The Laursonian Institute

I’m all tuckered out from an excellent birthday day!  I’m full of love and happiness.  I saw lots of friends, had a good time in Berkeley, had a lovely walkabout in Davis, played with my new things… happy times, happy times.

May 23rd, 2009 | Tags: berkeley, birthday, friends | Category: life | Comments Off

Good day, after a bit of a rough start.  Boring section this morning because we had so much material to get through.   Then I found out I had lost a paper draft I should have read a week ago, and didn’t believe that the student had ever turned it in.  Found it, and speed-graded it, thankfully.  My worst problem student came in when I only had 10 minutes left of my office hours, complaining that he had no idea what a research paper was supposed to be.  And not in a feeling-unsure sort of way as if he would write a decent paper and he’s just worried.  More like the very concept of a research paper was foreign to him, and it was a travesty that we would request such a hurculean feat as a four page research paper.  Meh.

So that was the rough start.  After I shooed him out of my office, a bunch of the ling grads took me out for a burger and a beer as a pre-birthday shindig.  I really love these guys, and it was neat to have a little thing with them.  Had our Friday night class after that, then I’ve just been hanging out at home and enjoying this Giants-Mariners game.  Randy Johnson was pitching, and I saw Griffey bat!  Good times… he almost got a grand slam at the bottom of the ninth, but it was just a little short.  It’s been 1-1 since the 6th inning and they’re in the 12th already. I’m not sure I’m going to make it through the end of the game… but it’s been a very nice way to spend the night.  Gotta get on a train in the morning to meander down to Berkeley and have a nice birthday afternoon out with some of the Ask folks and Armand.  Should be good times.  I’m looking forward to it!

May 22nd, 2009 | Tags: berkeley, birthday, essays, friends, lunch, students, taing | Category: life, school | Comments Off

Too tired… can only list:

• drove to Oakland
• hung out in favorite local bookstore (FOPL!)
• had lunch at Rattos with favorite local work friends!
• had second lunch with Armand in Berkl!
• nerded around model train store
• read books and birdwatched on campus
• visited favorite Berkl coffee shop / classical music shop and adjacent bookstore
• drove back to Davis
• had chinese takeout with the Lawyers + Schmidts
• tried enquicken Lawyer computer (failed)

Tomorrows gonna be a big day.  I think it might be join-the-gym day.  And early morning blood sample day.  But it’s also hang out with Heather and Kevin day, and the big trip to the nursury to get our fruit trees and front yard goodies!  Yay!

March 25th, 2009 | Tags: berkeley, books, bookstores, friends, list, oakland, rattos, spring break | Category: life | Comments Off

Berkeley day today!  Yay!

But before the Berk, I started the day off right.  Sort of.  I’ve been feeling like I’m swimming upstream a bit all week, or at least since class started.  So of course, I woke up 15 minutes before the alarm went off and I panicked about being ready to leave on time, and whether I could squeeze any work in before Lewis got up, and what to have for breakfast, and whether I should blog, and all that ridiculous stuff.  So I got up and made apple cinnamon muffins, which are superb.  And I blogged!  At the end of the day (or morning, really) what really matters is that we got out of the house on time, without forgetting anything, and with breakfast in our tummies.

So I went to Albany, and I got my hair cut, which was badly in need of being done.  Cost me way more than I should probably be spending on these sorts of things, but I just have not gotten around to figuring out who else to go to, and besides, I love Melody.  She’s a really cool person and she’s been doing my hair since we moved to the Bay Area, and frankly is the only hair stylist I’ve ever had.  I fear trying to find another one, though I’m sure someone in Davis ought to be able to at least placate me.  It’s not so much about the hair as trusting and liking someone to do it.

Anyway, post-hair we headed to the Berkeley Farmers Market to grab a little lunch and meet up with Nina, the person I miss most from the Bay.  The Farmers Market was cute, and had tasty foods for us to consume.  Saw lots of neat booths as well, and I was glad to see it was a different variety of people that go to either the El Cerrito or Oakland markets, so it felt a litlte unique.  Thence to Jupiter to meet up with Armand and have a few pints.

It’s always so heartwarming and life-affirming to spend time doing nothing with the people you like the most.  It’s so great to see Armand, and he fits in so well to Berkeley!  I’m glad he finds the place comfortable and to his liking.  So we had a few pints, talked about the good old days, introduced Nina to Arms and vice versa.   Yay.

Home again, and back to studying.  Made it through the first of the papers I need to read for 280, and got all the notes I needed for that one as well.  Very  pleased with how the wikinotes are going — I took almost 4000 words worth for Saussure!  Labov was much easier reading, and sadly I didn’t enjoy it as much as the Saussure.  I seem to be getting into the more cerebral philosophical papers, and I suppose sociolinguistics has never really been my forte.  Also sad but true… this blog is slowly going to turn into barely coherent linguistic musings and/or braindump.  Sorry, non-existent readers!

September 27th, 2008 | Tags: berkeley, friends, pints, reading | Category: life | Comments Off