ceiling fans and calculus

Managed to install a ceiling fan in my place. I'd hired a contractor to wire things for it, but had helped my mom put in two in her house and figured I could do it. I really should have waited for help (next time), but was a stubborn man and did it alone. The part where help would have been wise is where you lift the part with the motor off the hook it hangs on while you wire it and have to screw it to the part above. I foolishly went to the gym last night right before trying to install it, so my arms were tired. After fighting with the screws I decided to put it back on the hook and sleep on it. Thanks to Allison for encouraging this.

This morning I found a wire that had disconnected and fixed it. Turning the wall switches did nothing. Then I used the remote and it worked. Yay! Now I can save energy by keeping the place warmer. Someday I'll put one in the bedroom too. It's wired for it. Maybe that'd be a good father-son task when dad comes to visit.

I'm studying for my methods comp, which is two weeks from tomorrow (!). The notes for one of my classes said we should verify the derivative of this likelihood function with respect to pi and set it to zero (in the notes he skips the steps in between):

l = yln(pi) + (n-y)ln(1-pi)

I looked up various rules and worked through it. Forgot to apply the chain rule the first time. Amazing what difference leaving out a -1 can make. Anyhow, after struggling with it I eventually got to the correct pi = y/n.

I realize that I basically have two kinds of friends. The first type will read that say "what the hell are you talking about?" The second type will look at the function and be able to immediately work out in their head that it's y/n. It's weird to fall in the middle and be semi-lingual in math. Not like my friends in engineering, computers or math for whom it's their regular language, but something that I need to use sometimes, but not at the expense of a lot of other skills that are necessary to my work.

Anyhow, nice to actually get something done today.

wish list

A few people have asked what I want for my birthday. I've been adding a few items to my Amazon wish list, which I also put on my sidebar. So maybe that will give people a few ideas if they want to get me something. Mainly I'd be happy with a phone call, though.

Brazil: Week 2

Mostly routine stuff, with classes in the morning and activities many afternoons. Monday was a history lecture. Two hours in Portuguese. I followed it okay, partially because I already knew some of the material. The students who are new to the language were frustrated, though, especially a couple of the African-American students. One of them is actually a professional public speaker who lectuers on Black history, so he really would have liked to be able to directly understand her. She was very energetic.

The next day was two hours in Portuguese about Candomble, an Afro-Brazilian religion. I´ll be attending a ritual tomorrow evening.

Wednesday was my first sociolinguistics seminar. It is just me, the other graduate student in our program on FLAS funding and the program director. We read part of book chapters about the differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. It should be interesting. Totally outside my background. The article I read for this week is on the use of English in advertising. I had dinner at another hostmom´s house because mine had to go get medical tests. That conversation deserves another post.

Thursday was an afternoon off. I took a nap and worked on my annual report for the Truman Scholarship. That evening we went as a group to see Handcock and go out to eat at a nice restaurant.

Friday we went to Cachoeira. Saw the house where Caetano Veloso grew up (he lives in Salvador now--we actually saw that house on our way out of town.). We visited an open air market, a cigar factory, the Sisterhood of the Good Death (a sisterhood formed by freed slaves), and many historic buildings including one where the Brazilian independence movement is said to have gotten its start. On our way there we met with some people from the MST. That is also worthy of another post.

This weekend I took it easy, slept a lot, read for pleasure and studied (both for classes here and my methods comp). Ok. So that´s the quick and dirty summary of what I have been up to. I would love to hear from you. By the way, receiving calls on my cell is free and you can call cheap with Skype or phone cards, so I would love to hear from you.

Brazil: Week 1

It´s been a week since I left. I´ll try and do a post for each week.

Trip here was long but no major problems (unlike the people in my program with canceled flights). Got in mid day to the hotel. Met the other students on the program as the trickled in. Spent the first night in the hotel. Monday was orientation.

Went home with my host mom. Her name is Rute, a variant of Ruth. Brazilian Portuguese pronounces r´s like our h´s and t´s before e´s as ch. I´ll let you all piece that together for yourselves. In any case she tells me I don´t eat enough and need to sit up straight, so she´s filling the bill.

The routine is class 9-12 every morning and then cultural activities a couple afternoons a week. Another graduate student and I are taking a three hour seminar on sociolinguistics Wednesday afternoons. We have several weekend trips planned.

Salvador is the oldest city in Brazil. It is the heart of the sugar area of Brazil. The figures I´ve heard put the African descended population at 75% to 85%. There is a very strong African influence in the culture. The city feel in some ways similar to other places I´ve been in Latin America, but different in ways. The entire vibe is just calm and friendly.

Tuesday we had our placement tests and then went on a tour of the old city. I forgot my camera. I´m not very good about taking pictures. If something is famous there are better pics online, right? Other people in the program will send some and I´ll try to be better about it. So I´ll have some from some things I did.

Wednesday, the 2nd of July is Bahian Independence day (celebrating when they actually drove the Portuguese out, as opposed to the national day which is when they declared it). My host mom put me in touch with her nephew. He studies law and sociology. I met him to go watch a parade in the older part of the city. There were people from various political parties (not one but two communist parties, greens, workers´party), unions, candidates, and activists from the urban wing of the MST (landless movement) and others seeking justice for workers killed in an industrial accident. I thought about how much this contrasted with the parades that would be in Eagle River and Manteca in a couple days...

Friday we had back-to-back cultural events. Dance class (including Samba) followed by capoeira at a local school. The first dance/chant they did was very powerful. It´s hard to describe but it really put me in a focused place and made me think about the resiliance of the human spirit. They had these sticks that the banged together that came from cane cutting. So much hardship in the history of the African peoples and people in general but somehow we refuse to give up. And that´s beautiful.

After demonstrating they had us participate. The guy told me to just do what he did after he did it. So we´d both crouch and he´d kick above my head and then I´d kick above his. A woman in our program actually practices it back in the U.S. and wans to do it here. So that left me tired and since I´m an old man in the group I didn´t go dancing (others did).

Saturday we headed to Praia Forte, the oldest Portuguese building in the Americas. I actually took some pictures. We went with the UCLA group which is 30 something (ours is 11), so I met some cool people, and have a couple new small wold stories (naturally). After seeing the building we had lunch at the house of the Brazilian woman coordinating our program. We spent the night in the town of Praia Forte and all went out dancing last night. Good times. The live music (Samba and other stuff) was great. Today we had a great breakfast and hung out on the beach. Also went to see a museum about the restoration of sea turtles. And now I need to get my stuff at the inn, catch the bus home and then do some homework this evening.

Sorry this is sloppy, but at least I posted.

(note: my computer at home has spell check as I type via the google toolbar. This doesn´t so probably has some errors. I´ll fix them when I get back or later.)

free Dead Moose

My dad sent this to me with the subject line "Only In Alaska." Perhaps this could happen in parts of Canada, I don't know. Anyhow, if you know me you know I can be a bit odd at times. I attribute it at least in part to growing up in a place that is, well, a bit odd... The latest exhibit is this post from the Anchorage Craig's List:

I have a dead moose free for the taking.

It died yesterday, apparently of natural causes. I called Fish & Game to come and get it. Apparently, moose are a natural resource and belong to everybody, until they die, then they belong to whoevers property they die on. So, according to Fish & Game, the moose now belongs to me. Sweet!!

So, if you want a free moose, please come and get it before the bears do.

You could use it for dog food, or stuff it and put it your front yard, bear bait, whatever. If you live in the lower 48, this might be your best opportunity to get a free Alaska moose. I dont really care, I just want it out of my yard.

Please reply via email, I dont need all the animal rights folks calling me, its dead, and according to Fish & Game, its got no more rights...

ditching my own graduation

Sunday I officially earned my M.A. degree. Like most graduate students in my department I opted not to attend the graduation ceremony, as I'm not going anywhere and the thesis is just one of many things we have to check off along the way. I want to attend the hooding for my Ph.D., however. It's all about the funky hat and Carolina blue robe.

lifting weights is easier when angry

Today made three weeks in a row of going to Body Pump. I've heard you're supposed to notice a difference in the way your body looks after a month. I'm trying to make a habit out of going every Wednesday. But it's definitely nice to have a little anger to channel into that bench press.

yay NATO!

For giving us the NATO phonetic alphabet. I'm going to start using it to spell my last name over the phone:

bravo. india. tango. hotel. echo. romeo. hyphen. tango. echo. romeo. romeo. yankee.

good friends are worth their weight in gold..

...(even at current prices).

Last week was bad for a variety of reasons--personally and professionally. The kicker was on Friday when I got my teaching evals back from last spring. The numbers were well below average and the comments were universally negative (except for two that actually were for my friend Nick...). One was totally vitriolic and just ripped into me.

But I went with Ben to the concert to which I'd won tickets and had a good time. Then when I got home I called Jan to tell him I was too tired to go to the party celebrating Allison's MA defense, but, being Jan, he convinced me to come over. I'm very glad I did. The two of them and Steve and Aimee rebuilt me emotionally. I don't know how I'd survive without them.

I still remember a book report I did freshman year of high school on Gulliver's Travels. I made the comment that you get the idea Swift didn't have too many friends. The teacher (Mr. Holland) wrote in the margin "a few good ones is all you need." While there's something to be said for having a "deep bench" too---a topic for another time--I largely agree.

So, Aimee, Allison, Ben, Jan, Liz, Sanjay, Sarah, and Steve--thanks for keeping me sane(ish)!

time, you weird, weird thing

Yesterday I sat in class realizing that I hadn't even been home a week--a week ago I'd been flying home. At first it seemed like it must have been two weeks ago, but, no 25 minus 18 only makes 7... So much can happen in a week. When I look at the past I often feel there's a paradox: it seems to have flown by but also like the past was a lifetime ago...

misc musical things

I'm listening to Back Porch Music while making the required changes to my thesis two months after my defense. The problem was it's a small amount of work so I kept putting it off but no more. Anyhow, they had a caller x gets free tickets, and I won them to this show. Who should I take?

I just put two more songs from the album up on my MySpace page (myspace.com/rbt1979). I dedicate the virtual single to Jamie Moshin, since it's the two songs he always requested at Willamette: "Natalie Portman" and "Mostly I'm Just Lonely."

I think my wrist is slowly getting better since I injured it (repetitive motion injury from checking groceries) almost 7 years ago. I'd largely given up playing finger style, but was playing Bob Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather" recently and noticed that if I concentrate on keeping my wrist straight instead of letting it collapse toward the guitar it does okay. I certainly wouldn't be able to do a whole set of finger style, but the occasional song with most songs flat picked may be doable. Exciting. I really love finger picking with the steady drone of the alternating thumb. I've also noticed that certain finger patterns wear me out more than others.

I took down the old music page. Juan-Pablo, who designed the album cover and CD label is working on a website with the same theme. It'll have extensive liner notes, including lyrics and stories about each song. I'll post the link when it's up. I hope to be getting it duplicated in the next couple weeks (!). I'm also going to make a new page for self recorded demos of songs not on the album. I'll keep you posted about all of this.

UPDATE 3/25: You can hear some Punch Brothers songs on their MySpace page. I guess they describe themselves as acoustic/bluegrass/classical.

dealing w/ stress

Stress is very bad for us. For a detailed look see one of my all-time favorite books: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky. (Yeah, I could link to the Amazon entry and maybe get some money, but it's not worth the time right now).

My dad gave me a copy of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (and it's all small stuff) years ago. I didn't finish it, and I'm more than a little skeptical of the entire self-help industry, but I find the attitude quite useful. Reminding me that very few of my troubles are of huge significance in the larger picture is somehow comforting for me. Even if I flunk out of grad school it's not the end of the world, and knowing that allows me to not become paralyzed by fear and thereby reduces the likelihood that I will flunk out. If that makes any sense.

The start of my spring semester of my 3rd year of undergrad I'd just returned from five months in Ecuador and had two weeks to crank out my application for the Truman scholarship--which needed plenty of revision and seemed to consume my every waking hour. I kept reminding myself "you can't take it with you when you die." Somehow that kept me sane(ish) and probably improved the quality of the application too.

Trying to rekindle the attitude that whatever happens it'll all be OK. It requires faith.

back in NC

Had a good week seeing family (mostly Mom, Annie, Jacobe and--most importantly--my nephew Carson). Getting back in the groove for the rest of the semester. Had to hit the ground running with Portuguese, rushing to get ready for my history seminar, celebrating Allison's thesis defense (congrats!) and the homeowner association meeting. Going to play some Wii tennis and go to bed.

first time

So, it turns out that grad school is where I end up doing something for the very first time that most people did in undergrad (something I can blog about, that is...). I'm a late bloomer, I guess.

It used to annoy me how people at Willamette would always save up their dirty laundry to take home and have their moms do it. Well this morning I have a bag full of dirty laundry to take to CA. Shortage of time and quarters. The big difference is I fully expect to was it myself, though my mom might beat me to changing it over.

if I may be totally unfair

I'll preface this by saying I know it's unfair and I haven't had enough experience to form this impression, but we do it all the time and here it is:

The United Church of Chapel Hill has lots of nifty ads on the local buses about being a different kind of church. So I went there a few years ago and after the service no one talked to me. I've never heard of that happening to visitors to any church. I just kinda stood around at fellowship. So a bad first impression.

Yesterday I was walking down a minor street in Carrboro. A car came to a stop sign as I was crossing the intersection. She clearly saw me, but cut me off. She had a UCC bumper sticker and the one from there that said "ask me about my church." Makes me want to get the one that says "How would Jesus drive?"

So, they've done a good job of making a bad first and second impression...

Sometime I should post about how what I want from a church is logically impossible: basically a diverse church where everyone is just like me.

Gmail targeted ads

I was replying to an email in Gmail. Earlier in the conversation I'd mentioned my breakup. This was one of the targeted ads:

http://www.getyourexbacknow.com/just_break_up.html

Wow. Looks like a place to get a lot of bad advice.

It's also crazy how the Gmail ads are sometimes very well targeted to the people they want to reach, but other times not so much. I can see why some people find it a bit creepy. I guess this is the first time I have.

life moves along

Yesterday my nephew Carson turned one month old.

Today marks a year since my grandma, my last living grandparent, died.

Today my dad turns sixty (Happy Birthday!).

Tomorrow makes three months being single, a full season's worth of time.

graduate school is making me more introverted

I just thought I'd share. I'm increasingly coming to enjoy being home alone.

Two years of home ownership

That leaves a mere 28 years on the mortgage (it better not take me that long to get my degree...). I posted about it at the time here. I feel fortunate that circumstances (extra funding and my dad co-signing) made this possible. It still doesn't quite feel real. At what age will I start thinking of myself as a real grown up?

Grandpa graduated from high school in a borrowed suit

My mom reminded me of this when I asked her if he'd be proud of me and it's really stuck in my mind these last few days. It may be the start of a new song. He was the first in his family to finish high school. My mom and uncle both have masters degrees. In a few years, God willing, I'll be the first to get a PhD.

He graduated from high school in a borrowed suit, but in a few hours I'll defend my MA thesis in a suit I bought at Men's Warehouse. I've been thinking of all the hard work of other people that lets me be where I am, something I did a post about when I started graduate school.

I've been reading Homegrown Democrat by Garrison Keillor, and it has probably prompted some of this reflection. I think that acknowledging the nature of our social inter-dependence (and in many cases simply acknowledging its existence) gets at one of the key divides between left and right ideology, but, as a scholar I can't in good faith pigeon hole those with whom I disagree into a reductionist version of their position, so I'll expand on that point in the future.

Farewell, Facebook. You Knew Me a Little Too Well

Amen.

All Things Considered, December 22, 2007 · More than 58 million people have flocked to the social network Facebook, and about 250,000 new users sign up every day. But one longtime Facebook user has dropped out of the social networking site altogether.

Russell = the (2n+1)th wheel

where n is a positive integer.

On notice: my inner monologue

I've been realizing how many times a day I say things to myself like "you're a horrible person." That's no good. So now when the little voice in my head (the kind everyone has, not the special kind) says things like that I'll tell it to be quiet. I should treat myself with the same respect I try to show other people.

Next thing you know I'll be reading Norman Vincent Peale...

so apparently I had cable...

A young woman from Time Warner came by last night to explain that I still had active cable coming into my unit and she was there to shut it off. She offered to leave it on free for a month and bill me if I didn't cancel. I said no, because I needed to get work done... She told me twice I had good teeth. Her accent sounded like she was from Africa or the Caribbean. Just funny to think I could have been watching Daily Show, Colbert and random Univison programs for almost two years. Never occurred to me to try it and it's probably better that I didn't.

I remember one time when I was out with Keith and it blew his mind that I didn't have cable. I guess if I were a sports fan things would be very different. I watch some TV via Netflix and I like how the nature of it limits how much I can watch to maybe 6 hours a week max, with it sometimes taking a few days to get around to a DVD. I guess the average person in this country watches about 20 hours a week. I suspect that my Netflix plus World of Warcraft generally comes to well under ten. Perhaps one should add pointless internet browsing to that category.

cooking for one

I like to cook but have a hard time getting motivated to cook just for myself. So I often do ultra-minimalist things and eat out entirely too often. When I cook a real meal I usually invite other people over, which is great because of the company but means no or few leftovers, as opposed to eating off one meal for several days. So I'm proud of myself. I made meatloaf, mashed sweet potatoes (yams?), and microwaved some frozen broccoli. A good meal and plenty for the days to come. I also made macaroons last night, so I think I'll have a couple of those for dessert.

Good post from Sarah

Sarah's blog Between Chapel Hill and Timbuktu has been detailing her experiences in Syria..

In a post called Home Alone she discusses cultural differences about living alone or having stronger familial links:

Last weekend, we were invited to dinner at a restaurant outside the city. Our host brought along not only his wife and two young children, but also his mother, one of his nephews, his brother, sister-in-law, and their infant daughter. When I told his wife that my daughter Katie is in Istanbul working, she was surprised and sad. Isn’t she lonely? Intisar asked. I explained that in the US, children often leave their parents’ house when they finish high school. This idea seemed quite unacceptable. ‘We have close families here,’ she responded.

When Hala, my wonderful teacher, left Aleppo to go to the university in Latakia, she lived with her aunt. When she finished, she returned to her parents’ home. Young men and young women generally live with their parents until they marry. Our friend Victoria, an Armenian Syrian whose family has been in Aleppo for generations, is about to be married. She and her fiancé have just bought a house blocks away from her parents.

The whole post is really worth reading. I reflect on this thinking of how of my original nuclear family three of us live alone. I often like having the personal space, but that whole desire is very cultural.

wish list is working!

I guess the Amazon wish list was worth the effort because I've received one thing from it already (a nice globe). Thanks mom! I put it away in the closet and won't let myself use it until my birthday. It's set up to not let me know if things have been purchased or not the month before my birthday to maintain surprise.

Also, if you have a wish list please let me know.

the smartest I'll ever be

My Portuguese instructor said that when I take my comp I'll be the smartest I'll ever be. So I should peak next Sunday. Personally I feel like the whole process is making me dumber, as summed up in this comic. So maybe after my comp I'll not only forget much of that material but forget that I ever knew it and forget about whole research areas where I know very little...

underlining in books is stupid

I bought a used copy of a book for my seminar because it saved me lots of money. It bugs me having a book someone else has marked up though. Especially when the previous reader underlined entire paragraphs. It makes it hard to read. I've found the most effective ways to mark important text with brackets or underlining around important words or phrases (often the words or phrases I would write in the margin to summarize the focus of a section) or with check-marks and vertical lines in the margin to note important parts. A vertical line next to the entire paragraph marks the entire paragraph as important, takes less time, and is more tidy.

I realize people read and learn differently and some people benefit from underlining or hi-lighting as they read. But it's allowed to annoy me. Especially with one of the most important tests in my life a week and a day away.

Actually overall my mood is good. I just felt like doing that thing where you write about mundane stuff that doesn't really matter on your blog. Who knows? Maybe someone will read this and try my system for marking in a book and benefit from it or something.

where did all these people come from?

Went to yoga yesterday. Hardly recognized anybody and there were many more people than I'd ever seen. Maybe it'd been a long time since I'd been to a Sat. class. The room (which is big) was so full that a guy who came in late had to set up his mat on the raised instructor platform right next to the teacher.

Today we had a meeting at a coffee shop to coordinate our efforts on the comparative politics comprehensive exam. I figured I'd swing by the grocery store (the Carrboro Harris Teeter) on the way home. I drove around the parking lot for a while looking for a parking space but it was totally full with a good number of cars also looking for spaces. So I just went home. Maybe it's always that busy mid-day on Sunday and I'd always gone later in the day. But I feel almost like our population jumped a bunch in the time I was gone. Of course it did--students came back. Still, it almost feels busier than ever. Just further incentive to walk or bike to shop, which I normally do but I was trying to combine this with another trip.

Sorry if this is boring. My life isn't very interesting right now. For interesting blog posts check out Katie's blog about her travels and her mom's blog about living in Syria.

Amazon wish list

With my birthday less than a month away I thought it'd be good to pass this on in case any friends or family members are looking for gift ideas. Of course I don't expect anything, especially given the small number of people to whom I give birthday gifts. I've noted where there are items that might be found more cheaply elsewhere.

My baby left me..

...flew to Morocco.
I'll see her in December
where I don't yet know.

Katie is in Casablanca with her family. She'll be there for a month and then be somewhere else. I made a flow chart to help keep it straight. Brooklyn is out but other than that it's still in the air.

Anyhow, she'll be blogging about her trip at neapnspring.blogspot.com and her parents will be blogging about their trip (Morocco, Syria and Mali from now until the start of 2008) at sshields.wordpress.com.

Some Like it Hot (but not I)

Came home from my week in NYC to find my place 89 degrees (yes, Jan, I'll convert for you: 32 on your far more rational scale) with over 50% humidity. My digital thermometer put the heat index at 92, and the temp had dropped a bit from the AC by the time I remembered that nifty feature. So I have the AC and box fan going (the latter to push the air from my living room where the wall unit is to my bedroom where I will soon be attempting to sleep). It's coming down to a comfortable level and I saved a lot of energy not having the AC on for over 5 days.

Just thought I'd share. Not that you needed to know any of that, but this is what personal blogs are for, right?

A summary of our trip may follow in the next few days.

Nest!

An album with three photos of the nest a bird built in my spider plant. I first noticed a few strands of straw when I had to bring it in to protect it from the freeze earlier this spring. The next time I had to bring it in I wasn't sure if there were a few more strands or not. I thought having it vanish and/or the smell of humans would scare the bird away, but I guess not. I noticed it a few days ago while watering the plant. I think they might be robins. They have red bellies. I'll try to take more pictures.

half B-day, advice for Wes Miller

I don't make a big deal about half birthdays--a lot of times they creep up on me the same day. Today's makes me 2.75 decades old, though, which somehow seems like a nice round number. I guess because I'm 3/4 of the way through my 20's. Scary.

In his senior speech after the game yesterday Wes Miller said he'd stay at Carolina ten more years if they'd let him. I have two words for you Wes: graduate school.

Back in NC

Almost exactly a week ago my plane landed at RDU. It's taken a while to get back into the swing of grad school life, but right now I feel like I'll be able to get caught up. In many ways CA seems like ages ago. It was good to be there to support my mom and sister in my grandma's last days. Thanks to everyone who sent words of support.

I sang and played Hymn of Promise (warning: automatically plays a MIDI file) at the service. I also designed a crossword puzzle about her life, as she was a crossword fanatic and they were a key part of her morning routine. I used an amazing program called CrosswordMaster. I'll post a link to an answer key if someone requests it.

in Manteca again

Friday night I got the call that my grandma had gone to the ICU and Sunday afternoon I was on a plane to Sacramento. Crazy how quickly things can happen. I got a one-way ticket and will probably stay here until she passes. It's good to be able to support family and to say goodbye.

I've been thinking about a remark by the pastor who was my mom's mentor: "We die the way we live."

Slow Progress on CD

Working on minor editing to the songs I recorded in September. Just cutting out some silence at the start and end and making the volume fade a bit at the end. Doesn't take that much time, but I keep putting it off and doing one here and there. I'm about halfway through. Annie is going to help with the liner notes, once I get her some text. I'd like to do a CD release gig when everything is put together. I need to look into the place I want to do it (Skylight Exchange). I have a place that can duplicate them for a good price. I should probably start getting pre-orders. Email me if you want to be on the list.

As for a title of the album, I was thinking of making it self-titled. I still have a bit of a complex about it not being perfect, like it's still not quite a "real" CD, but maybe I should just get over that.

Saw Cornel West speak

Was lucky enough to get to see Cornel West speak at UNC (for Free) on Wednesday. Keith sums it up quite well here, though he needn't call himself a moocher. The speech made me feel good and that I need to be more engaged in justice work.

Best Western!

So, we figured we'd have no trouble finding a place a little past Mobile, Alabama (and thus passed up the first set of motels right out of town because they were more expensive chains). Bad assumption. We were on Interstate 65 and I (the driver) was fading quickly. Each of the blue signs with lodging for the next exit were empty. I was starting to think of the song The Next Best Western by Richard Shindell (by the way, I heard he'll be paying in Carrboro this spring). And then we came to Monroeville which had a Best Western right of the exit with an inexpensive, clean room (with internet even!). Life is good.

New Orleans and the conference were good. I'll have pictures up eventually.

Revolution Rock at Wendy's

I was eating lunch at the Wendy's in downtown Carrboro today (and, yes, I should know better) when The Clash's "Revolution Rock" came over their system. The absurdity struck me but also how few people would notice or care. It reminded me of this experience from earlier this year.

Life generally treats me pretty well

A while back I was feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, unhappy, and a bit sorry for myself. To put things back in perspective I looked at a postcard from Guatemala I have hanging above my dresser:



"Encuentro de dos Mundos" by Daniel Hernandez Salazar

Talk about a picture being worth a thousand words: it captures so many of the divisions in the world. For me it asks, in the words of the old labor song "which side are you on?"

It reminds me how much harder life is for most of the people in the world. Compared to walking for hours each day to carry water or gather fuel (as many women in Africa do) grading papers and reading political science, while not always fun, is a pretty good livelihood. It also reminds me why I'm doing this: because I hope that by getting my Ph.D. I'll be better able to stand in solidarity with people like the women in that photo.

Next to it I have a nice paper Willamette gave me with our motto ("Not unto ourselves alone are we born") and a greeting card from the Truman Foundation with an artistic rendering of a quotation from Robert Kennedy:

In the world and at home, you have the opportunity and the responsibility to help make the choices which will determine the greatness of this nation. . .

You live in the most privileged nation on earth. You are the most privileged citizens of that privileged nation; for you have been given the opportunity to study and learn. . .

You can use your enormous privilege and opportunity to seek purely private pleasure and gain. But history will judge you, and as the years pass, you will ultimately judge yourself, on the extent to which you have used your gifts to lighten and enrich the lives of your fellow man.

In your hands, not with presidents or leaders, is the future of your world and the fulfillment of the best qualities of your own spirit.

All good reminders of the values I try to live by. I should find something that represents the Lutheran Volunteer Corps.

All done!

It's the last day of NaBloPoMo and I didn't miss a day. I guess it was good to do it, but I'm also glad to go back to just posting when I feel like it--that will hopefully mean better quality, too. Sometimes that's two posts in a day, sometimes two in a month. Next year I think I'll sit it out and just try to read some of the blogs and leave comments. A lot of it comes down to how much time one wants to spend online vs. other parts of life.

In any case, the next couple weeks are going to be very busy for me, so I'll be posting less.

Grad school is like this:

my iBook turns two

A few days ago made 2 years that I've had my iBook (14" G4 1.33 ghz). I can't imagine ever going back to the headaches of the PC world. It has served me very well, and I've helped convince at least four people to switch. I have my eye on some of the new macs--they're almost twice as fast--and wonder about when to upgrade. I don't know if my next Mac will be a MacBook or a Mac Mini. One thing to think about is that I'll be doing field work in Latin America in two years so I'll want a laptop but it might be nice to have it not be a brand new one as far as getting stolen, etc. So perhaps a Mini as my new primary computer 6 months to a year from now with the iBook for travel will make sense. To help fight the urge to always have the newest thing (in addition to the monetary cost) I remind myself how much water computer chips pollute--so it's good to wait as long as possible before getting a new computer. Really the iBook is doing great for everything I need it for, so I may wait longer than that. It's interesting how some people upgrade every year or year and a half and others wait 5-6 years.

Monk on iTunes

My cousin Hilary gave me a gift certificate to the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) for my birthday and I used it to buy episodes of Monk. I only have one episode before I'm caught up on Season 5. I think that for me it's a cheaper alternative to cable, since I don't watch that much TV. Also I can watch them whenever I want, pause them, and there are no commercials. My monitor is 19" vs. my 20" TV, so it's pretty much the same quality. Monk is just so funny, and I also enjoy the crazy plots. I don't think I'd buy 30 minute shows on iTunes, though. $1.99 seems a little pricy for that. My gym has TV's on many of the cardio machines, so sometimes I try to time my workouts to catch an episode of Scrubs or Colbert Report.

On the subject of Monk, these cleaning tips are funny, but some of them also seem useful... (Katie cringes).

Wish List

A month from today my mom and Annie will have flown in the previous night and we'll be celebrating Christmas! Crazy.

I've set up an my Amazon Wish List to put things I want for Christmas. Of course, buying them elsewhere is fine. I was looking at using a Froogle list, which is linked to my Google account, but I had a couple problems with it.

• I couldn't add comments to items. For example, I have a set of knives on my list with a comment that I don't necessarily want that particular set, just a decent set of knives. Without that you have to be sure to pick exactly the right item.
• I'd added an item to my Froogle wish list a while back and yesterday the link was broken.

I'll have a link on the sidebar by the time this post is no longer on the top page.

I also took a look at a site called Kaboodle, but it seemed to have too much else going on, including a networking feature. I feel that would overly complicate things. I want a list, not a new online community...

Day After Thanksgiving

So, an astute reader may have noticed that my numbers in the last post didn't add up. We had 5 Turks, a Dutchwoman, a Czech, a Palestinian, Katie's family (4), Katie's friend Joy and me. One person was sick and couldn't make it. It was quite the international dinner. Conversation and food were both excellent. Katie made great pies: pumpkin and chocolate pecan. Yum.

Today I'm observing Buy Nothing Day (I may eat out, but I won't shop), not so much because I think it'll make a political difference but more to maintain my sanity...