Here's one thing I won't miss about my commute to Smith: all the crazy accidents I see on the road with stunning regularity. Seriously, I used to think accidents were pretty rare, but in the two years I've been driving three hours a day, I usually see at least one fender-bender a day, one more serious accident a week, and some really insane sight ( Read more... )

By the time we went to bed last night, it had been snowing for several hours, but none of it was sticking. However, by morning, there was a good 4 inches on the ground. I had hoped they would cancel classes today, but Northampton wasn't getting it as bad as New Haven, so no cancellation was announced. I still had the option to cancel my own classes ( Read more... )

Wednesday, the conference only ran until 1pm and then we were free until the conference dinner at the Louvre at 8pm. Unfortunately, this was also one of the days during the conference where it was raining continuously (the weather throughout the conference was mild and dreary -- clouds and temperatures never exceeding the low 70s). I got lunch with ( Read more... )

Carmen gave me a big scare today. I had placed a box of wine bottles on a wooden chair next to my desk. She got curious what was in the box, but couldn't jump up onto the seat of the chair since the box was taking up all the space. So instead, she hooked her front paws over the back of the chair and pulled herself up clumsily, with her hind legs ( Read more... )

People really were driving crappily today. Add to my list of annoying things about driving that I don't understand ( Read more... )

I went to get a haircut this morning for the first time in New Haven. There's a place down the street and on Thursday I walked in hoping to get an appointment. The owner checked me out (a gay hair stylist? you don't say) and said unfortunately he's booked through the day. So I got set up for 9:30am this morning with one of his other stylists, a ( Read more... )

We are in Buffalo. The drive is beginning to get hairy. Leaving Gary this morning, it was raining intensely with lightning striking the ground all around us with regularity. It was not pleasant and lasted about an hour before we got out of it ( Read more... )

Our trip today was rather eventful. First, just after we had left our hotel and were driving on 80 through Omaha, I nearly ran into an SUV that was in my blindspot when I had to get out of an exit-only lane. I really, really hated Omaha's highways because there's so many mergers and splits within short succession of each other and everything's ( Read more... )

We moved into our new apartment on Tuesday. My parents drove up with us in a separate car so we could take double the stuff. After they left around 3 after lunch, we went to a discount furniture store and spent an hour trying to decide on a couch set. Furniture buying is a bit hard for us since rather different styles appeal to us at our hearts and ( Read more... )

One of the things that's really struck us during our time in France is how many injured people we see on the street. If you take the metro or walk down the main commercial street we live on, you'll invariably see at least one person with crutches or a cast. Twisted ankles, broken legs, broken arms, sprained wrists. It's just that an inordinate ( Read more... )