It was a dark and stormy morning...

Rain is such a rare thing here in California that on Tuesday morning when I saw the rain I honestly couldn't remember how we're supposed to deal with it. Do we cancel all our plans? Do we curl up into the fetal position until the storm passes? How was I going to travel two whole miles to get to campus? Well maybe I can borrow the car from Vivian today. Let me ask... uh, she said no. Now what?

I was about to admit defeat and go back to bed when I remembered that I own a rain jacket. Then Vivian reminded me that we also own some waterproof pants (the tags were still on the pants... I guess we were saving them for a rainy day). It was decided, I was going to tough it out and ride the bike to school. So I confronted the light rain, mild temperatures, and slight headwind with only my trusty Cannondale to get me through.

I learned on my commute to school that if you forget to tie your shoes before leaving you can bet that all of the water that hits your pants will end up inside of your shoe.

Since the quarter just ended I didn't expect to see very many people on the bike path, and there weren't any except for a stationary Mustang with two girls in it that looked lost. And it is not so strange to find cars in bike lanes, except that the bike path at this point goes through a field and is completely separate from the road. Did they make a wrong turn? Did they think that little road looked cute? I guess, maybe that light rain can be a little disorienting, so be careful out there.

Levi's Likes

The "Finals" Countdown

One of the nice things about being a graduate student is that you are insulated from just about everything. I don't exactly have to "go to work" or "get up on time", and I don't really have to "talk to people" or "know what's going on in the world" if I don't feel like it. And what's funny is I've been in school for so long that there really aren't any classes left for me to take. Or maybe I should say that the classes just aren't really worth my time anymore (oh academic snobbery, how I love thee).

But as each quarter draws to a close I am reminded that there are actually students at the university that take classes. They come out of the woodwork to take their final exams, and it is in this funny week we call "finals week" that some truly strange behavior can be observed. As you might imagine the students are often times either stressed, or sleep deprived, or anxious, or even sometimes just downright depressed. And when the students travel in packs you'll notice some resemblance to zombies, where they seem unconscious but slowly drawn (as if sleep walking) to coffee carts and lecture halls.

But what truly makes the finals week interesting is that the same pre-finals zombie students that entered the lecture hall exit in a euphoric, energetic mood. Right outside of the classroom they'll be in small herds very loudly cheering or stating things like "Oh, #4 was easy!" or "Man I'm so glad I'm done!". Or you can see them on their bikes swerving dangerously from side to side while talking on their Motorola RAZR saying "Yeah Mom, I think I, like, passed chem this time!". But yesterday I experienced something new. While walking past the chem building I saw and heard a guy leaving his final on his 10-speed bike playing a harmonica. It was an upbeat tune (not too bluesy) which I'm sure meant he was all done, and he was kinda dancing and swaying with the music while playing the harmonica enthusiastically with both hands (none left to steer the bike, i.e. "Look Mom, no hands!"). I got a chuckle out of the scene, and was left with all kinds of questions in my head like: did he specifically pack a harmonica for his last final so he could play his victory march home? Or does he always play while biking? Maybe he awoke from the zombie trance and noticed the harmonica in his pocket and thought, "well that's convenient." Does finals in fact make a person crazy, or do crazy people take finals? Either way, I think that guy will be happy in graduate school.

5 months old!

november photos

Elf yourself

Thanks to Carrie and Claire for helping us get in the Christmas spirit. The site can take a while to load, but its worth it.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1136694005

Apple, Tree

Since Levi was born we have had many conversations with friends that start with something like "So which of you does he take after?" or "Who do you think he looks like?". I find most of these conversations to be a little puzzling, and they all seem to eventually end up with both Vivian and I modeling our noses, eyes, chins, ears, toe nails, etc so that our friends can take a closer look at our genetic code and inheritable traits. Inevitably I find myself dissatisfied with the lack of scientific rigor in these discussions and am frankly a little embarrassed to say things like "I've had this nose since puberty, not since birth." So I've just let it go... until now.

I present for you a side by side comparison of Levi at 4.5 months (on left) and yours truly at about 6 months old (on right). So I guess I should ask you, do you see any resemblance? Maybe the better question is who is fatter?