Saturday Night at the Drive-In

Yesterday evening was great weather for the drive-in so we went to see The Simpsons and Chuck and Larry. I like the Simpsons, but I'm not a die-hard fan and I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see this movie. It was typically funny and irreverent, but I don't think it was better than what's on t.v. I did appreciate the way the movie makers could make fun of that fact and make fun of the audience for paying money to see this movie -- very Simpson-like. I tried to "simpsonize" myself as a nice touch for the blog, but I wasn't able to export the image for some reason.

Chuck and Larry wasn't great either -- somewhat entertaining, but not as hilarious as you might expect it to be. Eddie loves Adam Sandler so this was the movie that we intended to see last night. I don't regret seeing it, but I wouldn't recommend it either. It's a typical Adam Sandler movie that takes a really thin and hardly believable premise and stretches it out for nearly two hours with some intermittant funny scenes and an over-the-top moral message.

Magical Places

The day after our guests left, I lounged around the house reading Harry Potter Book 7 from start to finish. I won't go into any details about the plot, but I will say that I absolutely loved it. It was a great story in and of itself and a very fitting end to the series (with the exception of the last chapter, which I thought was unnecessary but harmless). I'm still trying to avoid the Internet chatter about the book because I don't want anything to ruin my feelings about the book. Most of the blogs I read are by academics and, let's face it, we can analyze anything to death. One of the things that I love best about the HP series is that it can transport you to a completely different mental space that is truly magical ... if you let it. Rowling's talent is making the journey effortless and desirable. The first words of the first page are the portkey to a world that is vivid, exciting, daring, and sufficiently complex for a thoroughly enjoyable escape.

Another magical place a little closer to home is Tanglewood. My sister, niece, and I went there last week to hear a Beethoven concert performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. One of my colleagues describes Tanglewood as "magical." While I expected it to be a very nice outdoor concert venue, I was surprised by how fitting this description really was. It has an amazing atmosphere that is unlike any other place that I've been to. I'll definitely be returning.

I'm Losing My Preskool Cred

We're on day two of my niece's visit. We're having fun, but this was the first time that she has ever claimed to be bored at our house. This was surprising given all of the toys scattered around my living room, which she brought from Michigan in her "toy suitcase." This is due in part to the fact that as she gets older she wants to spend more time with kids her own age. But it's also due in part to the lack of kool kid things at our house, as highlighted by this conversation.

Abby: Ciocia (Auntie) Janet, do you have Play-Doh?
Auntie: No, sorry sweetie.
Abby: Are you kidding?
Auntie: No.
Abby: You're serious????
Auntie: Yes, there really is no Play-Doh.
Abby: Wow! That's just crazy!!!

Week in Review

• Most of the week was consumed by "the paper that has taken over my life." I made some noticeable progress and I'm happy with the way it's shaping up. I'm also on the verge of burnout, so it's a good thing I'm taking some time off soon.
• Most of my free time was spent re-reading Harry Potter Book 6, in anticipation of Book 7.
• Although I had planned to spend a few days at home devouring Book 7 as soon as it came out, that plan has to be postponed until next week. My sister and niece are visiting this week. We have lots of fun stuff planned, including a trip to Tanglewood to hear the BSO.
• I've also been reading Collapse, which is a really interesting book about civilizations that did not survive because of a combination of social and environmental problems, with emphasis on the latter since the author is a biologist. I have to admit, though, that it's been a slow read since it's kind of depressing. Sometimes the depth of human ignorance can be astounding.
• I have been following this year's running of the bulls with more interest than usual, partly out of morbid curiosity and partly because this is one of those things that clearly falls in the category of "things I just don't get."

Breakthrough?

Well ... maybe ... I hope so, but ...

I may have had a major breakthrough on a paper that I've been working on for ages. It's from my dissertation and it needs to do well. I wrote it last year and it got rejected from a top journal (not surprising). However, I did get very helpful comments in the reviews so the plan has been to rework the paper and submit it to a different journal. I wanted to get it done last semester, but there have been a number of tricky methodological problems to work out, one of which has been especially troublesome. I think I may have finally found a decent solution to it.

I have been determined to get this paper done this month just so I can stop obsessing about it. Honestly, it has taken on a life of its own (and practically taken over my life). I've been working incredibly hard at this paper for weeks now and I've even been waking up abruptly at 5 a.m. with ideas about how to make this paper work (a telltale sign of major stress for me given that I am not a morning person). Because of how long I've been working on this paper and all of the troubles associated with it, it now embodies all of my psychological hopes and insecurities about my future as an academic. This is probably not good. I do have other papers published and soon-to-be published and there will be many more after this particular paper. But this one makes a personal statement ... and that statement could go either way at this point, which makes me very, very nervous.

Anyhow, there's still more work to be done. I have to check the analyses and finish writing up the paper before sending it off. If all goes well, it'll be off my desk by the end of the month. The desk, by the way, is such a disaster that it is another obvious sign of how stressed I've been. I should also note that this last potential methodological solution came from a contact I made through my professional web site -- how awesome!

I'm rambling. I'm tired. It is Saturday evening, after all.

Disgusted

The blatant disrespect that the Bush administration has for the basic tenets of democracy (rule of law, accountability, transparency) at home, while at the same time purporting to impose these principles in other countries through military action, has reached an all time high with the latest slap in the public's face. Why do we take it? Sure, there were the usual statements of "outrage" from the leading Democrats, but where is the public outcry? The dismay? The call of higher moral standards among our government officials? The Bush administration's corruption has done more damage than the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and yet there has only been a fraction of the uproar. Are we just content to count down the days to the new administration? Are we apathetic or ignorant? I'm curious to know how many Americans even know who Scooter Libby is? According to one site, it's about 55%. I'm tempted to look up some other polling figures on this subject, but that could easily distract me for the rest of the day and I have other work to do. Perhaps I'll follow up later.

America's Favorite Pasttime

Last weekend I made it out to Cooperstown, NY to see the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I liked the historical displays of the early days of the game, but I'm not a huge baseball fan so I don't think I enjoyed the museum as much as the groups of young boys wandering around. (I assume lots of teams from the area make regular trips there.) What I enjoyed most was the town itself. It had a quaint main street (filled, of course, with stores selling baseball memorabilia) and it's located off of the very pretty Lake Otsego. The best part of the trip for me was the 1.5 hour drive out there. It was just a gorgeous day and a scenic trip through some of the back roads of upstate New York. It highlights one of the things that I like best about living in Albany -- that I can work in a city but escape it very quickly and easily whenever I want.