It's Better in Wyoming.

"Ce n'est pas la peine de parler d'une histoire que beaucoup avant toi avec du talent ont deja racontee" -- Celine Ellena "Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler, ne merite ni egard ni patience" -- Rene Char These are a couple quotes from a book I've been working on, slowly, off and on now for two months or so. The book, The Perfect Scent , is a fascinating story about the world of perfume and, more largely, about art and commercialism and family and pressure to succeed. The book makes me appreciate scent more, too--the amazingly complicated, potentially expensive, often invisible real estate that surrounds us everywhere and yet often (at least in my case) is overlooked for more concrete and visible senses. In translation, it's not worthwhile to tell a story that many with talent before you have already told and what comes into the world to disturb nothing merits neither attention nor patience . I find these two sentiments to be beautifu

After a mostly dry December here in town, the sky really raid it out last night and today.  Hopefully the roads'll be clear by the time I take off for Newcastle.  I like Christmas that feels like Christmas.  Happy holidays!

I guess it's as good a time as any to reflect, since I have a moment and am feeling reflective.  And today is the solstice, a marker of increasing light in the time to come, so maybe I should take that as my cue. Some thoughts: $700 for dinner for six seems pretty extravagant to me.  It was a good steak, but still.   I can't really imagine bowling in the days before the automatic pinsetter .   High-school work at the grocery store has pretty much ruined me on Christmas music forever.  The holiday music would start the day after Thanksgiving, and we'd hear the same track on endless loop for the next thirty days.  Somehow I still like "Little Drummer Boy," though. I wonder why I've been relatively absent from the blog lately.  The semester that's finally ended was a busy one, for sure, but I'm not sure that explains why I haven't posted much.  Part of the purpose for this space, I think, is to acknowledge the thoughts that are on my mind, what

"All that is visible must grow beyond itself, and extend into the realm of the invisible." -- Dumont, in Tron Tonight I watched Tron  with my friend George.  A while back we were talking about previews for the soon-to-be-released Tron: Legacy  film--which has pretty cool trailers, I think.  But George said I couldn't see the new film without seeing the original. I'm typically disappointed in sci-fi (thought Inception  was pretty dumb, for example), but I thought that Tron  was actually pretty amazing.  Beautiful, even.  And I thought its representation of computer hardware was fascinating.  Now I just have to hope that the new film lives up to the old one. Kinda makes me want to go find the old arcade game, too.  I remember playing it half a dozen times, maybe.  I sucked at it.

lately i've been making few tracks, it feels like, and keeping record of even fewer of them.  i'm not entirely sure what i expected to have accomplished by late fall 2010, but it definitely doesn't feel like the most productive two months of my life. on the bright side, i did bring home some new art from this year's kvenild christmas white elephant exchange, a sharpie sketch of a penis.  it probably won't go on display in my living room next to the oil painting of a poodle that i brought home from cass and brett's two years ago, but i'm optimistic about finding a place for it in my bathroom, where it seems (slightly) more appropriate.

"Explaining the jet engine or the wing of a 787 doesn't destroy the awesome beauty of flight.  It doesn't break the dream.  It does the opposite.  The more you understand of science, the more you marvel at the magic of reality, and creating the dream is not the same as perpetuating ignorance.  It is the opposite: taking people inside, letting them see behind the scenes, showing them how it all works." --Chandler Burr, The Perfect Scent

i like doing dishes.  i don't like thinking about doing dishes, though.  i put the task off longer than necessary, usually, but when i'm actually doing dishes i find it relatively peaceful and satisfying activity.  i also like having the dishes done , and a clean countertop.  doing half of the dishes and then leaving the rest doesn't make sense to me, since it still leaves some dishes cluttering the countertop, and not much sense of accomplishment.  i've had two roommates now who could be categorized as "partial dish-doers": they would either just do their "share" of dishes, or they'd randomly quit at some point when they'd done "enough."  weird, if you ask me, but i suppose it's allowed me to recognize that i can't expect other people to share the same values for doing things that i have.  for a person who doesn't get any psychological benefit from doing dishes, i understand that the difference between doing 1 dish, o

god grant me the ability to recognize the difference between generous optimism and pure delusion. tonight this prayer is directed (mostly) to my recurring, seasonal job frustrations.  i'm pretty sure that  learning is a noble task, but i'm not always convinced that teaching achieves that same nobleness of purpose.  and i'm really pretty sure that the going-through-the-motions that characterizes a lot of formalized education doesn't even come close.

"I can promise you milk and cookies, but if the oven's broke, you just get milk."-Ninth-grader Urail King, in the film version of Freakonomics *** In other news, I'm not much of a killer.  Steph discovered when she was here last weekend that we had a mouse on the loose; she spotted one running behind the kitchen sink just before bedtime.  So I put out some traps, and a day later when I was pointing out the traps to Josh one of them was not where I'd placed it.  Turns out, the mouse had caught a leg in the trap and had dragged himself under the fridge.  We fished him out with a coat hanger, and Josh turned it loose in the yard--more towards the neighbor's house than ours. A day later I decided to make sandwiches and discovered a perfectly mouse-sized hole in the bread. I assumed, optimistically, that the hole was made before we'd caught the mouse in the trap. This weekend, Josh left some biscuits on the stove, and discovered that we apparently sti

I forgot to take my camera with me this weekend to Steph's, so I ended up with just this one lousy cell-phone pic of I-80 on the way home.  It's a shame, too, since we went over to Jackson on Saturday and had plenty of amazing scenery for photo fodder.  We got snowed on, too, on the way back, coming across the pass.  It's like winter in the high country.

Some gems from flight: "Back in the seventies, all of the rock stars were ugly.  And they were great musicians. Do ugly guys compensate for their ugliness by becoming great guitar players? Or do certain guitars choose their homely players like Excalibur chose Lancelot?  I wish I lived back in the seventies.  As ugly as I am, I might have been the biggest rock star in the world." "I know I'm not supposed to remember it.  But I do.  My memory is strange that way.  I often remember people I've never met and events and places I've never seen.  I don't think I'm some mystical bastard. I just think I pay attention to the details." "I never understood the people who think that TV is bad for you.  I guess they've never seen the Discovery Channel. You can learn science, history, geography, and politics from TV. If you want to find some faith in human beings, just watch one episode of Storm Stories  and you'll see heroic people risk the

season's end always seems to make me melancholy

it's an odd phenomenon, that learning more makes me realize how much more there is to learn. rather than gaining ground, i'm losing it. i kind of long for the relative naiveté of the good old days, when i thought i knew a lot.  i suppose i shouldn't feel frustrated with students who seem so unhurried to discover how big and exciting the world is, but dammit i wish some of them were a bit more engaged in the project.

My idea of fun, tonight: a couple of muffins that Steph sent home with me, some Sleepytime tea, and another chapter of Sarah's dissertation.

lately i just want to buy stuff, a lot of stuff.  expensive stuff.  i dunno why: aside from a real need for a new computer, most of this stuff is just, well, more stuff.  i think maybe it's that it seems like i'm nearing the end of major garage expenses (which isn't actually true), so i feel like i should be able to spend money on other stuff.  i dunno. here's the short wishlist: ipad, or ipod new laptop (toshiba portege) new vest (patagonia micropuff) rain coat (marmot precip) and a new car (mazda 3? subaru forester? chevy colorado?)

This weekend I drove up to Riverton, then rode from there to Steph's parents' place in Greybull. All in all, a really relaxing week: take-home work feels a lot less like work when you can do it in the shade of the patio at Lisa's Western Cuisine .  If you didn't already know, "cusabi" is a sauce made with cucumber and wasabi, and it's good.  Gooooooooood. On the way up and back, I took some random pictures out the window of the truck. Some turned out alright, some less so. Here's one I like, from downtown Jeffrey City: And the new blog background picture is also one from this trip, the view out over the Wind Rivers as I dropped down into Riverton on Friday night. The open road, windows down and stereo up.  Good food, fun company, and Indian summer into October.  I could think of worse ways to spend the weekend.

 last friday i was lucky enough to play a little with birgit at the monthly jam.  so tonight i went to listen to her group,  black crow/white crow , at the campus beer garden, hoping to support a group whose sound i like a lot. anyway, the bassist for another band i like a lot was there, and i think he offended me. or, more accurately, i think he thought  he offended me, basically for accusing university teachers of being too scared to actually get out there and do  what they teach.  his sentiment is aimed especially at the music dept., who i think he sees as upholding tradition at the expense of creativity and as pretending to do "objective" research about a field that is ultimately subjective.  art, in his mind, doesn't belong in the university at all, and music professors are mostly cut from the cloth of those too scared to actually get out there and gig. so anyway, about ten minutes into his rant he said to me something like, "sorry if you teach at the uni

it's odd, how much time has passed, and how easily the years become intertwined, like waves of memory lapping one after another.  was that four years ago, or five?  were you with me on that trip, or was it some other friend? it bothers me to lose track.  i look forward to becoming someone new, different, better, and i appreciate that the past doesn't entirely determine the path ahead of me.  i appreciate the blessing of forgetting and becoming forgotten. but i also want to remember how i've gotten here, to be able to look back and still see the tracks that brought me to this moment.

The autumn equinox is almost here, which means another summer's gotten away from me.  Seems like the stop-and-go work of the Census and the garage project took up a lot of time, and suddenly here it is, four weeks into a new semester already.  Until this week, I hadn't had my bike out to Happy Jack, nor had I been up the Medicine Bow Peak trail. Happily, I was able to do both this week.  On Thursday, George and I went out and did a quick route from Tie City, about 40 minutes of riding.  Then, this morning, George and Melissa and I hiked to the peak, just under 4 and a half hours, round trip.  Then, green chili pizza at Bear Tree on the way back, and then a quick afternoon nap.  I have a feeling the fall is gonna pass as quickly as the summer has. A photo of our day::

My friend Mike suggested that I might listen to Mumford & Sons.  He's not the first to mention them to me, but he's got as broad a knowledge of the music landscape as anyone i know, and I trust his judgment.  He says: " They remind me of a British Avetts. On one hand, it sounds so ridiculous to hear that style of music emanating forth from a British mouth, as it seems so distinctly American. On the other, some of it is pretty good." He's right.  I can't quite reconcile the idea of a "British Avetts," but--holy shit!--they've got some good stuff.  (Beyond the accent, I can't figure out why I wouldn't categorize them with the Avetts, but I wouldn't.  From a quick look at lyrics, I think there's something about subject matter that might be different.  I suspect I'll be listening to a lot more of them, though, so maybe I'll have a better answer in a while.)  Anyway, a sample of lyrics (from "Winter Winds" :

i'm between grading and more grading, taking a short break to check emails and such, and pandora just queued up the western states motel on my avetts station.  i like it! the LA times says their music " conjures up images of wide-open spaces, empty highways and yawning horizons--old Route 66 at burnt-orange sunset."  no wonder i like it.  sounds like music for wyoming.

Here's what the garage looked like by the end of Saturday last weekend.  Since then it's gotten the walk-in door, windows, and a good start on siding.  I think I may be able to finish siding by the end of next weekend, if schoolwork isn't too crazy. In unrelated news, the Armstrong Hotel in Old Town Ft. Collins gets a seal of approval.

i was hoping to have the garage mostly built by mid-july.   i'm a bit behind the plan, but it's coming along.  this counts as more than .5%, for sure: my dad and his neighbor came down last friday to help set forms (along with my old roommate and another guy he works construction with), and then my dad and jack came back down today for The Big Pour.  and george came over today too to lend his skills.  it's nice to know People With Skills: i'd still be scratching around in the dirt if i didn't have great family and friends. the redi-mix guy told me this morning, when i called to order the cement, that there was a 40% chance of rain forecast for today.  luckily, the rain didn't turn out to be much of a threat--a few drops during the city inspection this morning, and then a few more during the pour. tomorrow is delivery day for materials, and then, during the holiday weekend, comes The Big Build.  oh, yeah.

I suppose that one advantage of not being especially good at picking out lyrics is that, when you finally DO notice what the words are about, you're blown away by yet another Avetts tune: I see the end of the rainbow But what more is a rainbow Than colors out of reach .... When you swept me away You swept me away

on hulu a few weeks back, i discovered the show ' dating in the dark .'  it's terrible.  and awesome!  but mostly, terrible.   i usually hate this kind of reality tv, but somehow i can't get enough of this show.  maybe because it seems somehow more 'real' than most reality tv.  the set-up is as much a fabrication as any other reality show, but the contestant (er, i mean 'participant') reactions here seem candid and genuine.  it's not exactly a show that builds my faith in the depth of our society.

from this: to this: in two months. not bad!

i called quincy earlier today, hoping she'd be interested in a hike.  lucky for me, she was. we headed out around 5, up to the green rock parking lot, and walked a good bit of the libby creek loop--a new trail for me, and one i'm excited to revisit.  we spotted a curious mink (or maybe a weasel, or some other member of the mustelidae  family). then we rewarded ourselves with vegetarian green chili pizza and beers at the bear tree, and with some live music at the trading post.  i'd run into my colleague colin earlier this week and helped him pack some speakers down the stairs.  he was getting ready for a reunion gig with some guys he'd played with twenty years ago.  it was great music, not too loud, and the crowd was good-natured.  here's a tiny, bad cell-phone pic of the venue and the band: these are the nights when i wish for endless summer.

ended up on another bike ride today.  thinking about heading out to corner mtn tomorrow. maybe i'll catch some music at the trading post afterwards, since my colleague colin is playing out there. 9.22 miles tonight: also, check out this suweetass shirt i picked up at the farmers market today: yes, it does  say "bosler, wyoming."  and yes, it's orange .  yeah: sweet, i know. i might end up with the other two shirts from these designers by the end of the season......

two soccer games tonight. think i might head out for a longish hike tomorrow. not ready to face the looming semester. what the hell am i gonna do with a head of cabbage? the new arcade fire album i picked up when steph and i were in ftc is growing on me: let's go downtown and watch the modern kids / let's go downtown and talk to the modern kids / they will eat right out of your hand / using great big words that they don't understand / they say / rococo, rococo, rococo, rococo / rococo, rococo, rococo, rococo yeah, their lyrics definitely lack the depth of the avetts, but you gotta love a band that can turn the word 'rococo' into the chorus.

8.4 miles tonight, with a stop-off at safeway.  bike ride and rhubarb cobbler: not a bad way to end a tuesday night.

The bit of digging I did this evening probably represents less than half of one percent's worth of the total garage project, but it feels good to be started.

a while ago, after a work day in the yard, steph suggested that i enjoy a beer in the shower.  i'd never heard of such a thing, but it's pretty amazing.  even better: a garden fresh tomato and  a beer in the shower. awesome.

several of my friends are on the boards of directors for various important, worthwhile programs. not me. i'm kinda jealous. maybe some day my life will have a clear direction. not yet, though!

After putting nearly 1000 miles on the motorcycles with Dad in four days at the end of June, I headed back up towards the Black Hills over the July 4th weekend with Melissa and Willa, this time with un-motorized two-wheelers.  Over two days, we put 106 miles on our bicycles, riding the Mickelson Rails-to-Trails path from Deadwood to Edgemont. I'll admit, I was pretty worried that my butt wouldn't hold up to two days in the saddle.  After that 11ish miles out to the Laramie airport earlier this spring, I hadn't been out for a real ride since.  And I think the longest ride I'd ever ever done, prior to the Mickelson ride, was certainly no more than 25 miles. I survived, and all in all the ride was awesome.  Day 1 was a mix of up- and downhill, and a couple of long pulls out of Englewood and Mystic kicked my ass.  We stopped in Hill City for dinner (buffalo burgers at The Diner), then rode a few more miles before finding a camping spot for our tents.  Day 2 was a mostly

Sorry this post has been so slow in arriving.  I've worked on it several different times over the past few weeks but just hadn't had time to feel that it was finished.  Anyway, here it is: It's not that I'm really searching for "proof" that Wyoming is better than anywhere else.  I suppose that's like arguing about Chevys and Fords.  But, dammit, I can't help it that I feel more alive, more meaningful, more full of appreciation and faith and grace and goodness, when I'm out there on some Wyoming backroad, reading a billion years of geological time in the rocks around me or an eternity in the sky above me. Here are the quick highlights of Dad's and my four-day tour, June 27-30: Day 1 (Newcastle to Five Spring Falls) First view of the Bighorns , out by Spotted Horse on old US 14/16.  I love the name "Cloud Peak," and it's a name that definitely fits. Five Springs Campground .  Dad and I were looking for a place that wasn

in the next few days i'll have time, finally, to update the blog about my recent trips, including some kickass pho-tos.  in the meantime, a quote from seth avett : "we can understand that some people like the records more and some people like the moment more. I’m a big fan of the moment myself." viva the moment! also, guess where scott avett was born?  hint: state name starts with a 'w'!

* my toe hurts. * i'm drinking orange juice. * tomorrow i head up to the black hills, the second of three weekends in a row that i'll be up there. * summer's arrived in laramie. * the high water of laramie river's receded, at least here in town. * i hope the panniers are a perfect fit; i hope they encourage me to commute by bike more consistently. * it seems the media has switched their references to the BP spill from "barrels" to "gallons": why?? * the front yard and flower beds are coming along nicely, I think: will know more in a few more days, when the grass seed should germinate. * A-Team: better than Prince of Persia.  Best of all: the editing room's abridged script for Iron Man 2 . * new sewer line: on the way.  maybe i'll have a new garage by year's end, after all.

Arriving back at the parking lot, five-ish hours after we set out for a free-weekend stroll in Rocky Mountain National Park, Melissa and Quincy and Steph and I calculated that that our hike had turned out to be about 8.2 miles. Even thought the trek was a bit longer than expected, it was worth the distance: we hiked up-and-back to Fern Falls, and to Cub Lake, and walked past elk grazing 10 yards from the trail. And just before we arrived back to the lower parking lot, we got to wade through the side streams of the river before crossing the bridge. The highlight of the trip was watching a giant log coming down a stretch stretch of river, being tossed around like it was a twig.  There's no picture of that, though.  I don't think a picture would've done it justice: a half-ton section of tree bouncing and spinning, and you couldn't even really hear  it separately from the general noise of the river.

Over the holiday weekend I rode along with Steph to Yellowstone.  Trip highlights include: * a temperature drop over 2 1/2 hours from 90 degrees near Meteetsee to 38 degrees when we drove into Cooke City, Montana. * my first bear sighting since I can remember.  My sister and I went to Yellowstone with my grandparents a couple of times when we were little, but I don't think we ever got to see a bear.  The other wildlife sightings on this trip were alright, too: * road food.  Road trips are a free pass for me to eat whatever I want Cheetohs, donut holes, beef jerky, beers, ice cream in Rawlins, giant bbq burger at the Lander Bar: I'm not sure I ate a single piece of healthy food during the entire trip.  Unless banana pancakes at Teton Lake count as healthy... * karaoke at the bar in Cooke City.  We didn't sing, but we did get to hear the drunkest, whitest, awesomest version of "Gangsta's Paradise" ev-ver.  Proof that Cooke City is a bit of a redneck to

In case you've been wondering what to do with your time this summer: This year's Woodchopper Jambore e will be held June 18-20, according to Mags at the Bear Trap. It's the 50th Anniversary of cutting wood and rodeoing and drinking and fighting. I'll be up in the Black Hills over that weekend, celebrating my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary, so somebody should probably take my place and fill me in on all I miss. I may also miss the 2010 Fire in the Sky , too, since the future of the event is up in the air (no pun intended). According to the Jubilee Days FB page , the event has been "cancelled for an indeterminate amount of time." An article in the Boomerang , however, suggests that the City will likely take over the fireworks part of the event. I wonder if Brock Finn's already got a gig lined up for the Fourth... The website for Oyster Ridge Music Festival still looks like shit. Seriously, like shit. A hot steamy pile of it. But the lin

Two years ago my dad and I camped up at Esterbrook, then hiked partway up the Laramie Peak trail the next day. We only hiked up to Friend Falls, about two miles up the trail, since I was still recovering from an ugly sprained ankle. This weekend, Steph and I drove from Laramie up to Rock River and then across the gravel to Friend Creek Campground (right at the trailhead to the peak trail), then attempted the summit yesterday morning. Thwarted, again. This time, it was snow drifts still across the trail, big enough and slick enough that we decided we didn't want to bother with it. If I owned some gaiters and was smart enough to bring them along, it might have been a different story, but as it was, we ate some cheese and crackers and pistachios just below Friend Falls and then headed back. Despite a relatively good forecast for the overnight, we ended up driving through an hour-plus of muddy slick roads to get up to the campground. Then sat through a pretty awesome sheet-lightnin

Now I don't doubt that The Good Book is true What's right for me may not be right for you ... And I don't know if my soul is safe Sometimes I use curse words when I pray My god! My god and I don't need a middle man My god! My god and I don't need a middle man -- "me and god," The Avett Bros.

Unofficially, 4pm on Friday marked the beginning of "summer." That was when my last class for the semester ended. (I still have 400 pages of grading ahead, so perhaps I should wait to call "summer!" until I've gotten all the final grades in....) Officially, it doesn't feel "summery" in Laramie. It doesn't even feel all that " springery " in Laramie, to be honest. Melissa and I headed out for a hike at Vedauwoo yesterday, and we ended up just walking down the gravel road because there were still pretty good-sized patches of snow all around. The high for Friday was 38 degrees. But it also doesn't feel summery in the sense of a great lifting weight, a great sense of freedom and the open road ahead. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing--I'm still definitely looking forward to the variety of this summer's work, and the possibility of some trips and house projects. But there doesn't seem like there

I'm sure I speak for all of KCWY13's viewers when I say, "We'll miss you, Kristen." Just when I was starting to know most of the names of the 6pm and 10pm anchors, Kristen Mosteller is apparently moving on to bigger and better things. Alas, we can only hope that B-Fitz and Walter Allen won't be next, though it does seem that they've also been strangely absent lately, too. In related news, I thought KCWY's coverage of the Bill Ayers visit was underwhelming. This AP story reports that 1,100 people endured the high security measures in order to hear Ayers speak, which seems a decent number on a snowy spring evening in our town. As Ayers pointed out, without all the publicity the crowd would have likely only been about "30 education students, and half of them probably would've been texting." Though I'm ambivalent, still, about the initial selection of Ayers as a campus speaker, I'm mostly glad for the dialogue it's created:

This month I'm participating in another program to lower my 2011 health insurance premium. The program is about prepping for emergencies and disasters, and overall it's been a pretty crappy program, I think. I did get a little first-aid kit out of the deal, though, which came in handy when I sliced my finger chopping potatoes at the beginning of the month. Additionally, today's word of wisdom seems pretty relevant to where I'm at these days: "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin. It's funny--or maybe not funny at all--to discover that so much of what has felt like forward progress has just been a big circle--a different circle than before, but still one that has brought me back, in a lot of ways, to where I've already been. But still, some signs of hope. On the bright side, I started learning the chords to "Tear Down the House" this weekend.

Well, the Avetts were every bit as good the second time around. My sister got me tickets back in January (a pretty damn good birthday present!), and she agreed to come along with me for the concert in Boulder on Wednesday. We found our way to Pearl Street, had some good Indian food in the basement restaurant next to the theater, and then listened to a great set of Avetts, despite the fact that they didn't play 'In the Curve' or 'Salvation Song' or 'Gimmeakiss' or 'Laundry Room' or my favorite-of-late, 'Tear down the House.' On the other hand, they did play 'If it's the Beaches' and 'Murder in the City' and 'I and Love and You' and 'The Ballad of Love and Hate,' and I guess when you've got a half-dozen amazing songs on every album it's hard to play all of the good ones in one concert. Here's a grainy clip of Scott playing the first two verses of the first Avetts song I ever heard: Yeah, it w

According to the gmap-pedometer , the trip from my house to the airport, and back, is just under twelve miles. I haven't biked this far since the rail-trail ride last summer, but, more importantly, this trip represents my first trip on the highway. It went much better than expected, and I can imagine that a pair of slimmer hybrid tires would really get things rolling. If I'm gonna ride the 108-mile Mickelson Trail ("where the ghosts of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane still roam," according to the SD GFP website ) with Melissa this summer, I need to start getting serious. Here's my 11.814-mile route from earlier today: Nothing fancy, but a start...

Pearl Jam has an album named vitalogy . The word comes from a latin root and a greak suffix and means, essentially, the study of life. Unlike the modern usage of the word biology-- which also means the study of life but has come to be focused on organic life--I think the word vitalogy should enter our vocabulary as a way of talking about WHY we're living rather than HOW: the study of one's course or way of life. A conscious, reflective position about why we're making the choices we're making. As in, "I don't really think that a life of pot-smoking is for me, but I understand that others' vitalogy leads them to see it as acceptable," or "My vitalogy includes a value for not intentionally hurting others." Yeah, I know that other words (like philosophy , say) cover the same basic ground, but I think that that vitalogy somehow adds something new. Yesterday I presented at a seminar for teachers in Sheridan. The drive up was spring-time bea

he was trapped in a haircut he no longer believed in -- Billy Bragg, "King James Version"

"...the congregation's gone, the sun sets behind a weeping willow tree / the groom stands alone and watches the river run on, so effortlessly..." I do love a good cover. Apparently Tom Gabel is the frontman for the punk band Against Me! They sing the song "You look like I need a drink." I think I like 'em already.

one: longhorn-style colby. i love the shit outta that shit. two: rhubarb. it's poking up in my backyard. i can practically smell the pie already. three: 96.7 FM, the IMix. this station makes me laugh, mostly, but i do enjoy the variety it brings to my otherwise americana-heavy dial. some quality lyrics from the Imix: "Cyclone," by Baby Bash (feat. T-Pain): She moves her body like a cyclone And she makes me want to do it all night long Going hard when the turn the spotlights on Because she moves her body like a cyclone Pretty sure that's a song about sex. Also, this one: "Say Aah," by Trey Songz Notice there ain't nothing in your cup So get here, baby, let me fill it up, fill it up Go girl, it's your birthday Open wide--I know you're thirsty Say aah Say aah Pretty sure that one's about drinking, but just barely. When I was trying to find the lyrics to the song, I came across a f unny list of top 10 lyrics with sexually-suggestive food me

something i fear is that the work i've done will be viewed as meaningless--that the interactions i have with others will ultimately be viewed as a waste of time, forgettable, or, even worse, intentionally blocked from their hearts and minds. i want to do good work, and i appreciate the contributions that others have made in my own life, and i seek to honor and remember the support and guidance and joy that people have willingly shared with me, even when i can't reciprocate directly. i don't want to forget. i suppose some would see that as a fault.

it's not that i have nothing to say lately. i just feel unsure what to say. more sunlight: i'm in favor of it. schizophrenic wyoming spring: i'm okay with it. it means my chances of skiing are extended a few more days, at least. it means the chances of bulbs poking up through the snow are pushed back a few days, too. trip to nebraksa this weekend: it's nice to feel productive, even in such small ways. unsubscribing to a blog that's been none of my business for a good long time: long overdue. ncaa championship game: at least butler kept it close. i don't usually watch much of the final four, but ended up watching the saturday games at george's, which pulled me in enough to at least keep up with the updates on my laptop while i was downtown working on next weekend's presentation. avett brothers: fifteen days away! my niece: adorable! my sister: successful defender of her dissertation! summer: shaping up!

According to dreamsleep.net, a dream about a flood is about washing away one's emotions: Water symbolises the emotional side of the unconscious. To dream of a flood or being swept away by water, indicates that you feel emotionally overwhelmed. These dreams also hint at baptism and rebirth. The fertile, nourishing effect of floodwater may be implied. This dream could therefore represent the start of a new phase of life and renewed personal growth. I've had several dreams about floods over the past few months--some are almost certainly connected to my fears about a real-life flood in the crawlspace, but my dream this morning certainly was not. Interestingly, this dream also involved silverware, and the only other memorable, recurring theme lately has involved kitchen knives. Dream dictionaries indicate the kitchen-related dreams can be related to anxieties about sustenance, especially spiritual nourishment. So maybe I need to get back in touch with my spiritual side in order t

I wish the Cowgirls could always bring out a good student crowd. Last night's second-round WNIT game had an extra dimension that just isn't usually there. Mainly, I think, the students' noise helps out on the defensive end, helping creating a sense of urgency and chaos that pushed Texas Tech into some turnovers they would've otherwise not made. That, and Hilary Carlson's big defense down low, keeping the Raiders from getting the ball inside. She gets my vote for player of the game. According to an article on redraider.com , Texas Tech's coach, Kristy Curry, was impressed by Wyoming crowd: “I want to compliment Wyoming because we have not been in this kind of environment in the Big 12. The crowd was phenomenal.” The Cowgirls split with BYU during the regular season, winning by 15 when they played at home in Dec. Hopefully they can keep the winning streak going.

So, the past week has been spring break for UW. Which means, mostly, that I had plenty of work to catch up on, including a trip to Louisville, KY, to present at the big composition-teacher-dork conference. But the high point of the week was definitely last weekend's trip out to the Forest Service cabin by Little Brooklyn Lake. Here are some photos that Melissa took. Here's another picture, in front of the giant jail-bar icicles, before we left on Sunday morning. The group who'd reserved the cabin for Sunday night wasted no time in claiming the cabin after us--I think they were quick enough that the coals in the fire should've been quick to rekindle, even. In any case, though, the short overnight trip to the Snowies was really, really great. I don't know why, exactly, but I came back feeling truly relaxed. Relaxed in a way that I haven't felt in a long, long time. In other news, I liked Louisville. Wish I'd been a bit more on top of things and extende

Yesterday Steph, Melissa, Jenn and I headed out to a Forest Service cabin by the Little Brooklyn Lake. We skied in, with backpacks full of gear and food. Way more food than we all needed, but since we had it, we figured, you know, mighswell eat it since it was just gonna be more weight in the packs on the trip back out today. Here's a picture of the route, which http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ tells me was about 1.8 miles. After getting there, Melissa and I went out for another ski, up to Brooklyn Lake and then through the woods back. This is my first real backpacking adventure (if you consider a one-day trip "real" backpacking), but I liked it a lot. After getting back earlier today and getting a quick shower, I feel more relaxed than I have in a long, long time. I had intended to get a bit of schoolwork done tonight, but instead I'm giving myself the rest of the day off, and I'm just gonna take it easy. Eeee. Zeee.

Don't usually blog too much about professional stuff, but this email is exciting enough to cross over into the category of personal happiness: * * * Congratulations! ... Your proposal was one of only a few selected out of almost 90 chapter proposals. This level of interest bodes well for the completed book, and we look forward to working with you through process of seeing it through to publication . * * * In other words: I get to write a stuffy chapter for an academic book! About libraries and freshman composition! Working with editors who are cool! And with a great colleague! W00t!

See? I'm not the only one who believes it's better in Wyoming: ".... Wyoming is, somehow, must be, in my DNA, because when I drive through it even today, and see that great expanse of land, or the antelope, or the Wind River Canyon, it does something to me that no other place does. It sends me back, perhaps, to something else.... another world..." See full post here . Her story about Ed Herschler makes me laugh. Wheatland's recent stupidity makes me realize that Wyoming isn't always the equality state, but we do get points for accessibility, I think.

Tonight I went out for a quick drink with Sue and some of her friends. Several of them are in a state of transition; the occasion for drinks was actually a celebration that Sue didn't get the job she interviewed for today. Maybe "celebration" isn't quite the right word, but I think Sue was mostly relieved that this opportunity is now a closed door, since it makes the options narrower. In her case, her alternatives are still pretty attractive: stay at a job she mostly loves, or begin a PhD in a good program that will open up some exciting new doors, either back in Laramie eventually or in other great places. Anyway, the talk came around to the idea of "signs"--some type of evidence that the choice you're making is the right one. I think all five of us who were there tonight believe in signs, to some extent. But, as Sue said, "I believe in signs, except right now I'm getting about 700 of them, and they're all pointing in different direct