Quiet day in the cafe
Maybe because it's Thanksgiving week, but it's oddly quiet at Cafe Zoe, where I'm now working, as the construction crews are back digging up the Hetch Hetchy. cafe
Thoughts on “No More Plan B: A Very Modest Proposal for Graduate Programs in History”
Today I stole my wife's copy of AHA Perspectives and Anthony Grafton and Jim Grossman's essay "No More Plan B," on the need to reform history graduate programs
Reflections on writing for the trades
After a couple months working on it, I've been thinking about the experience of writing a serious non-fiction book. It's been a stretch for me, in quite a
Working with the iPad
On this trip I've experimented with leaving my laptop behind and just taking my iPad, and so far it's performed pretty brilliantly. So long as I have an
Being grownups
Today we spent a little time getting Heather settled in-- a friend brought over a bike that she can use while she's here, and we got her signed up at the local gym-- then despite my knowledge of Saturday insanity in town, we bought some lights for the bike and did a little food shopping.
As a result, I cooked my first real meal since I got here: a kind of Asian fusion stir fry tikka masala, with rice. (We had had dinner at an Indian restaurant the night before, so I was kind of thinking about Indian food.)
dinner ingredients, via flickr
My workplace
I'm not exactly sure how much I should document life within the lab, so I'm going to err on the side of opacity rather than transparency. Still, I have to say something.
the lab at night, via flickr
An extra busy day
Turns out a second article of mine, on the role of paper spaces in collaborative and creative work, appeared in today's issue of the Parsons Journal for Information
Starting to get busy
Last week was spent getting oriented, shaking (or drinking or sleeping) off the jet lag, and dealing with logistical stuff; now I'm finally getting down to work, inasmuch
Getting more settled in
After a decent (and resonably-timed) night's sleep, I had my first full day at the Lab, uninterrupted by 3-hour detours to the bank, visits to the cellphone store, etc. Until today, I'd been around, but not really present: physically there, and certainly interested in everything, but no able to spend enough time in a day to really start engaging with the place and people.
via flickr
First day in Cambridge!
After many months of proposals, preparation, visas, rallying parents, reassuring children, and wondering how elderly cats would handle it, I'm finally in England-- in Cambridge, starting my three-month visit at Microsoft Research.
I started last night, on the evening flight out of San Francisco, and ended around dinnertime, when I got into the flat (technically a terrace house, I think) we're subletting. About 18 hours all told, though none of it was really stressful: heavy yes, thanks to my having brought two suitcases (I am going to be here for three months, after all), but not really difficult. The bus even took me into downtown Cambridge, more or less, to the station on the edge of Parker's Piece, rather than the car and park on the edge of town (damn you, National Express Web site-- I could only buy a ticket as far as the Park and Ride on the edge of town, but the driver was fine about letting me go into city centre).
After I got things more or less sorted out I went out and wandered around the town a little. Naturally I headed for the town center, walking past St. John's and Gonville and Caius, then up along the market.
