There was supposed to be a review session for History of the Book this afternoon, but it never happened, so I’m posting from the iSchool computer lab again. And in a little while I’m going to head back into Center City and go back over my class notes at Capogiro, where orange-cardamom gelato has started […]
The only consolation for the fact that the air is full of pollen right now, making me sneeze and curse every time I go outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather, is that everyone else is suffering too. It’s like a constant Greek chorus of sneezes. In other news, the History of the Book project continues […]
New York was lovely, even though my hostess and I had to fight our way through a stinging, heavy mixture of snow and sleet to get to the opera on Friday night. But we had a great time at The Pirates of Penzance, and then there was all manner of cooking and roaming around SoHo […]
The last assignment has been turned in (at last), the bag is more or less packed, the opera glasses have been stashed, the iPod has been loaded up with P.G. Wodehouse audiobooks for the bus trip, and I’m off to New York for a whirlwind weekend trip. There’s Gilbert and Sullivan in my immediate future. […]
Internet connection: STILL down. We’re now into Day 6. Calls to tech support so far: Three, plus an online chat session. Earthlink, if you’re listening, I’m not feeling much like a valued customer. Hint: if you want someone to continue using your service, it’s not a good idea to keep her on hold until her […]
I have a pile of assignments and readings to finish over the next few weeks, and I’m thoroughly and profoundly tired of February. I vote for abolishing this entire month, even if it means ripping a hole in the space-time continuum. Down with February now! Let’s just skip right over it next year! There. I […]
Let us now praise the food-truck vendors of Philadelphia: the tireless purveyors of gyros, hot dogs, burritos, falafel, and street food of every description; the guys who set up at 7 in the morning in Center City to sell fruit salad to commuters; the legions of food trucks that congregate in University City to feed […]
This has been a week of tiredness and too many layers of clothing and that nagging "am I coming down with a cold?" feeling, combined with mild panic over the fact that within the next five weeks, I have to plow through a big stack of readings, write a grant proposal, and put together a […]
You know that Jack London short story about the guy trekking through the Yukon in the dead of winter? And the temperature’s considerably colder than 50 below, and he’s got a beard of ice hanging from his face, and his attempts at starting a fire fail because he’s rapidly losing all feeling in his hands? […]
It was freakishly warm all day yesterday, up to near 70 in the afternoon, which, in Philadelphia in January, just seems wrong. I could feel the rational part of my brain, the part that says "Something is seriously out of whack with our climate, even if we can blame this particular winter on El Niño," […]