it's too easy to drink coffee all day, cup after cup, to excess.
i suppose that's the nature of all addictions.

the habit escalates ..

.. until, on the one hand,
it becomes (almost) infeasible to maintain;

on the other hand, going without it would be immediately crippling;
life would be unbearable (if only for a little while).

when i think ( Read more... )

today, like many recent days, is beautiful. the weather has been splendid.

having said so, of course,
      it will probably rain and bluster, or sleet and snow. ):every time i sit or stand outside, i am tempted to take photographs, even though in a few days or weeks i will look at them and dismiss them as nothing interesting or out of the ( Read more... )

today is fine weather. it's warm and in the 60s and the sun partially shines. there are people of all ages walking everywhere for hash bash ..

.. though, strangely enough, it isn't yet the twentieth.

the outdoor cafe tables stand outside, on the espresso royale near east hall (east and south university avenue intersection). i bought a coffee ( Read more... )

(crossposted from the other blog, because it's not really that math-y.)

lately it's been difficult to concentrate on work. i blame it on spring fever:

the warm, feel-good weather,
the hurried exodus of the undergrads,

the end of winter term and classes and seminars,
or any of our "regularly-scheduled programming."

i have always found it ( Read more... )

in this part of michigan, we are approaching the best time of the year ( Read more... )

i rode my bike to campus today and heard a few good talks (one of them by the advisor, another by a friend and fellow grad student) and when it came time to pedal back home, i rode down packard street ( Read more... )

in the last few days the weather has been wonderful. i've walked back and forth from campus, and i was not afraid of the wind. from what people tell me, winter wind here is nothing compared to the boston wind, but "wind chill" is a fearsome word, for anyone who knows ( Read more... )

good news: it's warming up. last week i walked to school in a t-shirt and sandals and shorts, all the while keeping a sweater in my bookbag. in the evenings, walking home, i put the sweater to good use.

bad news: plants are flowering and my allergies are acting up. once i start sneezing and blowing my nose, it continues until my nose is stuffed ( Read more... )

i wrote this earlier at the office, perhaps as a means to justify my actions. as i've told a first-year student this morning, grad school these days is more of a job than a student's life, for me. life won't change very much from winter to spring to summer, if only because the workload doesn't depend on the season ( Read more... )