Yesterday we decided to take a drive to Montague and have lunch at the Bookmill. The Bookmill is an old grist mill in Montague (about 15 miles north of Northampton) that’s been converted into a cafe, used bookstore, used music store, and antique shop. It’s a really cool place. The dining area overlooks the river. With the window open beside our table we enjoyed lunch to the sound of running water. After, we took some family photos.
The day after M, D, M, & C arrived, we rented a minivan and drove out to the coast. At Plum Island, some people got wet in the Atlantic Ocean. We saw a lighthouse in Gloucester, and then drove to Marblehead for an evening stroll through the town. Marblehead has an amazing number of original houses dating back to the 1700s. Then we got back in the van and drove through the “Big Dig” in downtown Boston on our way back home.
So yesterday I submitted my Starred Paper. Over the last two weeks, I and several of my peers repeatedly threatened to quit grad school. Now that the papers are submitted, we get to wait for the results. Once we get the results, several of us may do more than merely threaten to quit grad school. (Sigh) Anyway, now it’s on to other things…like hosting my inlaws for a week. They’ll be arriving later today. A lot of fun that will be. (My inlaws read this blog and know that I’m kidding…I hope.)
So next week Friday I have to submit my first “Starred Paper” to the philosophy department. Before I finish my pre-dissertation requirements, I will have to submit one more. The philosophy department uses these papers to see who, among the grad students in the program, is capable of doing PhD-dissertation-quality work. Historically, people who have done poorly on these papers have had their funding levels reduced in the following semesters. The pressure is on.
Anyway, I have to get back to work. I can’t get back to polishing my Starred Paper till I’ve finished grading the stack of Introduction to Ethics exams I have beside me–all 200 of them.
I found an interesting bit of news today. CBC is reporting that somebody (or a couple of somebodies) stole some road-working equipment in Saskatchewan including a grader and a bulldozer. The person who stole the bulldozer drove it to a nearby farmyard and bulldozed a vacant house on the property. The person who stole the grader did some “roadwork” on a nearby farmyard. Imagine coming home and discovering that somebody had bulldozed some buildings on your yard while you were away.
It’s that time of year again. Taxes are due and it’s crunch time at the university. Pam does the taxes (and seemingly everything else around here) and I write the papers.
Do those papers look familiar? They’re from Canada. Oh and get this. Apparently, I am a Canadian resident, but Pam isn’t. How does that work? I guess we have an interesting family. I’m a Canadian resident that doesn’t live in Canada; Pam is a Canadian American resident; and L is an American born to Canadian parents. Would anyone like to do our taxes for us?
Here Dad is saying goodbye before heading off to teach.
For sports fanatics everywhere, the bar has just been raised. Apparently, some guy in Chicago signed a pledge, in public, saying that he would change his name to ‘Peyton Manning’ if the Bears lost to the Colts in the Superbowl. (For those of you who don’t know, Peyton Manning is the Colts’ quarterback.) Well, as many of you probably don’t know–because many of you probably don’t care–the Bears lost to the Colts in the Superbowl. The guy who signed the pledge attempted to make good on it. However, a judge recently ruled that he couldn’t change his name. His parents, apparently, are quite relieved.
You can read the full story here.
Apparently, this blog is censored in China. I don’t know whether this is actually true, but this website says it is. I guess we have two many links to other censored blogs.
Ever since we bought our digital camera, which you have all been experiencing the benefits of through our blog, our film camera has sat dormant. Because we are happy with our digital camera, we probably won’t have much use for our film camera in the future. It would be a shame for the camera to age in our possession if someone else would put it to use. Thus, we would be willing to give it away–well, almost give it away–to one of our readers if one of them expressed some interest in it.
The camera is a Canon EOS Elan II. We bought it new several years back and have been its only owners. We were very happy with the pictures it took. It is fully functional and in excellent condition. You can read about its specifications here and here. We are using the lens we bought with the camera body, so you would have to buy a lens for it. As a quick check on eBay will show, it’s not worth a lot of money. If any of you are interested, make us an offer.
So we drove into Boston yesterday to apply for L’s Canadian citizenship–yes, we’re trying to make our little American into a Canadian. We had a noon appointment at the Canadian Consulate. After that, we did a little sightseeing. The weather was sunny and mild, but a little windy.
Here Pam and L are standing in front of downtown Boston. (How’s that for a feeble attempt at humor?)
Along the way, we passed by The Carillon‘s Boston office. (Check out the name on the building. For our readers who are not familiar with The Carillon, it is southeastern Manitoba’s regional newspaper.)
L and I got our picture taken standing in front of the Stata Center on MIT’s (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) campus. How’s that for modern architecture?
After walking around MIT for a while, we took the subway to the Museum of Fine Arts. We really lucked out. We got there a few minutes after 4:00. When Pam went to buy admission for us, she was told that the museum is free on Wednesday’s after 4:00. Very cool! Here Pam is feeding L amongst some very old Greek pottery.
Here L and I are enjoying–well okay, I’m probably enjoying them more than L is–some Greek sculpture.
