Category: Uncategorized

Check out http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/WikiBib.htm , the WikiBibliography (at least one of them, I suppose). Most of the items appear to be PDFs. Via the Humanist Discussion mailing list.

I stumbled across this page about the challenges and triumphs left-handed people have in writing. They mean this literally, with fountain pens and the like. It’s actually a page about nibs and pens and such. This page claims:

While just over ten percent of Americans are left handed, they represent a disproportionate number of fountain pen users (at least from the perspective of The Nib Works.) This may at first glance seem strange, given the difficulty that they have using fountain pens. But, on further thought, this may not be so strange. Faced with a difficult situation, left-handers seem to push ahead and embrace the challenges that are thrown their way.

As a left-handed writer, I don’t know what these people are talking about. I learned how to type in the seventh or eighth grade and I never ever had a desire to make pretty handwriting with a fountain pen ever again.

Despite being “on break” and visiting the in-laws in southern Florida, I can see next semester rushing toward me quickly. It’s going to be a bumpy start. I have two completely new preps and one kinda new prep, we return to Michigan on January 4, school starts on January 5, and I am just barely able to show up to my first class. Let’s not even talk about the rest of the first week.

Anyway, as I posted on my unofficial blog, my “unofficial” or “life” resolutions have to do with getting back on track with the diet and losing weight. Pretty traditional stuff.

As for my “official” or “professional” resolutions go, I have three, all of which are related:

1. Read more blogs, both in terms of numbers and variety.
2. Write less on this blog, because I’ll be busy reading the work of others and because…
3. Get back to the textbook(s) manuscript(s) because these projects are “on again.”

For me, blogging is simultaneously a good way to start writing and a good way to procrastinate from writing, and I think I need to work harder at emphasizing the positive.

I found this on Fark via my friend Chris W.:

A photoshop contest for a “make more coffee” poster.

Annette and I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get out of the hotel and catch our 7:05 flight from Philly back here to Florida, so we were in no mood for a big New Year’s Eve celebration. So it was a pretty low-key night around here. We all went to the beach to see the fireworks shot off of the Naples pier. Here’s one lame attempt at capturing the fireworks:

And here’s a very cool picture of Will:

We came back here and I was in bed by 10 pm. I did hear some fireworks at about midnight, which are supposedly against the rules of “the compound;” will heads roll?

As far as resolutions go: My big one is to of course get back on the diet. I just now got onto Annette’s parent’s scale, and depending on how accurate the thing is, my goal is to lose around 16 or 18 pounds by my birthday, which is March 25. That ain’t going to be easy, but it is also not beyond the realm of possibility. I have a schedule during the winter term where I will be able to go to they gym at least 5 days a week. So if I stick to that and stop my pattern of holiday gluttony…

Thursday’s “Philadelphia Story” began with another visit to Rick’s Steaks, this time with Annette, who was deprived of the cheese steak experience the other day. In the spirit of variety, I followed Annette’s lead and had my cheese steak with “the works:” provolone, mushrooms, and sweet peppers (and steak and onions, of course). Again excellent, and a completely different sandwich than the one topped with cheez whiz.

Then we walked down to the Independence Hall/Liberty Bell area of things. Frankly, it was probably the dumpiest historic area I’ve been to in this country. I mean, the museum where they kept the Liberty Bell (which had been newly constructed, actually) was nice, but the grounds, Independence Hall, and the surrounding neighborhood was kinda seedy. Of course, we didn’t have the time or desire to go to the Constitution Museum, which was also brand-new and looked pretty cool. So maybe we just didn’t give it a chance.

Here are a couple of pictures:

This is Independence Hall just before we crossed the street to see it.

Here’s me with the Liberty Bell. “Where’s the crack?” you ask? On the other side, where all the people are. There’s something interesting about the fact tht what makes the Liberty Bell THE Liberty Bell is a big-ass crack.

Oh, and I bought a liberty bell snow globe, of course.

We had an early dinner at The Continental Midtown, which was right around the corner from our hotel. As the link here suggests, this was a kinda swanky/yuppie/tourist-y/manufactured hip bar/restaurant. The decor is “the 50s meets the 70s meets the 80s meets now,” complete with a thumping soundtrack that sounded a lot like space age pop music to me. We didn’t see the third floor mentioned in this web site, but we did sit in a groovy sky blue vinyl booth.

One of the things we found appealing was its tapas or “small plate” style of eating: you get something, put it in the middle of the table, and then everyone shares. Annette S. joined us for a drink before catching her train back to New York City, and she enjoyed some of the Continental Cocktail Food Platter, which included crab wantons, chicken and broccoli dim sum, and a couple other quasi-Asian appetizers. After Annette S. left, Annette (as in my wife) and I split an order of fish tacos and the Continental chopped salad, which was about a foot-high mound of greens in a light Greek dressing and dotted with some hunks of feta. If we were watching our money more closely and/or generally smarter, we would have gotten the version of the salad that came with chicken and then called it a meal right there.

But hey, when you’re a tourist, you indulge, right?

By the way, judging from the crowds I saw eating in there, the Continental Midtown hasn’t exactly caught on with the “jet set.” Sitting next to us was a couple in their mid-60s who seemed a tad confused with the food placed before them; in the big booth behind us, there were a couple of yuppie Moms and about 10 little kids who looked like they might have preferred Chuck E. Cheese.

One other Philly note:

Because Annette and I were in Philadelphia for a conference, we weren’t up for partying all night long, and because we’re basically old, we watched movies three out of the four nights we were there. We saw Anchorman (hilarious, laugh outloud kinda movie), Napoleon Dynamite (pretty good, but kind of a plain old weird movie disguised as “art”), and Team America: World Police (which was an interesting premise, but we thought it was just not funny, boring, and highly over-rated). So you get some film reviews there, too.

Just a quick entry for now– I’m doing a little laundry in the hotel this morning and it’s time to switch the load. This is what I get for bad planning and packing. Anyway:

* Had breakfast yesterday in the Reading Market at Jack “Food Network” McDavid’s Down Home Diner. I got there at about 7:30, and by 8 am, the place was completely packed, and with good reason. Excellent diner food with a slight gourmet twist: fresh buttermilk biscuits, homemade fruit spread, etc. Very worth it.

* After we were both done with conference stuff, Annette and I went out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was great, of course– I mean, it’s one of the premiere art museums in the country, if not the world. But to tell the truth, it was kind of overwhelming. It’s just so huge. Of course, the other problem was neither Annette nor I had had the time to have lunch and we were both pretty tired from the conference, so shelpping around a museum for a couple hours was kind of taxing. I did get a very cool snowglobe, one depicting Rodin’s “The Thinker” sitting out in front of the museum.

* We had an early dinner at Le Castagne, an absolutely excellent Italian place around the corner. Everything and everyone there was pretty: the food, the dining room, the servers. Annette and I splurged a bit and split what amounted to a five course meal, which was highlighted for me by the gnocchi served in a cream and white truffle sauce.

Today it’s off to the “Constitution Center” (the liberty bell, Independence Hall, etc.) and then tomorrow we have to be out at the airport by about 5:30 AM at the latest.

I was just taking a moment to scan through blogland tonight– man, even the so-so hotel I’m staying at here in Philly has free WiFi!– and I wanted to give a belated good luck to some of the folks out there who are or who have interviewed for jobs, especially if it’s their first time “on the market.” I won’t link to you; you know who you are.

And now, despite what I’ve said before here and despite my remarkably good internet connectivity on this trip, I really am going to be “out” until school starts at EMU. But if you are visiting here and dying for details about my “life,” feel free to visit my unofficial blog.

The food yesterday wasn’t nearly as interesting as the day before. How could it be? There were no “ordinary spices.”

Nothing memorable for breakfast, and dinner with Annette was a meal at the Independence Brew Pub in the Pennsylvania Convention Center– very good food and a nice and relaxing atmosphere, but nothing all that different from the sort of thing that we can get in Ann Arbor, basically. But I did have a unique lunch experience. I had a “cheese steak.”

“Great cities” all have some kind of great local food, and of course, the cheese steak is Philadelphia’s. I had mine– hopefully just the first– at a place called Rick’s Steaks in the Reading Terminal Market. The market is itself a great “foodie” experience: it’s a series of stalls selling produce, meat, fish, pretzels, knick-knacks, caviar, sandwiches, and so forth– damn near everything, actually. So far, I’ve spent almost as much time there as I have at the conference.

Rick’s Steaks (as they make clear with lots of signage) is owned and operated by the same family who run the famous Pat’s Steaks. Not that that would make a whole lot of difference; a cheese steak is ultimately not that complex of a dish. In any event, the line was long but moved quickly, and I ordered what was (according to a Food Network show I saw, at least) the “true” cheese steak: not with provolone or American cheese, but with Cheez Whiz.

It was great stuff: a nice soft white hoagie roll topped with thin slices of beef (and not some pressed together SteakUms kind of thing, either), onions, and the Cheez Whiz. The Whiz gave it an unusual saltiness and “cheeziness” that I enjoyed. A good and greasy mess of a sandwich.

The MLA is being held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which certainly has its advantages and disadvantages as a venue. On the plus-side, it has a lot of fine amenities, as I’ve mentioned before. For example, I am typing this message now in a lounge area equipped with huge and comfy leather chairs. I’ve been to my fair share of conferences where you had to fight to find a spot to sit on the floor. The down-side is that this facility is so enormous, it’s like there isn’t anyone here. Of course, isn’t it true that most people who attend MLA don’t really “attend” anything? Aren’t most of us in meetings or interviews or what-have-you?

Anyway, a few pictures:

This is actually a shot of City Hall on my walk to the convention center. It doesn’t really do the building justice; it’s a beautiful and enormous structure.

This is a picture of what I guess you’d call the “entrance hall” for the convention center. To the left is the MLA registration area. The thing on the ceiling is some kind of funky sculpture.

This is just another shot from inside the convention center. Like I said, the place is absolutely huge, and other than the book exhibit area, this about as crowded as it gets.