It's Better in Wyoming.

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