When I stay up late to work, I usually switch in NPR’s “Day to Day” program. It’s taped earlier in the day, but here on KQED airs late at night. They were reviewing listener letters concerning a piece criticizing extreme religions and also criticizing the behavior of self-labeled “moderate Christians” […]
Life
481 posts
I usually consider the boundaries of the seasons to be somewhat arbitrary. Winter is my favorite. Starting on December 22, winter comes long after all the feature I associate with it: bone-chilling cold, snow, lots of dead vegetation (or, in the case of California: cool, rain, flourishing vegetation). This year, […]
I stayed up pretty late last night, rearranging the stereo and TV equipment in our living room (I get the “move stuff around” bug whenever Jodi leaves) and watching CSI and “Firefly”. Consequently, I was still sleeping when Jodi rang me from Dublin at 08:30. She and her sister arrived […]
Jodi and her sister have left for Ireland. This is a long-planned trip, one that they’ve dreamt about since they were teenagers. Half of their family hails from Ireland, and this trip offers a chance for relaxation and history. In fact, Jodi’s sister has spent several months assembling geneology information […]
I hate spiders. When I lived in Atherton, as a student, I often woke up in the middle of the night only to see a 1.5-inch long brown, armored spider slowly trekking across the ceiling. Ick. I guess that’s why I am fascinated by them. Our recent acquisition of a […]
Jodi is soon off to Ireland, at the end of the coming week. IN preparation for this, we finally did all our homework and purchased a really high-quality digital camera. We’ve been using older cameras, and camera phones, for our quick photo needs. A beautiful land, rich in history in […]
This is my last full day in Uppsala, a chance to finish out the workshop and then pound the pavement looking at museums, parks, and palaces. This has been an extraordinary trip, both in terms of the wonder of Sweden and the breadth of physics covered at this workshop. My […]
“Are you here for business or personal?” “Business,” I replied. “Sekula . . . is that Finnish?” “Lithuanian,” I said, “Sekulavich”. “Oh ya, that makes sense.” And with that, the passport control officer at Swedish customs waved me through. I found it interesting that my time in Sweden began with […]
I’ve been taking a vacation from vacation. After returning from the Minnesota-Wisconsin-Illinois extravaganza, which was itself a recovery from Moscow, I spend the past few weeks recovering from vacation. At first, I was absolutely unmotivated to do anything. Writing the two talks, one for ICHEP and a much longer one […]
Well, the ants are back. In the house, that is. Jodi discovered them sneaking in through a crack in the foundation, using a gap in the bathroom baseboard as an entrance. I sealed the crack as best I could, but it was clear that we needed to draw them elsewhere. […]
Well, I am back in California. After a very pleasant two week trek through the upper Midwest (driving a total of 2300 miles from Minneapolis, to Soudan, to Park Falls, Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Madison, Fermilab, Milwaukee, Park Falls, and then Minneapolis), I am picking up my life here at SLAC. But, […]
Earlier in this vacation, I said that I was excited about getting rain, thunderstorms, and maybe even a tornado. I argued as follows: I didn’t travel 2000 miles for weather I can get for free in California. Last night, I got my wish. Jodi fell asleep around 10, and I […]