So alot has happened since our last entry. Eric left to fulfill his final teaching requirement (sad), Eric is coming back to New York in two weeks (happy!). i have been working for the Buell Center for a year and a half and am going to start the PhD at Columbia in the fall. We have a cat, name: hermano (see image above). We found him in Fort Greene part, or should I say, he found us. I'm going to be better about updating this blog regularly...

what time is it?

why don't we ask the chairman?

Wildwood Report

So what happened this weeked? Diana, Adam, and I all rode the train to Long Island, got on our bikes and rode to Wildwood State park. Some debaucherous beach action happened (see photos), a little camping, and lots of mexicans and filipinos at the beach. who knew? We stopped at an army surplus store in port jefferson that was oddly stocked with the standard military gear and a bunch of chinese commie propaganda. They were selling the little read book! I bought a pocket watch with Mao waving at you and Adam and Diana bought a "totally hot" mess kit.
The total round-trip was about 30 miles of biking and we managed to get three flat tires in that time span (2 Adam, 1 Eric), which is amazing considering that Diana and I rode 600 miles to Maine and managed to avoid getting a single flat. Go figure. The third flat happened about 2 miles away from the train station with 20 minutes to spare, but luckily I bought a patch kit before we left, because we used both spare tubes... Adam's rear tire was also threadbare in one spot so we had to reinforce it with the cardboard from the spare tube box. Apparently he can't get enough skidding in on his velo. We also found a bunch of rapsberries on the side of the road, they were uber tasty. This is sure to be the first in an instalment of weekend bike trips, so stay tuned.

an inventory

summer reading thus far.

its been a long time since this has been updated, which is probably some sort of index of how boring academic life is, but maiora premunt. since the last time i've posted a few things have happened: my cinelli was stolen, I taught my first class, i finished coursework (prelims still loom), i gave two papers at conferences (the epitome of excitment), diana got a real job at LTL, she taught a studio at columbia, rides her bike to work by herself everyday, we moved to brooklyn, got a flatscreen tv, built bookshelves, went to minnesota a couple times, had epic struggle with lost luggage on the way back from europe a year ago, i did my first century on the blueridge parkway, rode a road bike for the first time, got a mountain bike, bought my 1000th book (not that I count or anything), went to philadelphia for the first time, went on a circle line tour, read a lot of books (though not enough), got a new bike, a new phone, and watched BBC's Planet Earth series.

a year ago now...

Newark, wal-mart flower cube

barcelona: more to come

empuriabrava

after winding our way through the mountains, we made an endrun for the ocean to meet up with a friend of diana's from school. after spending a couple hours hanging out on the beach, we decided to call bill and see if he was around. luckily he was and he was on a jobsite. we went to meet him and he was in the middle of one of the most frustrating job situations we have ever seen. he is working on a private house called "villa nurbs" which is meant to indicate the calculus based system that gave the house its form. the idea is mildly interesting, but the project is a total clusterfuck. the principle architect appears to be totally incompetent and the client visits the site everyday, making changes. essentially, all designing is done onsite, which leads to constant delays and everyone wants to quit. luckily bill is only a summer intern, so he is done now. although it was not under the best of circumstances, it was nice to see some friendly faces.