23 December 05
Possum Prospects
There’s been an opposum making forays into our backyard in the evenings. Diego and Charlie watch keenly for it and will run from the bedroom window to the living room window depending upon where it heads.
22 December 05
Geese at Night
Blinded in the fog
they call in flight: Here? or there?
... Settled by morning.
(On the occasion of Richard Hall’s last evening in Davis)
21 December 05
The Samson Factor
Boston Red Sox fans are in great consternation over the news that their shaggy-haired leadoff-hitting centerfielder Johnny Damon has just signed a 4-year, $52 million contract with the New York Yankees. Since it is a condition of playing for the Yankees that one has to have appropriately corporate short hair and shaven face, Johnny’s locks will have to be shorn. Whether this will affect his performance we shall see.
20 December 05
“When UC Davis Vice Chancellor Celeste Rose resigned under pressure last summer, the university gave her a new job with a new title, a $20,000 a year raise—and very little responsibility. In fact, Rose, 55, isn’t required to do any work at all.
As part of a secret legal settlement negotiated to avoid a potentially embarrassing [racial and gender discrimination] lawsuit, UC Davis promised to keep Rose on the payroll as the “senior adviser to the chancellor” for two years at an annual salary of $205,000, plus all the benefits of a senior manager, including health care, severance pay and a growing pension.”
—San Francisco Chronicle, 12/19/05
“This administration has been completely open with Congress, we reported to Congress about this surveillance twelve times.”
—George W. Bush, 12/19/05
“As one of the recipients of [Paul Takushi’s] unofficial newsletter [about books of interest to the UC Davis community], I am taking this opportunity to share with you a concern we have with the lead article that was provided in the most recent issue. The lead article contained some commentary about the University of California structure, referencing compensation of top administrators and fee increases for students that have been in the Northern California press in recent weeks. This message is intended to clarify that the communication does not represent the view of the UC Davis Bookstore, or that of the University. In the future, there will be some editorial review for this publication before it is sent out…”
—Jason Lorgan, Book Department Manager, University of California, Davis, 12/19/05
“You and I wouldn’t be here without corruption … corruption is why we win.”
—Tim Blake Nelson’s character, Danny Dalton, in Syriana (released December 2005)
19 December 05
Geranium Photography
Geraniums aren’t my favorite plants, but here’s a way to put them to good use when you run out of film.
18 December 05
Christmas Bird Count + 2.35 Inches of Rain = Soggy People
You sort of knew it was going to be one of those kinds of days when the only conceivable footwear was your Bean Boots that had been outside all summer collecting whatever was out there (including, it turned out, a black widow spider I thought was dead but resurrected itself in the sink). The tarps over Johnny’s beekeeping stuff were swirling wildly in the gales. Oh well. At least we didn’t have owling duty. (The folks who did got there at 3 am with howling gales, horizontal rain, and no owls.)
Our portion of the count was actually fairly easy: count all the birds along Putah Creek Road from the diversion dam to Winters, a distance of only about three miles. It was fine when we were walking. When we stopped we all got frozen. One of the walkie-talkies shorted out and started buzzing and carrying on in Numenius’ backpack. We counted surprisingly high numbers of birds considering the weather and the fact that most of the walnut groves were lakes by the end of our stint, including a fox sparrow and a red-breasted sapsucker, as well as a merlin later in the day.
We ended our count at the Putah Creek Cafe, dripping puddles of water all over the floor and removing wallets, binoculars, gloves, and anything else we could wring out or attempt to wring out…
17 December 05
Nooks In High Places
If you ever are needing to find some I know who to call.
16 December 05
Potlucks Versus Cocktail Parties
I haven’t been to a cocktail party since I lived in Spain, which was a very long time ago. I don’t know anyone who throws cocktail parties, nor would I want to. Jut the idea of it gives me hives, people posturing about how much they make and own and stupidies like this. It’s bad enough at the Marxist Cash Bar at MLA, but at least the posturing is backed up by a reasonable amount of measurable (well, maybe not) intelligence, and the conversations certainly are interesting.
I’ve just gotten home from the office holiday party potluck. The food was excellent but even more excellent was the wine. We have a number of vets and peripherals who know wine and share it generously.
I arrived home, as I said. Awaiting me was an invitation to a cocktail party from my British university in Pacific Palisades, of all places. This is about 2-1/2 hours from here.
The only thing that will take me to Monterey toward the end of January is a good bird, so I’ll wait to RSVP…
15 December 05
The Old Ball Game
There’s been frost in the morning here, as well as dense tule fog. This may be nothing compared to the ice and snow elsewhere in the country right now, but it still marks the season to get caught up on baseball literature. I just finished reading The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball, by Frank Deford. Christy Mathewson, the erudite college graduate and star pitcher of his age, is a favorite of mine!
On a more geeky note, I was quite pleased to note that O’Reilly has a book coming out in February entitled Baseball Hacks , by Joseph Adler, all about how to statistically analyze baseball datasets, of which there are many out there on the net.
14 December 05
Poundage
What with reducing my Santa Barbara bike commute from nine miles, the last three of it up a mountain, to three minutes, combined with the enforced inactivity of my achilles rupture, I’ve put on some weight over the past five years. Just how much weight was made searingly obvious when I went to the doctor two weeks ago for my finger tendon and they made me get on the scale.
I joined Weight Watchers the following day. I’ve never done anything like this before. So far so good. I’m enjoying rethinking what we cook, how we eat, specifically what I have grown to consider an adequate portion size.
Stay tuned…