence posted some pictures from college. My first though was, wow, they look so young! Then I realized that just means that I am getting old. So I pulled out my college photo album and found something weird. The girls look dated (clothes, hair), but they don't look so young. The guys, they look like boys. I don't know what it is, if it's some sort of mental filter and a guy would see the opposite.
  
• Summer is in the air. The temperature is 80 and humid, and I'm already complaining. The graduation tents are going up. And I went to my last class as a graduate student today. Whee!
  
• Papers. Gotta focus on writing papers.

Songs I'm embarrassed to admit I like

(And yet they're all on my iPod.)
Tragedy - Bee Gees
The entire Cyberpunk album - Billy Idol
Shake Your Pom Pom - Missy Elliott
Everybody (Backstreet's Back) - Backstreet Boys
Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
Baby One More Time - Britney Spears
It's My Life - Bon Jovi
Hotel California - Eagles

Out of here

Whew. Finished everything for AERA. Got my prescription straightened out. Managed to pack. Worked out. Got my hair cut. I'm ready to go to Chicago, and then NYC.

12" of snow, no problem.

Stuff happens

This week has been all over the place. I found out that two grants I had applied for both turned me down. One I knew was a long shot (1 in 30 are chosen). Actually, I was surprised I didn't feel worse - I was just mildly disappointed. Maybe it's because I don't need the money, since our program is pretty generous. I also found out I wasn't being considered for something else I applied for. But then I also got an unexpected accolade.

Mostly I've just been frantically preparing for next week's conference. I leave tomorrow night and I'm still not ready. Actually, the low point this week was probably when I started to pack and had to figure out what clothing fit. Answer: not enough.

You win some, you lose some ... but what you lose usually aren't pounds. Ha.

Random blips on my radar

Nothing major to post here. I've been digging in to get stuff done before I leave for AERA. So just some shorts:

• I was in REI the other day, saw the Quarter Dome tent, and was immediately consumed with gear lust. Which is ridiculous, because a) I have a backpacking tent already, which b) I have only used on two trips. Mind you, I'm not fond of it. It requires ropes and stakes to be set up (it can't stand up with just the poles), and it doesn't have much headroom. It makes me claustrophobic. The Quarter Dome has an amazing amount of headroom for a backpacking tent - I could practically Irish dance in there, if only I knew how - and it doesn't require staking down. But like I said, ridiculous - if I were actually ever backpacking, I'd need to buy a water filter long before I got a new tent. And if I were replacing tents, you'd think I'd start with my car camping tent, which is, honest to goodness, a quarter century old. It works just fine, thank you, and I'm rather attached.
  
• Seriously, I don't have the patience for Iyengar yoga.
  
• Forget April being the cruelest month. In Tennessee, it's March. You can go from snow to 70s in a week. The weather tantalizes you that it's almost spring, but it lies. Also, March showers bring April flowers here. I really should have a pair of those galoshes that are so trendy with the undergrads - or copy my advisor and get duck boots.

Computer issues

My iBook has been acting sluggish, and lately it has gotten worse. Hard disk space seems to have disappeared, and I've gotten a few memory warnings. So I took it in to the Genius Bar, where my own personal genius recommended erasing and reinstalling everything. (After first backing up my data on my external drive, of course.) There probably is a lot of cruft in my system. I've had this laptop for 2 1/2 years, and when I bought it I simply transferred the hard drive over from my previous laptop also of 2 1/2 years.

Still, this could be an expensive proposition. I have software I rely on that can't be easily replaced. Don't think I'm a pirate, mind you. For example, I have EndNote because at IUPUI students could get a copy for free. At Vanderbilt, it would cost me $110.

At least I don't need to figure it out immediately.

Adieu briefly

First, some big news: Today, Ms. Prepared became the first person in my cohort to defend her thesis (and, of course, to pass)! Her defense went really well. So from now on we'll have to call her Dr. Prepared.

Tomorrow I will be leaving town for spring break. Details will be posted after I return.

95% of you can stop reading right now, because the only ones who will find this entry remotely interesting are my college peeps.

In one of those random "I wonder ... let's go look it up on the internet!" moments, I was looking at the Greek Life page at Case. Some things have changed since our day:

Delta Upsilon has enough members to have a South Side house.

Now not only Delta Gamma and Phi Sigma Rho have chapters at Case, but so does Kappa Alpha Theta (installed last fall).

The largest sorority chapter is Phi Mu, with 85 members. KAT is the smallest because it is so new, and Phi Sigma Rho limits its members to engineers, but the third smallest chapter is Sigma Psi, with 59. All in all, there are 446 women in Panhellenic sororities. (Spring 1999, the largest chapter was 59, and there were a total of 218 Greek women.) Sigma Gamma Rho has a campus chapter (rather than a citywide one). Apparently there is also an Asian-American interest sorority called Omega Tau Zeta, not a part of Panhellenic.

Don't worry, though - not everything has changed. For example, Wes Schaub is still the director of Greek Life.

Check-in

I have a delightful cold, manifesting itself primarily as a sore throat and a mild sinus headache. As diseases go, it's not serious - better than the shot-proof flu that's going around - but I'm staying home to keep my germs to myself. Experience has taught me that a mild cold for me will attack most people with twice the vigor. (See, I'm thoughtful like that.) I've been sitting in bed today and catching up on reading that didn't get done during the weekend festivities.

Because of the cold, though, I have no brilliant thoughts to post. I used up what few brain cells are not under attack by virus to write this week's stratification paper. Not that I normally have brilliant thoughts to post, mind you - but under normal circumstances I could dredge up something to say about Step Up 2, brunch, or the peculiar ritual of PhD visit weekend. I got nothing.

Happy V-Day

This upcoming weekend is PhD recruitment weekend. Tomorrow I'm picking some potential students at the airport and then attending the dinner. On Sunday, my practicum partner and I are giving a presentation on our research. In between, I'm going to brunch and seeing a movie. (I also had two invites to go caving and a chance to go to a roller derby. What is this - nothing at all happens one weekend, and the next everyone goes crazy?)

Of course, I also have some of that pesky homework, but not as much as this past week. For one thing, I had to lead class today. I was surprised to hear that lots of my classmates found this week's readings very boring - I had picked this week because I thought it was interesting. Well, mostly - reading Blau and Duncan can be incredibly dry. But there was some org theory brought in, which I always like. Apparently I was alone in that. I gave everyone chocolate, though, in honor of Valentine's Day. Grad students are theoretically above food bribes, being so much more sophisticated than undergraduates. I'd like to think it was my scintillating questioning that kept them awake - more likely it was the caffeine in the truffles.

Sugar

I am disappointed with this bag of candy hearts. It must be old or something, because it doesn't have any of the new hearts in it. (And yet I keep eating, as if the next one will surprise me.)

Buy "Racial Formation in the U.S." and get T-Rex FREE!

One of my class books arrived yesterday with a "freebie fun pack" the store apparently sends with all orders. I now posses an "E-man" comic from 1984 and two trading cards. I don't know what sort of collectible the latter are, except that they feature a dinichthys and some scavengers (which appear to be pteradactyls). Gosh, I'm having more fun already. Bring on the dinosaurs!

This semester seems to be off to an odd start. As I told my officemate the other day, "I know I have stuff I should be doing, but I can't figure out what." That was only half a joke; I'm having a hard time settling in to the the new semester.

Maybe it's because instead of being end-loaded, this semester starts with a bang - next Friday I retake the economics comprehensive exam. Maybe it's because this is my last semester of classes, and I feel as if I'm supposed to be focusing less on coursework and more on research and the dissertation - and yet I have classes I'm really interested in this semester. Maybe I just goofed off too much on break.

Happy 2008

So much for a big transition to the new year. The family was supposed to go to a party, but I ended up with a massive headache. They went, while I stayed home with the dogs, who were spooked by the fireworks. The next day I went to a ashtanga class in Ashland, so at least the new year started off healthy.

It appears to be de rigeur to do some sort of new year post - best of, worst of, new resolutions. I don't do resolutions, so instead here is 2007 in photos.

Since I apparently didn't take any pictures in January, instead I'll use a photo that really represents the entire year:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Christmastime

It's been quiet here on the blog, but I've just been doing Christmas stuff with the family. Most of you are probably too busy with the holidays to read this anyway, right?

Merry Christmas!

Accomplishments and backslides

My sociology exam is now behind me. I came out of it with a massive headache (as well as with the conviction that I performed reasonably on it), so I treated myself to a peppermint mocha. I have been trying to swear off disposable paper cups, but vice got the better of me this time.

On the way home, I passed a cyclist I had also seen on the way into campus. I thought to myself, here I am destroying the earth in two ways, as I emit carbon while holding an unnecessarily dead tree, while this guy is being virtuous - and burning calories rather than consuming empty ones. The guilt!

Back to work, now, on an assignment due tomorrow morning, so I can go caving later this evening.

Should be buckling down ...

... and I am, really, but I did take some time out this weekend between studying and writing. Saturday night my advisor had a shindig at his place for current and former PPI staff. He and his wife recently bought this place out in the country, so I think this was their trial run at entertaining. It was a good time, but, yikes, I don't think I would want that long of a drive myself.

This morning I went to a yoga workshop by Chris Chavez. A friend had told me about it, but she ended up not making it. It was good, although tough, and it certainly didn't help that I'm out of shape. My brain thinks my body can do things but my muscles beg to differ, and you can only go on sheer willpower so long. But he got me doing handstands, which I've never gotten up the nerve to do. I actually think that it helped that he didn't have us do them right up against the wall. That's supposed to increase your comfort, but I have these visions of smacking my face on the wall and floor, especially if it has molding. However, I didn't faceplant into the trim or do anything else humiliating. Now tomorrow's forecast calls for soreness!

Note: Talk more about heteroskedasticity

Cash Advance Loans

Kickball results

Trophy

I was reminded that I did not post the results of the Peabody kickball tournament. For the second year in a row, our department won. It was a close thing; one game we won in overtime, one we won by forfeit, and we actually tied our final game. But since each of the other teams had lost a game, our record was still the best.

Bitter because I can't

There is an article over at the Chronicle of Higher Ed that is driving me crazy. (I don't think you need a subscription to see it.) Basically, the author says, she finds writing very difficult. When other people don't, first she doesn't really believe them, then she gets mad. She wishes they would all just shut their traps.

What is this, pre-school? "My mommy said I'm special so NO ONE can do ANYTHING better than me! So just shut up!"

You know, this is embarrassing, but I've never gotten the hang of using the Stairmaster. I just can't get the rhythm right. Everyone who looks at me funny when I say this, or says I just need to try agin, because Stairmasters are great - just stop showing off, alright?

I also have no ability to carry a tune. I wouldn't know an in-tune note if it wore a nametag. So next time someone talks about the joy of singing, or how everybody should just be able to have a nice sing-along, I'm going to tell them to can it. Don't make me have low singing self-esteem. As if singing could really be fun for anyone!

Then - and these are the ones that REALLY frost my cupcakes - there are the people who talk about how much they love running. Inevitably, they try to evangelize (maybe not to people in wheelchairs, but to reasonably mobile-looking types) that they ought to take it up. Endorphins, blah blah, great way to keep in shape ... whatever, I say running is hard. That's why I just sit and smirk when they start talking about injuries.

Alright, civilization, new rule: From no on, no one is allowed to talk about enjoying anything else that might possibly make anyone feel inferior. We don't want to know if you can bake a mean cupcake, get a weird thrill from vacuuming, are adept at curling, or can do really nice calligraphy. Because some of us can't, okay? Expressing a positive opinion is the same as rubbing the rest of our noses in it.

Rough times ahead

I've been lucky. My advisor and I have always gotten along, and our differences (for example, I don't wear a bow tie) have never been a problem. Unfortunately, all that is about to change.

You see, I am a Cleveland Indians fan, and he is a Boston fan.

Back to Monday

For some reason, all the rare social bits of my social life decided to activate themselves Friday night. First was the opening night of the Peabody kickball tournament, in which our department won both of its two games - the second one just barely, because Teaching & Learning is very evenly matched with us. After that I ran off to a talk by Stanley Fish. The talk wasn't sufficiently advertised on campus, and I suspect the turnout was disappointing. It was part of a two-day conference that cost money to attend, so most students didn't even look into it; I only found out the day before that students could attend for free. Then, finally, I went to a wine and cheese party one of the first years was having. It was a good time, but I had to leave before it was over, as I was teaching the next morning.

So I taught and spent the rest of the weekend doing homework. For some reason, though, I was dead tired Saturday night. I was a little short on sleep the previous night, but not enough to justify sleeping for 13 hours, and that's what I did. My body must be hoarding sleep for some reason. Maybe it's the colds that are going around now - which seem out of place, since the weather is still hitting 90, but it technically is fall.

Staying organized

I have a new favorite piece of software called Check Off. It's nothing fancy, but it's dead useful. I am an inveterate list maker, and for some time now I've been using Stickies to post virtual to-do lists on my Mac. However, this is unsatisfying to me because I can't cross off a finished item. I can delete it, but then I don't get the satisfaction of seeing all my completed items. Check Off lets you, guess what, check off what you have done, so I just check off things and at the end of the day delete the finished tasks. You can also create folders for sets of tasks. This makes it easy to focus on "stuff to finish this weekend" or "dissertation tasks."

You can download Check Off here (if you have a Mac).

Big Man on campus

Theoretically, one of the things I love about being at a university is all the great minds that appear for a semester or an evening. In reality, I make it to far fewer events and speakers than I intend do. Very often these things are scheduled at the same time as a class or somebody's wedding or something else immovable. Other times I just miss them. So when I heard Salman Rushdie was speaking, I was determined to go.

Alas, by the time I went to pick up a ticket, they were out. (It is parents' weekend - normally there are no tickets or sellouts.) Fortunately someone had a ticket they weren't using, so I was able to attend after all.

Of course it was a good talk, and well received.

Whee!

Tomorrow is payday - time to hit Costco!

LOST

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A big day for transportation

Today, for no obvious reason, there was a hot air balloon tethered on the Magnolia Lawn. (It sported a Vanderbilt Sports Medicine logo, so maybe it was promoting your local orthopedic doctor?) They were offering rides to all comers, and some of my fellow students planned to go down there this evening, while I was in class.

But as I left class, the balloon was still going, so I got my turn. It was a very short excursion, straight up and then down, and the balloon remained tethered, but still, it was a balloon ride. I'd never had one before, and at the age of 10 I would have killed for the experience. At my advanced age, of course, my reflexes are much too slow for killing.

I do think ballooning should be a more common mode of transportation. Think how much more tolerable your morning commute would be if you gently drifted in to work. What pleasant cross-country excursions you might have! You might even encounter difficulties while circumnavigating the globe and land on Krakatoa, where you would encounter a hidden civilization with all sorts of ingenious mechanical contrivances.

Of course, I'm also still awaiting the renaissance of the zeppelin, so my opinion is not exactly making taste. Either that or I'm so far ahead of the curve I've almost lapped the crowd.

Voulez-vous the bus

Today I had a little adventure: I rode the bus in Nashville.

I've ridden buses all over Seattle and Cleveland, so I'm not anti-public transport - not like the woman who wrote in to one of the Seattle papers saying that quality people didn't ride the bus. But Nashville's route system, frankly, sucks. Pretty much every route has an endpoint in downtown. That means that to get to the airport from the east side, I have to ride west to downtown, and then east to the airport. To get to school from my place would take more than twice as long as driving (and cost more). So, being a good citizen and using public transport was pretty low on my to-do list.

But not today! I had taken my car in to the dealership, where I go if I think the problem is under warranty. Turned out it wasn't - it just needed a new battery. Come time to pick it up, people had better things to do than drive me to Antioch, so I took the bus.

It wasn't a bad experience at all, although I had a longish wait at the downtown transit station. Going through downtown wasn't out of the way. The buses themselves were not crowded and the drivers were pleasant. So, one thumb up, anyway.

Go citizenship

I voted today in the mayoral runoff election.

That is all.

Go Commodores!

Since this is my third year here, I should have gone to a football game by now. I was going to go once last year, to the Vandy-TSU game, but it ended up pouring down rain. Then I was going to go last week, but I wasn't feeling well. Third time's the charm! (Plus my tickets are courtesy of my advisor - he is teaching during the game - so the seats should be good!)

Otherwise my weekend is mostly work. I don't have much more classwork than I typically would at this point in the semester, but it feels as if I have more research stuff going on. I have to revise my event history paper for ASHE, send out the rejected journal article again, and last but hardly least, work on the precis my dissertation chair is asking for. I've been postponing on that last item while comps still hang over us, but since results don't appear to be forthcoming anytime soon, I need