Chicago

So, last weekend I went to Chicago and got to hang out with Zach, Annie, and baby Sloan. It was awesome to see them after, what is it, four or five years. Everyone looks good, the same, except for baby Sloan, who is new. Chicago was cool, except when I got on the wrong train and got off in a bad neighborhood. It wasn't too far from the U of Chicago, but it was 10 pm. I asked directions from a cop at a gas station and ended up getting a ride to their neighborhood in the back of their paddy wagon. We went by the Obama's house, walked around the university, saw the Oriental Studies museum, etc. Spent hours and hours just talking. It was just fun to reconnect. I am kind of jealous that Zach's degree requires time lots of time in the mountains. The pictures of his dig sites in Peruvian highlands were very cool. They might be there next year, so maybe if I am unemployed . . . Also, there was an the Assoc. of Asian Studies meeting where I presented a paper on Buddhist chanting and tried to meet people.

Ouch!!

When I came home Miriam was crying, holding her tooth.
"What happened?"
Eventually, I figure out she was outside, playing on this bench I made, and throwing wood onto the arbor, and she thought it might fall on her, and turned away, and hit her teeth on the bench somehow? I have no idea.
Anyway, this is one of the teeth that just grew back from when she whacked them a couple months ago. They were purple for a few weeks.
(We just found the teeth marks on the top rung of the bunk bed ladder. A perfect half circle.)
"Can I take a picture."
"You're not going to put them on the blog are you."
Man, this kid has us figured out.
At least I wasn't laughing at her, like some people.

palmer asian art gallery

So, a few weeks ago, we finally hung up a bunch of things we got in Japan. Here are some picts.
The calligraphy scroll is like 8 feet tall. I have no idea what it says. Any suggestions?

Spring Break

So technically, this next week is finals week, and then Spring break, and then the next quarter starts. But, we've decided to postpone our kayak plans until mid April, the weekend of the 11-12, because now that I am not teaching next quarter, it is all the same for me. So instead we're going on Miriam's spring break. And Adam's coming. So I am just working now, to play later. Still, with daylight savings we've finally been to the beach after school on a weekday. Saturday, went hiking with the Elder's quorum, went to a service project, and then, since there was a tiny swell, surfed for the first time in a few weeks. Oh, by the way, I've also finished a rough draft of my last chapter of my dissertation, so now it's just about rewriting, and formatting, and editing. If anyone wants to volunteer to read a chapter and give me some feedback, let me know.

More time to write my dissertation

So, I just heard back from the second of the two schools where I had campus visits, that I did not get the job. So, it looks like we will be in Socal until Dec. at earliest and maybe longer. Then we will be looking for some other kind of gainful employment. I would love to move back to Hawaii for a bit, but we'll see. I might also be able to pick up some classes here and move off campus. At any rate, I will have some more time to write my dissertation, which is a good thing, although I am pretty ready to be finished.

Malibu Getty

So we've been wanting to check it out for a while. Our friends were planning a museum day so we suggested this and all went.

Miriam was not sure what to make of all the nudity at first, but she bored by it all pretty quick.







Here's a nice shot Gwyn took, when she wasn't running around.

Overall, it was a nice mix of museum and architecture, so the kids could run around a little, enjoy the fountains and courtyards in between the museum. Finally, we stopped at the beach on the way home and I wished I'd brought my surfboard.

Campus visits and job talk

So, I just heard back from a second school inviting me out to for a campus visit, Denison U. in Ohio. It is a small, liberal arts college in a tiny south eastern Ohio town. I am very excited, although this means that I will have to finish up my job talk a week earlier than I expected. It was already going to be tight, so this means the next few weeks will be busy. My other campus visit is at SUNY Binghamton on Feb. 9.