Holiday season (with a surprising emphasis on food)
So I never got around to writing about Thanksgiving. Or, indeed, anything which happened since Thanksgiving. WHich is a pity, since things since then have been generally awesome.
Starting with Thanksgiving: I spent the better part of a week in DC, getting to spend time with the folks, and in particular with my nephew Nevin, who is, as babies do, changing a little bit every day, so it was definitely a joy to see him in his second month of life. It was mostly just nice to see the entire immediate family, although getting well-fed doesn't hurt either (I always eat better off my parents than I do on my own, although I do OK for myself).
Then came the one truly unpleasant part of Thanksgiving: getting home. The Monday after Thanksgiving the entire Midwest stopped working. Flights out of Midway were delayed 3 hours; my cab in Louisville oozed slowly towards the university. My safe buffer of time before my class melted into being 30 minutes late -- the first time I've been late for a class in my time at UofL. That kinda sucked, although fortunately I got a colleague to explain the situation so my students weren't completely lost.
So, in the interim, I've been wrapping up loose ends. I applied for an early-faculty award, have been steadily but slowly working on my papers, and just trying to get stuff together. My game-group-and-occasional-dining-out-society found a quite excellent Indian restaurant in Buechel, a pretty good Korean place in Lynnview, and quite good pizzarias in the Highlands and New Albany (actually, we already knew about NABC, but went there for special seasonal beers). Also, I've been halfheartedly taking up knitting again. Cables are confusing! Maybe I'll do something without cables.
And then, last Friday, I drove 600 miles back to DC. Like my last trip, this one was extremely unpleasant, raining through most of Kentucky and the beginning of West Virginia. But now I'm back and will be for the next three weeks. This vacation features a few holiday and New Year's parties, Hannukah with the folks, a visit from my brother, ister-in-law, and nephew, and a paper presentation at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (OK, that part isn't technically vacation -- in fact, technically none of this is, and I need to get some work done in the next few weeks).
But, anyways, to my Kentucky friends: I'm out of town for the next few weeks; let's connect some other time. To my DC-area friends: I'm in town for the next few weeks; want to meet up for lunch or somesuch? To my San Diego and Boston friends... uh, yeah, just go on and do what you normally do.
Starting with Thanksgiving: I spent the better part of a week in DC, getting to spend time with the folks, and in particular with my nephew Nevin, who is, as babies do, changing a little bit every day, so it was definitely a joy to see him in his second month of life. It was mostly just nice to see the entire immediate family, although getting well-fed doesn't hurt either (I always eat better off my parents than I do on my own, although I do OK for myself).
Then came the one truly unpleasant part of Thanksgiving: getting home. The Monday after Thanksgiving the entire Midwest stopped working. Flights out of Midway were delayed 3 hours; my cab in Louisville oozed slowly towards the university. My safe buffer of time before my class melted into being 30 minutes late -- the first time I've been late for a class in my time at UofL. That kinda sucked, although fortunately I got a colleague to explain the situation so my students weren't completely lost.
So, in the interim, I've been wrapping up loose ends. I applied for an early-faculty award, have been steadily but slowly working on my papers, and just trying to get stuff together. My game-group-and-occasional-dining-out-society found a quite excellent Indian restaurant in Buechel, a pretty good Korean place in Lynnview, and quite good pizzarias in the Highlands and New Albany (actually, we already knew about NABC, but went there for special seasonal beers). Also, I've been halfheartedly taking up knitting again. Cables are confusing! Maybe I'll do something without cables.
And then, last Friday, I drove 600 miles back to DC. Like my last trip, this one was extremely unpleasant, raining through most of Kentucky and the beginning of West Virginia. But now I'm back and will be for the next three weeks. This vacation features a few holiday and New Year's parties, Hannukah with the folks, a visit from my brother, ister-in-law, and nephew, and a paper presentation at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (OK, that part isn't technically vacation -- in fact, technically none of this is, and I need to get some work done in the next few weeks).
But, anyways, to my Kentucky friends: I'm out of town for the next few weeks; let's connect some other time. To my DC-area friends: I'm in town for the next few weeks; want to meet up for lunch or somesuch? To my San Diego and Boston friends... uh, yeah, just go on and do what you normally do.