Pets are wonderful. The last few nights, both Annie and Sophie have been climbing into bed w/ me. Usually, Annie sleeps w/ me. She crawls under the covers and we curl up together and she purrs me to sleep. Lately, Sophie has also curled up w/ us (though she sleeps over the covers) and we make a cozy little trio. Ah! It sounds silly, but it does make a long, tiresome, cold, bummer of a day melt away.
I'm taking extra special care getting dressed this morning for my class. One of my students suggested that I give extra credit (since it's Holloween) if students dress up as some sort of "ideological" figure. We'll see how that turns out. I'm dressing up as an anarcho-syndicalist (black shirt, combat boots, red bandana, black beret). Should be interesting at least.
I've followed these dating rules for most of my life. But here they are:
Honesty is always the best policy. Never be afraid to hurt someone’s feelings.
Don’t date anyone a good friend of yours has seriously dated before.
After ending a long relationship (more than a few months), don’t go on a date for three months. If the relationship was an engagement, don’t go on a date for six months. The reverse is also true; don't date anyone who just ended a long relationship until she's been single for three months.
Don’t date anyone who is too old or too young for you. A simple rule is "half plus eight." Don't date anyone who isn't at least half your age plus eight (the reverse also applies).
Don’t make a formal date with a girl you meet at a bar or party. Wait a week. Use this time to find out something about her.
If you get a girl’s phone number, wait at least two days to call.
Don’t kiss on the first date.
Give each other space. Spend time with your friends and let her spend time with hers. You are still two different people, not just a couple.
Jealousy is irrational.
Relationships should be 50-50. If they are not, you should reconsider them.
If you decide to break up with someone, be explicit about it. See Rule 1.
Relationships aren’t complicated. People make relationships complicated when they aren’t explicit and honest. See Rule 1.
Today was my first real experience w/ a court. I answered my subpoena for the case against Markeet Primer, who was caught riding my stolen moped on 12 August. I had my damage estimate and Dan, Casey, Emily, and Dave (they had all had either a moped or parts of mopeds stolen that night) all went down to Kalamazoo juvenile court. We sat and waited, along w/ the lawyers and police officers who came to testify. We sat and waited.
We found out that there wasn't much that could be done, he probably couldn't pay for the damages (our lawyer liked the phrase "squeezing a turnip"). We chatted it up w/ the cops (one of whom drove from Bloomington Hills, where he now works) to testify. Then we sat and waited some more.
Finally, it was evident that Markeet wasn't showing up. It turns out that he was in jail (or rather, had been released a few minutes ago) for some other crime. This time he's an adult offender. His lawyer (once we actually got to formal proceedings) argued that it wasn't Markeet's fault that he didn't make it to court, since he hadn't planned on being arrested. Damn right! I really disliked Markeet's court appointed lawyer. He was so snide; the judge was obviously doing what he could to control himself. We still sat and waited.
They're going to get another court date for us sometime in December. So another trip out to court, even knowing that nothing much can come of it. Oh, and we found out that part of the confusion was that Markeet was the kid arrested for stealing Casey's and Lauren's mopeds a few nights ago. But that was an adult offense, so we can get more justice (perhaps?) from him there. Let's hope.
In the end, I got paid $8.07 for showing up to court that day and doing my civic duty.
There's nothing I hate more than dishonesty. Even if you have to hurt someone's feelings, you should always be honest. Even brutally honest. I hate passive-aggressiveness and all those games that are meant to make you be the nice guy while you give mixed signals and say the opposite behind someone's back. It's the worst form of betrayal.
Morrisey said it best:
I know I'm unloveable You don't have to tell me Message received Loud and clear Loud and clear
I heart the internet. Seriously. I'm trying to put together a CD w/ songs about American geography (cities, regions, places, etc.) for my friend J. Edmund. Well, I just found Eric's Geography Songlist online. It's just plain fantastic.
Last night I got rid of Ursula. Now I'm down to a manageable two cats. No, I didn't just put Ursula in the street (as tempted as I often was) or take her to the pound. Dave and Emily took her. But I'm very glad to now have only two cats, Annie and Sophie. Ah!
Last night I went to The Little Theater on campus and saw The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. The movie was quite good, and it has a really interesting performance by Jodie Foster as a rather evil/twisted character. It's basically a tale of adolescent growing up in modern America and all that; but it's a really good take on it and brutally honest. Well worth seeing.
I'm also pretty excited about some of the upcoming movies that will be playing in November. Lovely & Amazing is playing 8-10 November. On 21 November there is a special showing of The Believer, a movie about a young Jewish man who becomes fiercely anti-Semitic and ends up leading the American Nazi Party in the 1960s. There's going to be a Q & A w/ the movie's editor, Lee Percy.
The two movies I'm most excited about, however, are 24 Hour Party People and Metropolis. 24 Hour Party People looks to be very entertaining. It's also a movie about the birth of British "new wave" music in the late 1970s w/ bands like Joy Division and The Happy Mondays. It plays 15-17 November.
And I'm ecstatic that The Little Theater is showing the restored version of Metropolis. This is Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis, mind you, not the 2002 anime Metropolis (which is also quite good). This is the restored version of the 1927 sci-fi classic along w/ its original theatrical score. There is no way I'm going to miss this; it plays 22-24 November.
I'm at The Space working the noon to 5 shift behind the bar. I'm using my free time to use Limewire searching for songs to download. J. Edmund Dahl is flying back to London (he's somewhere over the Atlantic now) and I thought I'd make him a CD w/ songs dealing w/ US geography. So if you have any ideas of songs that are about US cities (eg. "New York, New York"), regions (e.g. "Almost Heaven (West Virginia)", or other songs US-geography related, please let me know.
Yesterday, J. Edmund, Joshua David Dale Upson, Bay Jo, and myself, drove to Royal Oak to celebrate "Fakesgiving." Essentially, a Thanksgiving dinner but not on Thanksgiving Day, since J. Edmund was returning to London, where he teaches at a Grammar School. It was a great time, we were joined by several other friends from Kalamazoo who arrived later and in other vehicles. We also met various members of the Dahl family. The food was great and a good time was had by all.
I had lunch at Nina's Cafe today w/ my friend Aparna. She's the only person left in town from my grad school cohort. Both of us are now ABD ("all but dissertation") and frustrated most of the time. It's always nice to meet up and talk. Mostly we confess that we're not really working all that hard, ask each other for tips on overcoming writer's block, and ideas on how to teach our courses. It's a good reality check.
I've also been spending a lot of time w/ Josh Dahl who is visiting from London. He recently moved there to teach English. It's good to have him back stateside for a few days.
We saw a movie tonight, and another yesterday. Tonight we saw The Transporter, which is not a good movie. The first 5-10 minutes are hopeful; then the movie goes downhill very quickly. I lost interest in all the characters w/in the first 30 minutes. After that, it wasn't even a good action movie.
Last night we saw The Ring. While I'm not a big fan of horror movies and that entire genre, it was fairly good. There were some things I'd rather had been done differently; but I'd still recommend it if you have the extra money and time. We went in a big group, including all the "Joshes" (Dahl, Franta, and Upson) and everyone seemed to really like it. Dan seems to think it's one of the scariest movies ever. So I guess that if you're into horror movies, you might like it, too.
Oh, after that ... we had a nice treat. Our friend Jake had acquired a preview copy of the upcoming Simpson's Holloween episode. It was tons of fun to watch a pre-release copy of a TV episode that won't air publicly until 3 November.
I just found out that the Universidad NUR in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, is in the process of establishing a formal "twinning" relationship w/ Western Michigan University. I'm pretty excited about that; perhaps a job future?
Well, I just called the Kalamazoo Animal Rescue. They don't have a place for Ursula. I'm going to put up a flyer at the Kalamazoo People's Food Co-op and wait another few days. I'm sure some hippie will save Ursula from the pound. Because otherwise, that's where she's going.
I could feel bad, but I won't. Bill Brieger was going to just set her loose on the street before he left for Japan. I saved her and gave her a good home for a few weeks. And while everyone keeps coming up w/ "well, if you can't find anyone to take her, maybe I can" stories, she's still here ... making my life and my cats' lives miserable. Ursula will be gone by the end of this week. Sorry Bill.
Well, it's been a while since I posted. What's new since then?
I played Monopoly yesterday w/ Dan, Caleb, Josh Dahl, and John Wagner. It was cutthroat competition, but I came out on top as the richest capitalist. It all started w/ the Parkplace-Boardwalk monopoly; that's where it's at.
Later that evening, Josh Dahl and Bay took Emily and I to a haunted house. Those three seemed to really like haunted houses. And while I can appreciate a well-put-together haunted house, they just don't scare me. But it was sort of fun. It was mostly great seeing a mellow guy like Josh Dahl freak out and run around through fog-machine smoke and strobe lights.
Late late Sunday night (early early Monday morning) I helped Dan hunt down moped thieves again. One moped was recovered; another is still missing. Today I have my day in court (unless it's again postponed) w/ a moped thief from this summer. Will the wheels of justice finally catch up? It's so frustrating.
Well, that's about it. I'm calling the Kalamazoo Animal Rescue this afternoon about Ursula. She has got to go; I really wish Bill Brieger had made better arrangements for her before he left for Japan. Then again, bringing her over to my house in a cloth sack probably wasn't a good indication.
Life w/ an extra cat is difficult. Annie and Sophie are still rather distrustful of Ursula, and Ursula makes little effort to get along w/ Annie and Sophie. Mostly, Ursula just sleeps on my bed. That's usually not a problem. In the day, my cats like to lounge around in the living room, wrassle together, or just stare out the windows onto the parking lot.
But last night I went to bed while Ursula was still sleeping there. I thought I'd be nice and make Ursula feel at home (she's so slighted by my cats). Big mistake. See, Annie sleeps w/ me every night, usually under the covers. I saw Annie's little head pop up over the edge of the bed, look at Ursula, look at me, then whine for a bit, then move away back into the living room. She was obviously a bit jealous.
This morning, Annie turned into a bully and didn't let Ursula drink or eat. There was lots of hissing and baring of fangs. And while Annie doesn't have claws, she took a few swings at Ursula w/ that "back off biotch!" kind of attitude.
Meanwhile I was eating my cereal. So Sophie (who loves rice milk) comes over and waits patienty on the little futon chair next to my desk. As soon as I'm finished w/ my cereal, I put the bowl on the floor. But Ursula comes over and starts sniffing at the bowl. Sophie (who's quite a wuss) wimpers and looks at me w/ that little "but that's my rice milk" kind of look. Of course, I picked up Ursula and scuttled her away so Sophie could enjoy her rice milk.
You know, the little social dynamic that I had w/ two cats is not evolving well into a three-cat dynamic. Ursula needs a new home. Things just aren't working out.
I just got the word from one of my neighbors that he scared some hooded ghetto rats from stealing mopeds behind the apartment building. I'm so sick of dealing w/ little punk kids. I can't even keep track of the court dates for the kids I helped arrest. Now I have to spend much of the night in extreme vigilance. I think I might hop on the Motron for a bit and scope out the neighborhood.
Josh Dahl is getting back into town to visit. That's exciting. He recently moved to London to teach English (as odd as that sounds). It'll be glad to see him again; I've always enjoyed his company.
Right now I'm watching Trigger Happy TV, a hilarious British sketch comedy show. If you have cable, you must check it out on Comedy Central.
OK, I have to get on the moped and do some pre-emptive vigilante work.
Although I think war w/ Iraq is morally justifyable, I still recommend an article by James Fallows in the Atlantic. The article is brilliant in that it doesn't pretend to argue whether or not an attack on Iraq is morally justifyable. Instead, Fallows asks the question: What happens after the war is over? He argues, quite convincingly, that the cost of winning the war might be too high (e.g. we'd have to engage in nation-building and occupation for an indefinite future, á la Afghanistan or Kosovo).
After being swamped w/ too many slogan-filled tirades from both hawks and doves, it's refreshing to find a truly critical argument on the issue. I prefer arguments based on straightforward cost-benefit utilitarian principles, rather than mushy moral arguments that can be used for either position or emmotional appeals.
It's drizzly and the leaves are falling across the parking lot like giant golden snowflakes. Sophie sits on the window ledge and follows each leaf as it swirls to across her landscape. Fall is upon us. I'm wearing a sweater in my own apartment and my toes chill on the crisp wooden floor.
Today's music pick:His Name Is Alive, Someday (My Blues Will Cover The Earth).
My cats are now back to a real diet. I bought some of the highly recommended Iams brand weight control formula catfood. Good news is my cats really love it and eat it up. Bad news is it costs twice as much as Kit 'N Kaboodle, my cats' previous favorite food. Oh, and I checked the nutritional content labels ... there seems to be NO discernable difference between them. This new cat food better have some magical properties or else I'm going back to Kit 'N Kaboodle. Not only is it cheaper, but I don't have to go to Pets Plus to buy it (oh, and Pets Plus was NOT all it was cracked up to be). Plus, the Purina website is much sleeker and better designed. I judge nealry all matters by their web presence.
I got a great surprise today! My friend, Aníbal, who recently received his PhD from Notre Dame, sent me a journal offprint copy of his recently published article. The article is a revised version of a conference paper he and another friend, David (also from Notre Dame), presented at the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) conference in April 1998. That's a long time ago. In my humble opinion, the paper was groundbreaking. David and Aníbal developed a simple empirical tool for measuring the quality of democracy using standard available data (primarily electoral data). I adopted that method (w/ some modifications) and used it in a few follow-up conference papers (in 1999, 2000, and 2002).
I met David and Aníbal at the 1998 conference (my first academic conference) and we became pretty good friends. We kept running into each other at later conferences. I really enjoy both of those guys (David is from Uruguay and Aníbal from Argentina); they always encouraged me to keep working on my doctorate. Receiving that article came at a perfect time for me. It really helped to lift my spirits. If it took Aníbal and David four years to get their article published, then there is hope for me yet (which reminds me, I should start sending out my conference papers to publishers).
Anyhow, if you're interested, their article "Assessing the Quality of Democracy: Freedom, Competitiveness and Participation in Eighteen Latin American Countries" was published in the recent issue of Democratization. On a personal note: I'm mentioned in the "thankyou" paragraph (along w/ several other people) and my 1999 paper is referenced five times. Oh, and their article adopts the changes I proposed to their methodology. I'm tickled pink.
By the way, Aníbal is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He replaced James Malloy who recently retired. Malloy was, along with Eduardo Gamara of Florida International University, a specialist in Bolivian politics. Malloy is best known for his writings on the 1952 Revolution. So currently there is only one significant US-based academic specializing in Bolivia. Maybe I do have a future, eh?
I just won an eBay auction for a blue Smith Corona Galaxie Twelve typewriter. I'm really excited. I got it for only $10 (plus whatever the shipping cost will be). I've been wanting a typewriter for a while now. As much as I love the digital age, I still enjoy the feel and aesthetic of something like a nice old typewriter. I used to have a 1940s Royal typewriter that I found at a rummage sale ... my mom dropped it and it broke. I miss having a nice typewriter.
I just got back from grocery shopping. I've decided I don't like Meijer. At least in Portage, walking into Meijer makes me feel like I'm walking into some crazy Eastern European grocery store. There are tons of things you don't want, you can't find the things you want, and nothing is organized or placed where you think it should be. Meijer doesn't carry Eden Foods, Westbrae, Rice Select, the Rice Dream rice milk I like, or tons of other good organic foods that I prefer.
I'm going to stick to my local Harding's, the People's Food Co-Op, and Sawalls Health Food from now on. Especially Harding's! It's just a few blocks away and has everything I ever want: great selection, tons of organic foods, great produce, everything's well organized.
Oh, and I just finished eating some generic Meijer brand cheese Raviolini. I couldn't find any other brands. The selection was piss poor. And what was there ... well, boxes were smooshed, ripped, not a pretty sight. I usually prefer to buy my pasta from Italian companies, like Barilla or Racconto. The Meijer stuff was terrible. It didn't cook properly, it tasted "off," and did not mix well w/ the simple Christopher Ranch pesto I used. It was a terrible meal. Yep, I'm through w/ Meijer.
I'm taking a break from working diligently on my Fulbright application. I'm almost finished; it mostly just depends now on getting transcripts and letters of recommendation on time from everyone else. I only have the "Statement of Proposed Study" left to write. I'm wondering if it might be best to write it not as a short, terse prospectus, but rather as a sharp essay instead. I'm going to write it both ways and ask for advice. But I suspect that an essay is what the Fulbright people are really looking for. Bottom line: I think my application, as a whole, is a bit stronger this time around.
I'm not quite so glum about grad school today. I think I'm ready and re-energized for at least one final push. If I can get through this semester seriously pursuing my dissertation, it might just be enough to get me over this hump. I flipped though a book about writing a dissertation in 15 minutes a day. The author's general argument was that one needs to spend at least some time each day working on the dissertation. So I'll try that. Maybe I can come to love political science again. Who knows, eh?
But I'm still hoping and waiting to hear about that job with USAID. That would be my ticket out of everything.
I'm behind the counter at The Space. Slinging coffee and surfing the web (wireless style). Ah! Feels so much better. I'm blasting the latest and (sigh) final release from Barcelona, transHUMAN Revolution. Why do all the best bands disappear?! At least the music lives on ...
Due to my picking up a shift at The Space, I'm missing out on the madness that is Night of Destruction going on right about now at the Kalamazoo County Fair Grounds in Galesburg. I hope everyone else has a good time. Three words: motorcyle demolition derby.
So I have to build myself a disciplined routine. That's the conclusion I've come to. My first priority right now is to finish my Fulbright application (due 20 October). All I need now is to finish writing the description of my research project (a summary of my proposal) and get a WMU transcript and my recommendation letters. The rest is all there.
But I want to build a "work week" of sorts. Otherwise, writer's block and general malaise just wins over. So here's what I've come up with. Mon-Thur work specifically on school-related work. Tue/Thur morning I teach, so I'll spend those afternoons (about 4 hrs) on my dissertation work. Mon/Wed mornings I'll work on my dissertation and spend the afternoon on preping for my course.
That leaves Friday as both a catch-up day and also for two other things: reading new academic journals that come out and searching for possible future jobs. The latter is important; I came to the realization that I have no idea what to do after I finish my dissertation (I should at least have some concept of the kind of schools I want to apply to work at or where they might be located). I also want to start pursuing other job options ... I have to ask myself if I really want to be in grad school, after all.
I've been in school pretty much year-round since I was about six years old. I mean, seriously, year-round schooling for about twenty years. Most of my conscious life. I don't really know anything but school in my life. Did I really want this? Or did it just sort of happen to me? I feel really burned out ... I'm beginning to ask myself if there is anything left to give. Or is this it? Did I burn too bright too fast too hard?
Days like this ... the idea of just putting it all behind me and opening a small coffee shop sounds too appealing. A normal job, w/o a lot of pressures (intellectual or otherwise), where I feel productive and peaceful. That sounds so good right now. I'm glad I'm working behind the counter at The Space in a few hours.
I played a few unorthodox chess games this afternoon. I think they work better for me than the standard openings and moves.
Last night I helped Dan's girlfriend, Lauren, install Mac OS 10.2 on her iMac. She's very happy, as she should be. The Mac revolution is (finally!) coming. Even long-time PC geeks Dan and Simon are moving towards Apple. Now if only Apple would build a beautiful PDA to go w/ their new iCal, Address Book, and iSync software ...
I'm listening to Garage Sale the beautiful final release by Brittle Stars. Too bad most of the best bands only last a few fleeting years. It's so hard to keep up; you hear of a great new band and it disappears into the vast unknown. Meanwhile, the stupid radio music lingers on and on and on like a really bad broken record.
Last night I played Risk 2210 (aka "Space Risk") w/ Dan, Dave, and Emily. It was the first time I've played Space Risk in a long time. After taking a bit of a hammering, I made a rather successful comeback and took second place.
The weather today actually creeped up to 70 degrees. So I'm going to go outside in a bit and work on the Motron. It needs a carburetor cleaning, I think, to get it to idle again. Then I'm going to come back inside and clean my apartment. I got through the kitchen yesterday; I figure I can clean the rest of it this weekend.
I overslept and missed my class today. It's like a bad Seinfeld episode; I set the alarm for PM instead of AM. Doh! I feel like a total jerk; my students deserve better.
Now I'm at The Space, which just got wireless internet access. Right now it only works in the Green Room, which is colder than the rest of the place. But at least I can surf the web and such. Other good things today: The new issue of MacAddict came out. I found out that an extra chunk of money was deposited into my account by WMU. I also found out that my good friend, Josh Dahl, is coming into town next weekend after moving to London to teach.
On the home front: Ursula, the cat I unwillingly adopted when Bill Brieger went to Japan, will leave soon. She does not play well w/ others. Since Annie and Sophie (my cats) come first, Ursula will have to go. I still haven't found a person/place to take her in, so I'm putting up flyers around town and making a more concerted effort. If I don't hear from anyone soon ... she will just be pushed out my front door into the parking lot. She has claws; she can start fending for herself.
I'm feeling a bit better now; my throat isn't as sore and my eyes are focusing a bit better.
I worked at The Space for the first time in a long time. It was dead, so I took time to do some reading and some computer work. I set up a photo album of my recent trip to San Francisco and the Bay area. Let me know what you think. They're just thumbnail sketches, but if you want to see full-size versions of any specific images, just email me.
Well, I'm officially sick. I barely made it through class, then went home and took a long nap. Now I'm going back to bed again. I think a good 18 hours of sleep will fix me right up. But first, I should go to The Space to see Karate.
Well, I just got back from Chicago after a very very long trip. I have a sore throat and am probably coming down w/ a cold. And I have to teach in about six hours tomorrow morning. Argh.
I fed my cats. And I took a moment to edit some of the past blog entries, adding some links. I will update the photos I took during my trip in a day or two and link to them also. Well, I'm off to bed.
I'm at Chicago O'Hare. I'm trying out this laptop connection place called Laptop Lane. It charges 65 cents per minute, which isn't so bad. Mostly, I just want to see what it's like and take care of my internet fix for the day.
Alison took me to the Oakland airport only a few hours ago. We woke up early and walked through Berkeley to get some juice drinks at Jamba Juice. Afterwards, we had a nice pleasant ride out to the airport. She stayed with me until I had to go through the final security check. I kept turning around to see her waving at me. I think we were both a little sad.
Yesterday evening we went into San Francisco and walked around Chinatown for a while. Eventually we settled on the House of Nanking for dinner. It was a small-diner-type Chinese restaurant with small white and red tiles on the wall. Aparently, it's in the top ten Chinatown restaurants. How did we keep stumbling upon great food places? There were some impressive awards on the wall and the food was quite delicious. Afterwards, we walked under the bridge, which cars whizzing past. Then we went back to Berkeley.
We got dressed up and went out to the movies. We saw Igby Goes Down. I thought the movie was pretty good, though I didn't like the moral of the ending (I don't want to give it away). But there are some excellent performances by Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Susan Sarandon, and Claire Danes. My biggest complaint, however, was the soundtrack. The movie was filmed like a small indie movie with a counterculture theme ... so why was the soundtrack nothing but alterna-pop Top 40 fare? It's a movie about post-modern adolescent angst; it should have a soundtrack with things like Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, Black Heart Procession, stuff like that. Still, I recommend the movie if you get a chance.
Alison and I just got back from our trip up north. Not a total success. Highway 1 is very very very curvy, and Ali got car sick. We couldn't find any Dramamine, so we had to stop all the time to catch some air. We got to Point Reyes National Seashore, which is just past the little town of Olema (population 55). We lunched at the Olema Farm House before heading out into the park looking for Point Reyes Lighthouse. The place was part local pub, part tourist restaurant, part roadside diner. California ranchers in cowboy hats sat on stools at the bar; fashionable tourists sat at the tables.
More winding roads and we never found the famous lighthouse. At this point, Alison was thoroughly sick and so we just headed back to town.
We couldn't find any vacancies anywhere (it was wedding season), so we just kept driving around. At this point we were both a bit irritatable, though NPR took the edge off. More winding roads until we found US 101. We took that north looking for Sonoma (the center of the Sonoma Valley wine country). We never did find it, so we ended up in Petaluma (which was, apparently, not far away). But at this point we were tired of driving and just wanted to eat dinner and find a place to sleep.
We stopped at the first place with a vacancy off the Petaluma exit. The Casa Grande Motel was your typical California motel, complete w/ pink and sea blue paint everywhere. But it was cheap and they had a vacancy. After showers and a brief respite, we were ready to go find some food. We were in the mood for Italian.
Just our luck, we found a very nice place about five blocks up the road in Petaluma's historic downtown (where "American Graffitti" was filmed). Graziano's Ristorante was classy yet laid back. We must have looked a bit rag-tag to be in the restaurant voted Best Restaurant for Wine Lovers for 2000 by Wine Spectator magazine. The food was great and the waiter recommended a nice Napa Valley vintage to accompany my meal; it blended splendidly with the food.
In the morning, we ate at the Tea Room Cafe (which was sort of like Food Dance in Kalamazoo). Alison didn't say hello to the young hostess who commented on her Mates of State t-shirt. Alison is very shy.
We went dancing at the Cat Club (aka Club Fake on Friday nights). The music was really good and reminded me of the Wayside on Tuesday nights in Mount Pleasant. Dancing was great. I think I got hit on by an attractive San Francisco gay guy. Even though I'm straight, it's still flatering. I'm assuming he thought I danced well or something. He wanted me to take my shirt off and dance topless. So I'm also assuming he thought I was cute. Now if only cute girls hit on me more often. Hmhh.
We're driving across the Golden Gate Bridge and up Highway 1 in a few minutes. That should be an adventure.
Well, I'm in Berkeley now. Alison's at work, so I have a few hours to myself. I'll probably take a nap soon; the long cross-continent flight really wiped me out. And tonight Ali and I are going dancing. She's pretty sure I'll like it; I think it's going to be a new wave kind of dance club. I hope she's right. I haven't really danced in ages.
Today was a good day. Berkeley-SanFrancisco is nice ... but different. It's not quite like Chicago or anything like that. The city has no "height". It's nice that it's so sunny out and people seem really laid back and casual. But I miss the grit of a city like Chicago, New York, or Buenos Aires. I guess I'm too East Coast. But it really is nice. The sky is a beautiful azure blue and the air smells like citrus.
Ali took me to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). I really had a great time. They had several pieces by Matisse, Diego Rivera, and Picaso (some of my favorites, especially Picaso) and a photography exhibit by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll). They had tons of other things as well, of course. But those are the things that most stand out. It's a really nice building, too. Then we had lunch at Chevy's, a nice, very West Coast, Mexican restaurant (I had crab and shrimp quesadillas). Then we went to Yerba Buena Park and just laid in the grass under the sun. On the way home we stumbled upon an old 1800s brick church, Saint Patrick's.
Tomorrow, we are driving (we rented a car) north to Point Reyes National Seashore. We have no idea what we'll encounter there. But a car trip along the coast, through the wine country, to the beach cliffs just sounds like a smashing idea.
So I'm flying to California in a few hours to visit Alison. First I have to drive to Chicago O'Hare. Actually, my friend Dan is going to drive me there. I'm sure I'll have a great time in Berkeley with Alison. It's been a long time since we've seen each other. I'm excited.
I'm already in a California state of mind. The weather in Kalamazoo turned cold and damp this morning. It's miserable and dreary. I'm already imagining myself in sunny California. OK, so Berkeley isn't Los Angeles ... but, let's be honest, do I really care about Los Angeles? It might be a step up from Miami. But shallow beach towns are shallow beach towns are shallow beach towns. I hope the weather is nice in Berkeley-SanFran, though. I'm not ready for winter.
I got a phone call from my good friend Corine today. I hadn't heard from her in a few months. She's doing well in Chicago, is going to design school, and engaged to be married. I guess it's been a long time since we were freshmen together in Mount Pleasant. Wow. Corine was hands down my favorite person-memory from my undergraduate college days. I miss our coffees together at the University Cup (if you're ever there, get the Tiramisu latte).
I finally shaved. Then I got my hair cut at my local New Deal socialist barber. I asked him about getting a strop for my straight razor. You see, I want to start using a straight razor to shave instead of those expensive, inadequate, and wussy safety razors. Jim, my barber, doesn't think a straight razor is good idea. Does he know something I don't?
I transferred the Polini performance exhaust from the Bianchi to the Motron. And I changed up to a #58 main jet in the carburetor. Now I'm flying crazy fast. Oh, and I'm crazy loud. I love it.
My apartment is also slowly being redesigned. Now I have tons more floor space and it looks much more minimalist. Right now my two cats are lying carefree sprawled out on the floor. I think they like the new look, too. I'm happy again furniture-wise. Maybe I should have a dance party with my open wooden floors? Interesting.
Oh, and I'm still looking for an adoptive home for Ursula (aka Cat #3). If anyone wants a small puffy black cat, please let me know. I only want two cats.
The History Channel show on the Spartans was awesome last night. Those were some tuff hombres. Tonight we get to find out how they fought Athens. Seriously, if you're a history nerd you should check this show out.
Fall is coming and the leaves are turning. But we've had a short heat wave hitting us. It's odd weather here in Kalamazoo.
Oh, and some jerk almost tried to run me off the road this morning on the way to work. I'm riding on Lovell Street (which is one way and has two lanes). I'm on the right-hand lane; the left-hand lane is clear. This jerk passes me from within my lane and almost squeezes me off the road. I'm doing the speed limit to begin with, so there's not even a need to pass me (and he has the whole left lane to do it). So we pull up together at the red light; his window is down so I remind him that he can't try to run people over. He asks if I have a license for "that thing" (my moped) and I say: yes, it's a legal registered vehicle, and i'm allowed to take a full lane. Then he tries that stupid "I-drive-a-car-so-whatever-I-say-goes-because-I-can't-imagine-anything-else" ignorant American bullshit. I remind him again that I have a legal right to drive and take a whole lane. So he tells me that next time he'll "bump me off the road". Fine. It's on. This is the second time in a week something like this has happened. I'm going to start riding again w/ my u-lock in hand. Next guy that tries this loses a taillight.
