Quick, Quick, Quick Update

I really shouldn't be writing this - I have homework to catch up on - but I realized I haven't updated in 10 days, and that seems like a long time, so here we go.

Our prospective students for next year were visiting over the past few days! I liked them, and I think we'll have a good crop for next year. It was weird to be on the other side of it, though (extolling the virtues of Berkeley rather than worrying about whether they can fund me if I come here). Hanging out with the department over the past few days just reinforced how much I really like our department, though. We have some great folks here (professors and grad students) and all the great recommendations I made about this place were 100% true. So hooray for that!

My left exterior shin muscle was pretty sore by Monday night after my 16-miler, so I decided to stick with the original plan and not sign up for Big Sur. But I'm definitely signing up for San Francisco once I get paid. (Especially after I looked at these videos.) Hooray for that!

I'm getting really excited about my research projects, and I would love to tell you about them, but now is not the time. Maybe next time.

I'll leave you with this lovely quote that really hit home tonight. I was talking to George, reminiscing about old times a Paris and how we're both sad we don't have anyone to cook with anymore. Then I checked this blog I really like to read, and I saw this, which was so perfectly appropriate. (I'm also going to make that bread recipe tomorrow.)

We’re never truly alone in the kitchen even as we may slice a squash in quiet solitude to saute in olive oil and basil. Almost every single thing I cook reminds me of a place or of someone I miss. This could be a reason why those of us who love to cook are so drawn to it (and, conversely, perhaps a reason those who don’t enjoy it abstain). As I punched down the dough and kneaded it into a silky, elastic ribbon in my own small San Francisco kitchen I was, for a little while, back in that tiny, cluttered kitchen along the New England coast. I thought about how nice it would be if we’d all been cooking together: me patting down the bread to tuck into a warm corner for its second rise, Emily pulling a pan of roasted potatoes out of the oven, Kurt cooking down some greens on the stove. We’d probably be nibbling from a cheese plate and sipping a glass of wine or two …

Good night, and love to all.