Ok so in my defense I had a salad before this that I did not take a picture of. This is a garden burger with some alexia french fries (will not get again, not all that yummy) and perhaps a little bit too much ketchup...The french fries made me long for Kroger brand curly fries I got a while back--they were really good!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
17/366: Tuesday, 01/17/2012
It was quite warm, but very rainy and dark for most of the morning-I kind of liked it.
NYTimes Book Review: Peter Singer reviews Pinker's latest.
16/366: Monday, 01/16/2012 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
I have to admit that I read the NYTimes book review usually INSTEAD of reading the actual books themselves, because well who has time????
Case in point was the review by Peter Singer (one of my favorite people) of Steven Pinker's new book The Better Angels of Our Nature. Singer did a such good job of describing the book's contents, that I don't really feel the need to go read it on my own.
I do remember when Pinker came to Albion College and gave a racy talk all about swearing and swear words, in which most of them were mentioned on numerous occasions, yet he did not swear once during the whole.talk. It was amusing to see the various AC dignitaries squirming in their seats on the stage. I think the students enjoyed it.
And since I was part of the small faculty coterie who had met to discuss his somewhat annoying book "The Blank Slate" I got to participate in the breakfast he came to have with the coterie participants. That's where I took his picture.
I have to admit that I read the NYTimes book review usually INSTEAD of reading the actual books themselves, because well who has time????
Case in point was the review by Peter Singer (one of my favorite people) of Steven Pinker's new book The Better Angels of Our Nature. Singer did a such good job of describing the book's contents, that I don't really feel the need to go read it on my own.
I do remember when Pinker came to Albion College and gave a racy talk all about swearing and swear words, in which most of them were mentioned on numerous occasions, yet he did not swear once during the whole.talk. It was amusing to see the various AC dignitaries squirming in their seats on the stage. I think the students enjoyed it.
And since I was part of the small faculty coterie who had met to discuss his somewhat annoying book "The Blank Slate" I got to participate in the breakfast he came to have with the coterie participants. That's where I took his picture.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
15/366: Sunday, 01/15/2012
Today I finally got a substantial bit of reading done. I'm reviewing this collection of essays on the German writer Sophie von La Roche. I'm enjoying the essays but I am a slow reader, so I plod along. Plod plod plod...
14/366: Saturday, 01/14/2012
Finally I made it to the comfy chair for bite to eat. As I recall I was a bit frazzled today and did not get as much reading done as I would have hoped. George is looking up because he probably saw heard someone in the hallway outside.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
13/366: Friday, 01/13/2012
Beginning of a three day weekend. I hunkered down in my cave-since the weather was uninviting and I was tired.
12/366: Thursday, 01/12/2012
This was not as yummy as I thought it should be. The roasted red peppers were a bit past their prime. It wasn't bad, just not as yummy as things with avocados usually are.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
10/366: Tuesday, 01/10/2012
Today was the first day of my 8am class. I took the first bus (at 7am) to school and this was the view from my window when I got to my office.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Aesclepius' staff vs. Hermes' Caduceus, or why two snakes are not necessarily better than one...
9/366 Monday, 01/09/2012
While doing a wee bit of research for a class (I was reading up on the Hessian town of "Schlangenbad"="snake-bath/spa") I happened upon this intriguing bit of trivia -the Rod of Asclepiuus is an ancient symbol associated with medicine and healing. It depicts a single serpent wrapped around a rod/staff. But there is also the caduceus, which is the staff that Hermes carried and is usually depicted as entwined by two serpents, sometimes with wings at the top--as you can see in the above picture. For reasons too varied to get into here the cadeuceum is sometimes used as the symbol of medicine --which is what is going on here since I took this shot right next to a dentist's office in the little strip mall on the way to my apartment.
You can read up on the whole controversy here.
While doing a wee bit of research for a class (I was reading up on the Hessian town of "Schlangenbad"="snake-bath/spa") I happened upon this intriguing bit of trivia -the Rod of Asclepiuus is an ancient symbol associated with medicine and healing. It depicts a single serpent wrapped around a rod/staff. But there is also the caduceus, which is the staff that Hermes carried and is usually depicted as entwined by two serpents, sometimes with wings at the top--as you can see in the above picture. For reasons too varied to get into here the cadeuceum is sometimes used as the symbol of medicine --which is what is going on here since I took this shot right next to a dentist's office in the little strip mall on the way to my apartment.
You can read up on the whole controversy here.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
8/366: Sunday, 01/08/2012
Georgie and I cheered up for my last "free" day before the semester. I tried out my new crockpot with a very easy and pretty tasty vegan dish.
7/366: Saturday, 01/07/2012
Bill left Georgie and me today to get back to the house and other cats (and work too). Georgie's slightly melancholy pose captures how we both initially felt. But we cheered up before too long...
6/366: Friday, 01/06/2012
Bill stayed until Saturday. As you can see George felt right at home here in the apartment very quickly.
5/366: Thursday, 01/05/2012
George is getting fairly used to the traveling. He doesn't like it but he resigns himself to being in the carrier pretty quickly. Now and then we'll hear a squeaky meow but other than that he just tries to curl up and sleep. The drive takes about 4 and a half hours, we finished most of "Middlemarch" on this trip down--man what a good book! High drama!
4/366: Wednesday,04/01/2012
Last evening at home with George, Hansi and Tom (=Parks & Recreation) on the TV. I wish I'd had a few more of such evenings...the break was really a bit short.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
3/366: Tuesday, 01/03/2012
After a scrumptious vegan! breakfast at the hotel and seeing Louisa off at O'Hare, I took the EL back to Monroe street from where I hoofed it back to Union Station. The weather was cold but very bright and sunny. On the way I was very happy to walk past a Pret a Manger store where I stopped and purchased what turned out to be a delicious Hummus & Garden Veggie sandwich (vegan!) and a very nice not too sweet tasting soda called "Yoga Bunny". Waiting for the Amtrak train wasn't too bad and so before too too long I was back in Albion for my last day and a half before moving back to Oxford with Georgie. I really do feel happier and healthier when I have access to yummy vegan food.
02/366 Monday, 01/02/2012
It was cold today. i took this picutre as we were waiting in the car for the Amtrak train to Chicago. I was taking Louisa back to O'Hare for flight to Germany. The train turned out to be extremely crowded and we had to sit apart. Seated next to me was a Northwestern student (=where I got my PhD). The majority of passengers were college kids. The most uncomfortable part of the trip was walking from Union station to the Monroe St. blue line stop to the EL. The EL wasn't too pleasant either but it did get us to O'Hare for $4.50. Once there we took the free shuttle to our quite nice &posh hotel, the Hyatt Regency.
01/366 Sunday, 01/01/2011
Hansi still likes the idea of going outside, but he doesn't really like cold or snowy weather. He'll walk on the snowy ground for a few steps and start shaking each of his paws, before scampering back up the stairs to go back inside. On this day he stayed out a little longer because his beloved grass was free of snow for the most part and it wasn't too too chilly. I promised him I would take him on lots of walks in the summer, when I go back to Michigan for my "stay-cation".
Last day of 2011
The last day of a rather eventful year...quite a bit of unexpected travel...then trips to Germany and Vancouver. the big upheaval then in August, when I moved to my own apartment in Oxford, Ohio to work as a VAP (=visiting assistant professor=not tenure-track prof) at Miami University. I took George with me.
Back home for Xmas and trips to Chicago, Cleveland/Parma and Cinncinnati round out the year. I really could have used a slightly longer Christmas break (Albion always was off for most of January) - but I'm still looking forward to what the New Year will bring.
Kroger's Monkey...take 2
For the second last day of the year I simply couldn't resist another shot of the funny/slightly creepy monkey that adorns the Kroger wine etc. section. (No strong stuff here, need to go to a state liquor store for that...)
364/365: Friday,12/30/201
On this particular day we had stopped with my sister in Oxford to show her the town and my apartment. (We were driving back home to Michigan from Cincinnati). When we went to Kroger I took her to see the monkey...this time he was sporting a rather creepy looking leprechaun hat, complete with weird Spockish ears...
Thursday, January 5, 2012
363/365: Thursday, 12/29/2011
On Thursday we were off again. This time our travels took us down to Cincinnati, since I had been summoned by the Dept. of homeland Security to have my bio-metrics taken for the renewal of my green card. I had given the Dept. my Oxford address, hence the summons to Cincinnati in stead of Grand Rapids. All in all it turned out to be a fun trip. We had a nice meal on Thursday evening at Arnold's and after my appointment was over Louisa and I got a bit of shopping done at the downtown Macy's, which was still having after-Christmas sales. We then headed back home to Albion.
362/365: Wednesday, 12/28/2011
I decided to buy this bottle of sherry because I had found out during the course of my genealogical studies that Joseph Charles Taylor, one of the founders of the Taylor port company, was my great great grandfather's uncle. My great great grandfather was Philpotts Taylor.The Taylor sherry says "New York" on it--I'm not sure there is any real connection between the two companies except the name. (The Taylor port is a bit pricey, whereas this sherry was cheap). The Taylor port website makes me want to visit the cellars in Porto. I'll add it to my ever-growing list of "genealogical" places I want to visit...
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
359/365: Sunday, 12/25/2011
We drove around at night to check out the Christmas Lights of Parma. They did not disappoint.
Monday, January 2, 2012
358/365: Saturday, 12/24/2011
So we got up early and went to Roxy's again fro breakfast. Then we drove to the Cranbrook Whole foods to pickup our Christmas goodies: vegan mashed potatoes, a vegan entree, which was a wild rice/quinoa roll with a fig/cranberry center wrapped in puff pastry, roasted vegetables and a vegan pumpkin pie. We also bought a small beef roast for our two non-vegans. We got a few other things and then headed off to Parma (near Cleveland) to spend Christmas will Bill's mom. This picutre was taken in Lydia's apartment shortly after we arrived. I thought the Lawrence Welk show represents the world I feel I enter when I visit Lydia in Parma. A lot of that has to do with Parma. It just feels as if it belongs to another era.
357/365: Friday, 12/23/2011
The girl cats Mieze (pictured here) and Sophie, both seem to like the tree. Sophie even looks at the lights going on and off. The star on the top is another old ornament from Hansi's former owner-and it looks good, but it's a bit heavy for the tree. Next year I look for a less heavy tree ornament.
356/365: Thursday, 12/22/2011
Of course we had to take Louisa to the Dark Horse Brewery in Marshall. It was quite crowded on this Thursday before Christmas. We finally got a table and were able to enjoy our pizza and sandwich while sitting down.
355/365: Wednesday, 12/21/2011
My sister has been visiting us for the holidays. Here she is relaxing under my IKEA blanket brought from Oxford.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
354/365 Tuesday, 12/20/2011
Louisa helped me decorate the living room for Christmas. We had picked up a little rosemary tree from Whole Foods and we decided to put the little angel symphony I got from Hansi's previous owner in the tree. We then found some little lights to complete the look.
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