The Personal Blog of Stephen Sekula

Quiet after 10 pm

This is going to be a hard month, and it hasn’t even started yet. I’m talking about July. I’ve been working pretty seriously on my research, getting it ready for the summer. Along with my 500 colleagues on BaBar, you could probably wring the toil out into a bucket and use it to power the world. Physics seems like it’s all mindgames, but it’s hours of arguing, days of crafting computations in computer code (which is often like building a house of cards, if you’re not very careful), and weeks of checks and cross-checks.

But now it’s Wednesday, and it’s after 10. Jodi is sleeping, and there is very little e-mail trickling in (yes, even international collaborations sleep). This is the best time of the day: crickets chirping, a light breeze cooling the dining room, quiet in the house, and no more responsibility drifting into my inbox.

Ah.