It was inevitable, I just wondered how long it would take. « Southwest Airlines has been sued over its oversize passenger policy »:

‘An Oakland man who describes himself as being of “ample proportion” is suing Southwest Airlines, accusing the carrier of humiliating him by asking him to buy a second seat. Lionel Bea, 40, said in a lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court that a Southwest employee asked him whether he could fit in one seat before boarding a flight from Oakland to Los Angeles on Sept. 28. When Bea, a Southwest frequent flier, said, “Yes, is there a problem?” the employee said he would have to sell him another seat because of company policy “regarding passengers too large to fit in one seat,” according to the lawsuit filed earlier this month.’

Exhausted.

Finishing a two-week guest teaching stint at a northwest Ann Arbor middle school.

Seventh grade social studies. Some of the kids weren’t even born when Bush 41 got his butt handed back to him by Bill Clinton (thanks, Ross!).

Hands/wrists still messed up, so trying not to use them too much, even though it’s next to impossible.

When toilets need fixing and one has to drive to work and beagles need bathing and Dremel-ing and ‘blogs have to be updated and clients have to be satisfied and meals have to be made and so on and so on and so on, well, one must use one’s hands.

Surgeon doesn’t know at this point if I have CTS or if there is a disease of the cartilage in the wrist. Nerve conduction test is next week, followed by an MRI on 7-Oct.

And speaking of MRIs, what is UP with the University of Michigan hospital scheduling said procedures at frickin’ MIDNIGHT?! I have to report for the MRI at 11:50 p.m. at the hospital on 7-Oct. Yeesh.

Meanwhile, onward and upward. I’ve had some fun the last two weeks, and I’ve had some frustration. I’ve had some very good kids and I’ve had some who needed a can of whoop ass opened up on ‘em (which I promptly did). And I had one kid apologize to me later for her atrocious behavior.

Still, it’s not a bad start for the school year.

Just one question: When is it gonna be fall, already?! I’ve had the top down on the Jeep for the better part of two weeks, the longest it’s ever been off in the three-and-a-half years I’ve had it.

Not that I’m complaining. In a mere month or two, I’ll be shivering in a snowbank for sure.

A car coming up behind a bus stopping to let passengers off at a bus stop on Packard this evening and honking at it. What are you going to accomplish by honking at a bus, for crying out loud?

I don’t know if it’s just me, or if as a grad student you just become used to sitting at attention through three-hour classes several times a week, but it was fascinating to sit at the back of a room this afternoon during a presentation and watch a class of undergrads (who were, for the most part, polite, attentive, and non-sullen) start to shift around and squirm in their seats and lose their focus 35 minutes into it. (The presentation was terrific, so that wasn’t the issue.)

Oh, the oozing contempt with which the BBC reporter pronounced the phrase “to plant her spring garden” tonight (in reference to Martha Stewart’s stated desire to get out of prison by next March to attend to her horticultural obligations) …

Holy crap, that was a great ride I just took. Yes, the surgeon said stay off the bike for two months, but … I miss it too much. It’s almost an addiction/high today. I rode the long circuit around, just five miles, but got a total rush from it, particularly in the legs.

And my upper arms feel good too. The wrists … well, not so hot. But hey. You only live once. And I feel really, really good all over, so it compensates. We won’t talk about the further damage to the wrists.

I’m realizing more and more what a hot performing bike the Bobcat is. It is very easy to push along and it takes the abuse of the pavement without even pausing to think about it. That front suspension is wonderful and I’m especially pleased I held out for the disc brakes. Thing stops on a dime, which comes in handy with all the insane people on the roads around Ann Arbor.

Even though I am limiting myself to one or two rides a week, I’m still retaining most of my shape. I can push the sucker along with ease in most situations and rarely have to gear down. I’m more than ready to kick it up quite a bit and hit the serious road trip.

But the wrists are holding me back, big time. If I use the bike to whip my sorry self into shape, I cause further damage to the wrists. If I do what the surgeon wants, I become a blob and get really far behind on what I really want to do: climb fourteeners all over the US. Hike in national parks far from the maddening tourist crowd. Bike in Arches and Moab. And so on.

I’m enormously frustrated right now. This evening’s ride was both a rush and served to increase my frustration. But I’m not letting them set me back; I’m pushing on.

I am determined.

Pleasant: Walking home at twilight on a mildly warm Monday night, the streets of my neighborhood almost completely deserted. Looking up and seeing the crescent moon in all its glory. The sunsets and twilights this time of year are absolutely unparalleled.

Unpleasant: Harried and rude shoppers rushing around Kroger, acting like jerks even when the store was virtually empty. Memo to those shoppers: Despite what you may think, the supermarket is not your damn personal inventory barn. Get over yourselves and show a little common courtesy.

Pleasant: Walking through the neighborhood on a Sunday morning, early (before 11.00), before much of anybody has rolled out of bed yet. Squirrels romp over the grass and, I notice, the crows are slowly re-appearing. They are so big and ungainly, yet somehow simultaneously trashily elegant, and impossible to ignore. They are fascinating to watch.

Unpleasant: Not being able to find a crucial textbook I’ve been looking for … anywhere. I went to Borders late last week and asked about it; the information desk guy duly looked the title up, but it was not in inventory, so he said he’s get back to me. Of course, he never did, and it’s several days later. I guess it’s time to click on Amazon.com.

Laura Miller writes in today’s New York Times:

I doubt I bought a single new hardcover book for myself (as opposed to for a class) until sometime after I’d turned 30. Being underemployed and unencumbered by children like a lot of people in their 20’s, I read a lot, but the only new books I could afford were paperbacks. So I waited for the new novel everyone was talking about to come out in paperback.

When I read things like this, I’m always astonished. It’s as though certain “influentials” in Manhattan have never heard of (let alone set foot in) a library. I almost never buy new books anymore (I used to drop $100 easily on books in a month, and I often didn’t read what I bought; now if I don’t read it I return it). Between the Ann Arbor District Library and the university library, I have more new books available to me than I could read in a year if I had 24 hours a day to read them. I may have to wait a few weeks to get that new book I have my heart set on, but in the meantime there’s plenty of other stuff to read. To me, that’s probably one of the two or three greatest things about living here.

Of course, saying I get all my new books from the library is probably not as glamorous as saying I buy hardcovers or paperbacks at Borders, but I couldn’t care less.

This afternoon we took the beagle to the grounds of Forsythe Middle School, where he had a great time chasing squirrels and sniffing the ground (and making up for the ignominy of this morning, when he was tormented by a neighborhood cat who loves to saunter past and revels in ignoring him when he howls at it). The school grounds are huge — two playing fields, at least, plus enough walking space to spend lots of time traversing. It was a gorgeous Indian summer day today, quite a switch from yesterday’s autumnal gloom. After we took the dog home to get some water and rest, we went over to the west side of town and bought some used books and maps at the Borders tent sale, then when we got home I finished up cooking some white bean chili that I’d been slow-cooking all day and baked some apple oat bread and whipped up a few bunuelos. Overall, a nice way to spend a Saturday.

The game between Michigan and San Diego State was this afternoon too — it was actually more of a trial getting across town using Packard (all kinds of sluggish students out and about, some of whom seemed to think that red lights were intended for everyone but them) than Stadium. After last week’s blowout by Notre Dame, which prompted at least one indignant letter to the editor from an alumnus who liberally used the word “disgrace,” today’s match was redemption, though only slightly: the final score was 24-21. We passed the stadium at halftime and people were already leaving the game, which made us wonder how fervent Michigan fans really are.

I read a column in Thursday’s Michigan Daily (called, appropriately enough, “Get Over It Man: Your Favorite Band Sucks”) that made my jaw drop. Some writer made a point of slamming Coldplay, Dashboard Confessional, and David Gray. Not only that, he actually cited Frank Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours and Joni Mitchell’s Blue as classics. He gave them the respect they’re due.

There’s still some sanity in the world, yes there is.

Wow … I don’t remember who it was, but something that somebody said about Michigan weather has stuck with me, which is that if it’s been one mode of weather for five days in a row, you can guarantee that the sixth day will be completely different. So after roughly 5 or 6 or so days of warm and/or humid weather, yesterday was cold, windy, chilly, and distinctly autumnal.

Of course, today, it’s frighteningly bright and sunny (albeit only 61 degrees), so … no pattern there yet.

But I think I’d hazard a guess that autumn is close at hand.

Last night I was waiting for the bus at the corner of South U and State. I guess srah’s right — the Gideons are out in force. Or at least I think it was the Gideons. It’s so hard to tell the different factions apart. Anyway, a guy with a bullhorn was standing on a stone bench in front of the museum and berating everyone within earshot for being sinners, fornicators, and hypocrites — while beginning every sentence with “My friends,” which, when you stop to think about it, is itself the height of hypocrisy. The best part, though, was when a frat boy started bouncing around the bullhorn guy and his handful of Bible-verse sign-carrying supporters, screaming “BIBLE THUMPERS! BIBLE THUMPERS!” at the top of his lungs. I guess Ann Arbor really is the gateway to Gehenna.

Seen on the way home from teaching middle school social studies Friday afternoon:

1. A minivan with New York license plates and the bumper sticker, ‘I’d Rather Be In Ann Arbor’ and …

2. The happiest dog in the world, riding in a car with gleeful abandon. He was quite sad when they had to stop for red lights, though. (And no, I don’t know who he is, but he’s a sweetie.)

This pretty much sums up the hypocritical state of the Empire. « Says Mike Reiss, a writer for The Simpsons »:

‘The rules governing what we may or may not say are a little hard to follow. This year, for instance, Howard Stern’s trash talk lost him six radio stations … then gained him nine more. The FCC imposed a $500,000 fine on radio stations for broadcasting the very same word Dick Cheney saw fit to use on the Senate floor. And churches urged families to see a blood-soaked, R-rated film in which Jesus gets the bejesus beat out of him.’

He then talks about the reaction of the Fascist FunDumbMentalists to his own children’s book and notes what he learned from the experience:

‘As for me, I’ve learned three things about the self-appointed watchdogs of modern morality:

1. They have no sense of history.

2. They have no sense of humor.

3. They have filthy, filthy minds.’

Yet another reason to LOVE The Simpsons … it has writers like Mike.

From Daniel Boorstin’s 1961 classic The Image:

Nowadays everybody tells us that what we need is more belief, a stronger and deeper and more encompassing faith. A faith in America and what we are doing. That may be true in the long run. What we need first and now is to disillusion ourselves. What ails us most is not what we have done with America, but what we have substituted for America. We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in place of reality.

Speaking of missionaries, I guess the Mormons have a new trick going. One night last week when I was waiting to cross State, a guy appeared out of the corner of my vision and pressed a Book of Mormon card into my hand. He was in plainclothes, and he was flanked cleverly on both sides by two guys in the typical missionary garb. The theory, I guess, being that I’d be more likely not to resist the shill if the person performing it wasn’t dressed like a Mormon missionary.

Oh, yeah, I’ve had enough of the green T-shirted Jews for Jesus trying to shove their literature into my hand, too. They’re actually far more obnoxious than the Mormons. At least the Mormons don’t post themselves like sentries along every footpath on central campus so that you have to detour off onto the grass to get away from them.

There was a Jesus freak standing in the middle of the Diag at noon today railing against secular humanism and the evils of going to college, getting an education, and “getting ahead,” which he described as self-serving folly and as a sure road to hell. Sounded exactly like every line I was fed by fundie churches and fringe cults in my teenage years. I never understood how becoming an itinerant missionary and eschewing an undergraduate degree (and thus not being able to get a job and support myself) was supposed to fulfill God’s plan.

Somewhat incongruously, his gigantic hand-painted sign advertising Christ’s blood sacrifice was colored in garish shades of blue and maize.

It’s somewhat heartening in the midst of all of the media-fueled speculation about the political and philosophical leanings of today’s youth to see that some college kids are still just old-fashioned loud-mouthed lunkheaded party animals who live to throw monkey wrenches into the proceedings. When the preacher man was getting to the best part of his stemwinder about the evils of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, a couple of frat boys wandering by roared “HELL YEAH!” at the top of their lungs and pumped their fists in the air.

Not only did Johnny Ramone die today, but when I stopped during my hectic day to get a bite of lentil soup at the Rendezvous annex on South University, the kid behind the counter, as she was taking my order, said, “It sucks that all the great music was made the year I was born.”

I couldn’t resist. “What year was that?”

“1984,” she said.

And then she added, somewhat unnecessarily but very illustratively, “Blondie and Pat Benatar! WOO–HOO!”

Motley Fool says it best:

‘Think about it: Would shutting down the nation’s seventh-largest carrier really be such a tragedy? On a human level, yes, undoubtedly. The sting of more displaced workers wouldn’t be easily sedated. And yet, on paper, US Airways has been a net destroyer of shareholder value for years. The owners — that is, the shareholders — have every right to say enough is enough.

‘Bronner, an investor himself who earned control of US Airways after buying a 37% stake through $240 million from the Alabama state pension fund he runs, might have said it best for investors during the Times interview: “It’s a whole lot cheaper for me to have the assets and start over than to have the liabilities.”

‘Painful? Yes. Callous? You bet. True? Yeah, probably.’

Haven’t been posting here thanks to the ongoing drama with my hands. But I hope to get to regular posting soon. The hands are healing, but I have to take it easy. It’s a total pain in the tuckus ..

I made it to 90 miles on the Bobcat before disaster struck: A few weeks ago, I was involved in a hit-and-run with a total bitch who came from behind me while I was cycling south in the bike lane on Packard and turned right into me. I hit her car hard with my hands and am still recovering from a nasty cut on my left ring finger.

Fortunately, the Bobcat is all in one piece and completely unscathed. My hands took the brunt of it. I came home and filed a police report. Long story short, the woman denied it and is allegedly facing a lie detector test. Haven’t heard anything beyond that.

The big problem is that my surgeon has now banished me from any bike riding for two long months, just as I was really enjoying it and getting into the groove. I had lost one waist size and some poundage. Now I’m relegated to putting it on the stationary stand in the basement and cycling in one place, without gripping the handlebars. It’s a total pain in the tuckus, let me tell you.

And fall is such a wonderful time to bike around. Sigh. I may have to get sneaky …

From Gag Rule by Lewis Lapham:

‘Ashcroft said that the onerous regulations under which the FBI had been operating for the last thirty years “mistakenly combined timeless objectives – the enforcement of the law and respect for civil rights and liberties – with outdated means.”

‘As modified by the context and subject to the circumstances, the phrase “outdated means” can be taken to refer to any paragraph in every article of the Constitution. Which is both good to know and important to bear in mind, because a modern war against terrorism cannot be fought with an old scrap of parchment and obsolete notions of freedom. Let too many freedoms wander around loose in the streets, and who knows when somebody will turn up with a bread knife or a bomb? Better to remember the lesson learned in the Vietnam War, which proved that the best way to save the village was to destroy it. So also now, in another time of trouble, the American people can best preserve their liberties by sending them to a taxidermist or donating them to a museum.’

We went to Nichols Arboretum this afternoon, our first visit there. It seemed strange that there was no parking, but I found out after we got home that the main entrance is apparently on the other side from where we entered. (We parked on Oswego and walked across Geddes to enter.) The arboretum is large – 123 acres – but we didn’t spend much time there this afternoon except for a quick walk-through. It’ll probably be a lot more spellbinding once the leaves turn later in the month. Today, it was blindingly green. There is a huge meadow in the middle of the arboretum (another website I visited calls it the Main Valley), which today was populated mainly by hyperactive squirrels (I know the ones in our backyard are nowhere near as athletic as these were), nervous chipmunks, and the occasional jogger and alone-time student with a book. It’s worth a return visit, if only because evidently we only got the briefest of walks through the southern edge of it today.

Classes only began for me Wednesday. But I officially began the second year of library school at 8.30 last Thursday morning when I volunteered to help out at one of the new student orientation events. One of the centerpieces of the SI orientation experience is showing students what it’s like to collaborate by throwing them together into groups of four or five and having them go out on a scavenger hunt around central campus for an hour or so. The students then come bnack and take an online survey (of course) and compare experiences. I wsn’t able to participate in the most significant part of the event, which was the second-years tossing in their thoughts about the previous year’s hunt, but I did help with a few minor logistical details at the start of the event. And I got up in front of the lecture hall of 80 or 90 first-years and introduced myself and gave my student organization affiliation, something I would never have been able to do five, ten, or fifteen years ago.

Then, a couple hours later, I helped staff the LILA table at the student organization fair at West Hall, which was also a good experience. More people stopped by than I would’ve expected, and a couple of people I had animated conversations with (about California, Michigan weather, small talk; but nonetheless). There were a few people who studiously avoided our table’s corner of the room, and a few who passed by the table with downturned mouths, but by and large it was a positive thing. And our table, needless to say, was the most festive one in the room (one of our group brought his rainbow-colored feather boa to drape the table with).

The class schedule is not as hellish this term, mostly because most of my classes are either afternoon or early evening. I much prefer that schedule to rolling out of bed at 7.30 almost every day as I had to do last fall. So far I’ve had good luck in class selection. All have been uniformly interesting and compelling, though as usual at SI, they will be heavy with work. I have one more course that hasn’t yet met, at which point I will decide whether I’m keeping all of my units.

The schedule (so far) this term includes Government Documents, Cataloging (under a different name), an Information Policy seminar, and Online Searching, as well as my work at SPO and a directed field experience at the Government Documents room in Hatcher. I also have a poster presentation to prepare on my summer’s work at the IPL.

It will be a busy term. But if I get through this term okay, I’ll have fewer units to contend with my final term, and I’ll be able to devote more time and attention to 502 (Choice and Learning), which is the one Foundations course I haven’t completed (I dropped it last spring because of the load I was trying to get through) and the one course that I am most dreading.

Update [9.21.04]: I ended up dropping out of the Online Searching course, which was not a function of the merit of the course (it looks like a great class), but a function of my workload and my desire to fight my tendency to bite off more than I can chew. So my schedule now is still hectic and busy, but at least it’s rational.

A very nice sunny day today, not too hot, almost no humidity to speak of. And the light is starting to take on that languid, deep-toned, Gatsby-esque autumnal quality. I went outside briefly tonight at dusk and looked west. There is nothing in California (at least nothing in any heavily populated areas of California) to compare to the colors of the twilight here. Absolutely stunning in clarity and brightness.

Student Move-In Days were this past week, from Wednesday through Friday. The dotty Ann Arbor News ran a front-pager recently featuring a list of the Top 10 ways you could tell students were back in town, but, unless you’re a Martian having made a recent first-time Earth landing, it really isn’t all that difficult to tell when they’re back. The State Street corridor between William and Liberty, for instance. During the summer, it’s got traffic, sure, but once the school year pattern is back, it’s not out of the ordinary for it to take over 5 minutes to traverse that one block in a vehicle. There’s of course no parking anywhere, as the News points out, and the license plates on the cars are as likely to be from Illinois, Maryland, or Florida as they are to be from Michigan. Central campus is clogged with packs of dozens of roving, frothing-at-the-mouth freshmen in flip-flops, training shorts, white undershirts, hip-riding jeans, and belly shirts carrying credit cards and looking for things to buy and stash in their dorm rooms. There are campus tours that wheel around and stop at all the buildings for minutes on end, though the obligatory nature of these tours is as evident as the glassy stares on the faces of the tour-takers. There’s that spanking new blue-and-gold banner hanging from the front of Hatcher saying WELCOME TO THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, which always seems a little beside the point to me; does the lettered word “LIBRARY” on the original architecture of the façade not sufficiently denote what the building is? There’s the parents arguing heatedly over what year a particular building opened. There’s the sudden increase in customers in virtually every business along the Liberty/William circuit (except for David’s Books, the used bookstore on William next door to the Cottage Inn, which was almost deserted when I stopped in on Friday). There’s the University maintenance vehicles roaring down the pedestrian pathways whose drivers seem calculatedly oblivious to the intended use of the paths. There’s the always-predictable frat houses on State, whose residents are out in the front yards making sure that there’s enough sand on what should be a grassy front lawn to pretend that they’re ready for a scene from “MTV Beach House” or “The OC,” playing an appropriately studly game of beach volleyball.

Ah, yes, summer’s officially at an end.

Odd weather this past week … for the first time almost all summer long (except maybe for a few days in May and June) we had what could truthfully be called Summer Weather with capital letters, with highs in the mid-80s, strong humidity, and relatively cloud-free skies. Then, yesterday (Saturday), it rained part of the day, and by close to midnight, it was almost foggy (though not overcast), and outside in the backyard were more moths than I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Very odd, but then again, in Michigan, meteorologically, not much is odd.

Today was perfect weather (in my opinion), for summer, anyway … the sun was out, but there were periodic clouds moving across the sky, and the weather never got much hotter than 70 degrees. There was a breeze in the air and the light was taking on that lazy, hazy quality it gets at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.

From today’s Ann Arbor News:

The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting a wild winter with heavy precipitation and dramatic temperature swings in the Northeast.

The northern Plains and Great Lakes will be snowy, the almanac says, while it will be milder in the southern half of the country.

The Northeast will have unusually wet weather – either as rain or snow, according to the almanac.

“The big thing is it’s going to be a winter of extremes,” said Managing Editor Sandi Duncan, whose almanac hits newsstands tomorrow.

Yes, I know I’m a freak. Pelt me with snowballs if you see me in November. (I know Steve will.)

Well, no more Retro Posts, folks … we made it successfully past the one-year mark and what a year it’s been. I’ve forgotten lots of things that happened, but I do remember one thing: The trees were still green this time last year!

Yesterday:

« Our Life in Michigan – Another Sunday in Frisinger Park » More Autumn Colors

and one week ago:

« Our Life in Michigan – Lazy Sunday in Frisinger Park » Fall colors already??!!!

I suppose that it will be snowing by the middle of October …

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

The first squirrel encounter … and it’s been a year of lots and lots of squirrel encounters!

[Yes, it has — I thought I’d had my exposure to the spectrum of squirrels at Stanford. But they’ve got nothing on Midwestern squirrels. Damn. – Frank.]

Poor Bayley

Oh, yeah: the beagle had a run-in with a squirrel today. He started howling at something when we were taking a nap this afternoon that we assumed must be the mailperson or a delivery man. Steve went down to investigate and found a squirrel chattering and gesticulating wildly at the poor dog from the other side of the back-patio glass. The rodent was royally pissed that this big, yowling creature was in its territory, and I’m sure the feeling was mutual. Poor Bayley.

—Posted by Frank at 23:00:01 | 29-Aug-03

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Settling in …

Ann Arbor: Days Seven and Eight

After orientation yesterday, I walked home from central campus, all the way down State past the underpass of East Stadium. It’s about a mile and a half, roughly the same distance from Keller and Mountain to my house in Oakland. It was a muggy, hot evening, undergrads were still moving into their dorms and their houses on State, and the atmosphere was carnival-like. I can’t say I loved the walk, but I’m glad I did it and got a physical, visceral feel for my surroundings for maybe the first time.

Finally having gotten a few minutes to breathe and catch up on sleep, I went out late today (the first part of the day having been spent fighting a massive headache) with Steve, not to do anything in particular, but to explore. We got cards at the Ann Arbor District Library, which seemed pretty well-stocked and nicely appointed and had a huge-assed translation of Tyndale’s Old Testament on the shelves. (It turned out I’d been maybe two blocks south of the library when I got lost on Wednesday, which for me is just par for the course.)

We drove around the north edge of town and Steve showed me some of the other houses and complexes he had looked at when he was here in July. The town is incredibly green, as I have mentioned, and the green seemed lush and spellbinding today. There is litter, occasionally, but when you see it, it is a shock rather than business as usual. The town is also what you would call sprawling, not necessarily in the business and university district, although those are sizeable, but in the environs. We drove over the Huron River and it looked incredibly beautiful. I feel fortunate to be here.

This is not Pollyanna talking. I don’t like the way some of the locals drive. And I’m still trying to develop a thick skin about the occasional glares we get when we’re out and about. But I could find things to complain about anywhere we would have moved: South Hadley, Chapel Hill, wherever. So far, Ann Arbor has exceeded my expectations.

—Posted by Frank at 23:00:00 | 29-Aug-03

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Rethinking things …

Developments

Our blog (specifically, my entry about the library-lessness of orientation yesterday) has been linked by librarian.net (which I found out after getting a couple of e-mails from alums of the SI program indicating that my experience with orientation was, shall we say, not unique). I don’t know whether to laugh or pack my bags. No, seriously: thank you, Jessamyn West. I have always loved and respected librarian.net and consider it a privilege to have been linked (and quoted to boot) by you.

My remarks yesterday were written at the end of a very hot and exhausting day. I want to say a few things in my own defense, and to make some necessary amendments to what I said yesterday, and then I will shut up on this subject (for now).

Number one, the students I have met have been friendly, unpretentious, motivated, highly intelligent, and excited about the project in front of us, which is always good news. Every single one of the students I met in my scavenger hunt yesterday was a pleasure to talk to and to interact with, and like I said, I had a great time with them discovering some of the i er sanctums of central campus. I look forward to working with the students I have met and to meeting many more of them. I also have to admit that I haven’t met as many people as I “should” have. I am what you call an INFP, and that personality profile doesn’t definitionally align itself with a number of the behaviors that social events like orientation are designed to encourage. But I definitely look forward to meeting other students and my professors in less intimidating settings.

And, despite my comments yesterday, I absolutely look forward to the work ahead. I know that Michigan is a great school, I know that SI is a great program, and although there are aspects of what I saw in orientation that bothered me, it’s only been two days, for God’s sake, and I could undoubtedly benefit from being less of a critic. There was part of me that would have been more comfortable staying in the Bay Area, sticking with my City of SF job, moving to some leafy quiet neighborhood in San Mateo (maybe in the hills behind Alameda de Las Pulgas), and commuting to San Jose State, where everything would perhaps have been a lot clearer and a lot more straightforward.

But where would the fun have been in that? I have no regrets about my decision to move to Ann Arbor, other than, of course, the natural regrets that come with nostalgia and sorely missing friends, loved ones, and loved pets (yes, I’m talking to you, Gracie, Rudy, and Suki!!!).

—Posted by Frank at 19:57:24 | 29-Aug-03

Say hello to The AntiFascist, your antidote to that famous right-wing website run by that famous Florida queen-in-denial. (It’s brand-new, so bear with us …)

Oh, yeah: I’ll be on the other side of the LGBT table this year (this coming Thursday), helping greet incoming first-year students as a board member of LILA.

It’s more than somewhat embarrassing to re-read last year’s entries from about this time about the School of Information, actually.

I still feel, a year later, as though the school is emphatic (occasionally over-emphatic) in its attention to Information with a Capital I. This means lots of computer-related coursework, lots of technology, lots of econ, lots of cognitive psych.

But this is not a bad thing, on reflection. I have myself become far more attuned to and interested in those areas in the year that’s passed, and I don’t think you can seriously consider a career as a librarian and not have more than a passing acquaintance with them.

I have worked almost for a year in the UM Library’s Scholarly Publishing Office, which is about, among many other things, transforming books that might not otherwise move off a library shelf except to be placed in another storage unit somewhere — and getting them into a digital format in which they are given new life and new readers. I fill orders almost daily from people around the country who want to see and read nineteenth-century texts about (among other things) religion, the railroads, the Civil War, and cooking. They would not know about these texts if SPO did not have them available online to search, to view as PDF images, and to purchase in printed form (as hardcover books or spiral/unbound paper). This is just one example of how coming here and being educated here has changed and expanded my view of what libraries are and what they can be.

The group-work thing, which I found annoying in my first days (and still have butterflies about), is also, on reflection, an important thing. I thought when I started school that the group-work concept was a construct, a gimmick. But it’s not; it’s the way librarians work. Anyone who expects to get anywhere as a librarian (in my experience, anyway) needs to know how to collaborate and needs to enjoy it. I still have a lot to learn, but I definitely see the point of group work in a way that I could not possibly have seen it last year.

Even the Foundations courses, which inspire a great deal of grumbling and gnashing of teeth, have a point, and they are crucial, I’d say. I don’t think any of the rest of what you experience at SI makes much sense without them. Even 503, the Search and Retrieval class, which gave me many sleepless nights and bouts of anxiety and indigestion, I now see as having been a significant addition to my knowledge base.

There’s no way I would have been able to recognize all of this as a confused neophyte a year ago. And I’m definitely glad I’m not repeating that particular element of the grad school experience: the first weeks of stress, confusion, despair, and borderline panic. I may be buried in work this coming year, but at least I’ll know it has a direction. And I do enjoy the experience, most of the time.

I’m grateful to the University of Michigan (with some help in loans from the federal government) for making the experience possible. I feel very fortunate.

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Does he feel the same way?

Orientation: Day Two

The second day was quite an experience. The highlight of the day was being put into a group with four other students and being sent on a scavenger hunt across the center of campus to find various clues and answers to questions. It seemed weird at first, but it was actually a good opportunity to get to chat with the others in the group and get to know them a little bit. It was much better than the typical HR exercise of matching people “duck duck goose”-style and expecting them to sit around asking each other contrived questions as a form of barrier-lowering.

The rest of the day: went to an activities fair and got to talk to the folks at the LGBT table; had a couple of presentations from the career center and the folks at the “directed field experience” (where you get credits toward graduation for being involved in practical work experience) office; and wandered around for a few minutes at a not-so-hot faculty/student reception.

The LGBT table was a big deal. When I went through my undergraduate orientation, my goal was to keep that part of myself as hidden as possible. I succeeded (or so I thought), perhaps too well. That isn’t the case now. I’m not going to trumpet it from the rooftops. I’m not going to hide it either.

I guess that’s it. Classes start on Tuesday. I’m enrolled in all but one, which has a waiting list. I have a few days in which to finalize details and in which to get myself steeled for the semester to come. Yikes. If there are a few things I’ve taken away from the past two days, I guess the biggest one is that it is going to be intriguing to try to make it through the first-year Foundations courses, in which all of the students are thrown together and expected to work in groups.

My impression, one which may be corrected as time goes on, is that the two categories of School of Information student—the human-computer interaction side and the library/archive side—are very divergent not only in interests but in personality and expectations. The whole library/archive side, to my dismay, does indeed seem to be something that the school is determined to keep in the background. That bothers me. I didn’t hear a word about libraries or archives the whole two days, or why I should be excited about wanting to work in them, except during the almost-obligatory specialization meetings we were corraled into yesterday. Maybe that’s part of the point—the specialization stuff is supposed to come around after you’ve absorbed all of the meta-informational training—but it seemed almost wistful during the scavenger hunt to be wandering around in rare book collections and reading halls, as though these obsolescing arenas, not to mention books, had only the barest and most distant relevance to the School of Information, and then only as amusing clues in an academic parlor game.

—Posted by Frank at 21:39:47 | 28-Aug-03

This was the first day all month that actually felt like August. Most of the rest of the month has alternated between day that were what could best be described as tepid and days that were actually cold and/or thunderstorm-filled. I’ve had no problem with the mild August, though it seems to have disconcerted Steve somewhat that the month has been so autumnal (and I suppose I’d be a little more disconcerted myself if I stopped to think about the global warming implications, such as they might be). But today was much like last year around this time: hot, humid, and just short of oppressive. I had to sit on a bench inside Hatcher and take a rest after I’d walked across campus because the walk was physically draining. I’m glad I got my hair cut earlier this week, because I would have been absolutely miserable if I hadn’t.

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Immersion …

Orientation: Day One

Well, Orientation Day One is over and I can report that ….. it’s gonna be a busy two years. They had us all in one big room in Michigan Union to give us the obligatory introductory remarks from gathered faculty and administrators, after we we dispersed to West Hall to have “specialization meetings” tailored to our particular interests.

The way the School of Information is divided is that there are the traditional library school specializations, library and information services and archives and record management, alongside more future-tech specializations like HCI (human-computer interaction) and IEMP (information economics, management, and policy).

In the large room where we all began, the occupants were about evenly divided among genders. Once we dispersed, though, the disparity was glaring: in the library science group I attended, I counted about 7 men (including myself) in a room of 30.

I went over to the room across from this to stop in on the archives session and the number of men was similarly low. The other thing that was glaring (at least to me) was how young everybody was. I saw five or six other people who seemed to be my age or older. Most everyone else I saw was in their early or mid-twenties.

I was also apparently overdressed. I wore khaki slacks and one of my short-sleeved shirts, which would have been a perfect combination for my SF office job. Here, I looked out of place. Everyone else was dressed in jeans, if not T-shirts, and shorts were not uncommon. I don’t know what to wear. Shorts and T-shirts make me feel as though I’m trying to look younger than I am. What I wore today made me feel older. So it goes.

The curriculum sounds great, though I can’t say I’m too thrilled about the first part of it, which is a series of four “Foundations” courses that all students are required to take (an odd similarity there to the first-year courses that all law students are required to take). Nobody is really giving much detail on what these courses will entail, which concerns me, but they seem to involve a lot of time-intensive group projects. I suppose the purpose of all of this will become clear to me eventually, as promised.

The faculty seem energetic and committed, at least the ones who spoke at our pep rally and in our sessions this morning. One of them came in a shawl and draped it over her head to imitate a stern librarian stereotype inculcating the students in the real purpose of information school: to train you to run a quiet library where everyone behaves. This inspired general hilarity (I laughed too, especially after remembering the Archie McPhee Librarian Action Figure “with amazing push-button shushing action” that Steve showed me online the other night). These are the kinds of jokes that make roomsful of librarians laugh, which is a good sign, I think.

Most of the students also seemed refreshingly shy and somewhat geeky, which comports with what Scott predicted I would find, and although there seem to be a couple of stuck-up snots among the crop, that would be true in any group. I didn’t have my appointed faculty advisor session until 5.15, which gave me roughly 25 minutes to run down a flight of stairs and get registered for fall term. All of my classes are available, though not on the days or at the times I had hoped they would be. I’ll be taking 13 units, which is a full load, and I’ll probably have to look for a part-time work-study job as well.

Like I said, it’s gonna be a busy two years.

Still, the whole process is exciting. It’s exhausting, it’s overwhelming, and I have no idea how I’m going to make it through two years of this. But it’s still oddly encouraging (or validating, or something) to hear words like those spoken this morning by the dean of the school, who said that in most professional schools, you have a clear idea of what you’re there for and where you’re going when you get your degree. Here, that won’t be the case, necessarily, because the information profession (if such a phrase can be used) is by definition a malleable and changeable concept; what is a valid career today may be an entirely invalid career tomorrow, there may be entirely new job descriptions two years from now for skills that you are learning now, and that ambiguity is part of what learning about information—and what information itself, along with all of the permutations of what constitutes information and its dissemination—is all about.

I’ll write more after tomorrow’s session.

—Posted by Frank at 21:36:46 | 27-Aug-03

And here are the photos from Day Fourteen:

« Our Move to Michigan – Day Fourteen » All Moved In

Bear with me as I indulge in some sentimentality …

What’s interesting to me about glancing back at the retro posts from last year at this time is how new this all was to me: not just Ann Arbor, although that was certainly a big part of it, but the whole adventure, from going back to grad school at a time in life when most of my undergraduate cohorts have all had two or three kids and become partners at their law firms or vice-presidents of marketing or seat-of-the-pants entrepreneurs (not a life I envy); to leaving and severing all my connections to a region where I’d felt comfortable, if increasingly insecure and simultaneously predictable, for much of the previous 20 years; to driving through, seeing, and sleeping in towns and states I’d never dreamed I’d encounter except in movies or books; to adjusting to life and people in a very different part of the nation. I feel proud of myself, and us, for having gone through this incredible ride and come through it wiser and better (and, I think, happier), and I am forever grateful to Steve and Bayley for putting up with me through the journey (and for agreeing to uproot their lives to start to put together the building blocks to start an entire new life of our own).

There’s something to be said for risk and leaping into the unknown. There’s also something to be said for the familiarity of having lived someplace for 365+ days.

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

The calm before the grad school storm …

Ann Arbor: day five

Today was a bumpy one. We went out to get some supplies and victuals. I bought a few new short-sleeved shirts but I don’t know how much longer they’ll be wearable here. The traffic around Ann Arbor right now is not much better than traffic during a typical weekday rush hour in the Bay Area, and the drivers are aggressive and careless. We went to Target and Meijer, right next door, which is a huge shopping center that is sort of a combination of a supermarket and a department store. Today it is was like a combination of the busiest Safeway and the busiest Macy’s rolled up in one. The crowds were incredible, and it was not even 4.00 yet.

We dealt with it for about 45 minutes and then (having found most of what we needed) gave up when some voice started annoyingly announcing, over and over again, insistently, a contest for some useless merchandise over the PA system and egging shoppers to race to the other end of the store as quickly as possible to get a prize, hardly a wise thing to be doing in what was already a zoo. We drove back to the house and cleaned up some more, unpacked a few things, but mostly rested.

On the positive side, we walked the dog again around the complex around 10.00 and I saw what I think must have been Mars up in the heavens, looking bright and beautiful in its approach to the closest it has been to Earth in 60,000 years. The horizon is so flat here that you can see the heavenly bodies quite clearly, a definite plus.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me. Have to be at Michigan Union around 8.30, then it will be a full day of welcome-wagon stuff and, later in the afternoon, evidently, registration. It is scheduled to last until 6.00, though I doubt it will last straight through to that.

More tomorrow.

—Posted by Frank at 23:59:00 | 26-Aug-03

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

More of our first days in AA …

Ann Arbor: day four

We went out to dinner with Scott tonight at Gourmet Garden, a Chinese restaurant on the west side of town. Other than that, the day was mostly recovering from the long weekend. I was still stiff and sore all day long, but not nearly as immobile as I was yesterday. The repair man from the complex came and fixed our air conditioning, a greatly welcome development on a day that saw the humidity hit 100%. I got in the bathtub to soak and was wetter when I got out than when I was in the tub. The beagle got re-acquainted with his couch.

We met Scott in front of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library and it was impossible to escape the fact that students were back on campus and in town in force. Steve pointed out that I was old enough to be the dad of many of these kids, which was something I had been thinking myself but did not necessarily love having pointed out.

We walked the beagle around the immediate vicinity of the complex and he got to poop and pee and sniff around and explore without running into a single other dog, let alone a leashless one.

We will most likely be traveling up to the Traverse City area this weekend to visit Linda, who lives up there with her husband and two excitable Lab mixes, so that we can have a respite from the high jinks that are likely to ensue Saturday morning when the first Wolverine game gets played at the Stadium against the Central Michigan University (Mount Pleasant) Chippewas (and which the Wolverines, which are currently ranked number four in the nation, will probably win handily).

Things are slowly coming into focus. I will feel a lot more grounded once I have a greater familiarity with the town and its layout—knowing where everything is geographically is very important to me. I will also feel more secure once orientation is done with. A thunderstorm just erupted out of, literally, nowhere. This is going to take some getting used to, that’s for sure.

—Posted by Frank at 23:45:51 | 25-Aug-03

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Some memories are better left blotted from the mind …

All moved in (mirabile dictu)

What a weekend. We basically just unloaded an entire trailer full of our stuff in two days by ourselves, with no help from hired movers and our only assists an invaluable $70 handcart Steve bought this afternoon at Lowe’s and a great deal of brainstorming on Steve’s part on how to use the jacks that had held up the bulkheads in the trailer most of the journey across the continent as impromptu ramps to guide down the big-screen TV and the beagle’s sofa.

It’s all in the house now, thanks mostly to Steve. My lower back feels like it’s been through the wringer, but surprisingly, I am not much the worse for wear, although there were moments when I first got up and around this morning when I worried if I’d be able to walk or even sit through my orientation Wednesday. I knew I saved that bottle of ibuprofen 600mg from my last dental surgery for a reason. I also stand in awe of Kit, who would always go right back out there and get back to work on the house even when his back was obviously killing him. I have never sweated so much in my entire life. Have I mentioned that Ann Arbor is way humid?

—Posted by Frank at 21:28:41 |24-Aug-03

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

I do remember the exhaustion here …

Day Eleven

Sorry there haven’t been any posts this weekend, but we’ve moved 7,500 pounds of household goods, from the trailer into the townhouse. Just the two of us. It took two days and about 10 hours of work to get it done. We won’t go into the nightmare of the bigscreen TV, except to say that it’s in the living room and working and unscratched/no worse for wear. Even with the collapse of the bulkhead, we lost just one thing: a glass globe on a lamp. Pretty amazing. But right now, Frank’s back is out and I’m just at the end of my rope physically. We’re very happy with the townhouse, but ready to have everything unpacked/done with.

Bayley is insecure again today with all the unloading. He’s been ignoring his couch/throne. We left him alone for the first time today and he was an extremely happy dog to see us come back. He’ll get into the swing of things as we go along.

That’s all for tonight, sorry, folks; more tomorrow, when I’ve had more rest. Hope things are going very well for all of you … we’ll still be posting here, so keep reading. Frank has lots to add to the ‘blog on his trip experiences, as well as his first days as a graduate student, which happen this coming Wednesday and Thursday. So it’s not the end … merely, shall we say, the end of the beginning …

Good night, y’all!

—Posted by Steve at 19:19:47 | 24-Aug-03

And here are the photos from Day Eleven:

« Our Move to Michigan – Day Eleven » Moving In

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Ouch. Moving in is almost as bad as moving out …

Ann Arbor: Day Two

We signed the lease documents and started moving things into the townhouse. This is when it really hits you that you are somewhere: when you stop living out of hotel rooms and cars and start moving your possessions into a physical house with a permanent address.

We grabbed food at Wendy’s (or was it Arby’s? the fast food blurs together after a week and a half) and drove to the complex and opened the door of the house and then opened the door of the trailer. And boy, did the sight of all that stuff waiting to be unloaded (with boxes falling over each other and chairs helter skelter) depress me. But we had to start eventually.

The first thing we did was unload the Jeep. The first thing from the trailer that went into the house was the first box that Steve saw, one containing his Venetian glass and some pottery. Then it was all a blur of lifting and sweating (the day was a very hot and humid one, and our air conditioning does not work) and grunting and, in my case, throwing my lower back out again, after three weeks or so in which it seemed the soreness had dissipated. We got a lot of work done: the dining table and chairs, the bed, a lot of the kitchen ware, the reclining chair, my stereos. We left the big game for tomorrow.

We drove to the Kroger on Industrial and Stadium and bought our first cleaning supplies ($72). Later we returned and bought our first groceries and had our first di er: pasta and corn on the cob. With that, as Samuel Pepys would have written, abed.

—Posted by Frank at 23:59:00 | 23-Aug-03

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Has it really been a year already?!

Ann Arbor: Day One

Steve was out and about today making sure the trailer was in place to unload at the new digs and seeing the inside of the house for the first time. I stuck around at the Red Roof Inn to watch over the nervous beagle and to soak in the enormity of actually being here in Ann Arbor, momentum transformed into a weird inertial state that I didn’t know quite what to do with.

After last night’s intense thunderstorms (and tornado touchdowns in Ingham County), the sky today was picture-postcard blue and the weather mild. I walked the beagle a couple of times around the hotel grounds on Victors Way and marveled at the greenery below and the blueness above.

Steve brought me over to the house, which looked great: not stuffy or hypersterile, lots of room, and situated on the corner of a kind of cul-de-sac next to a big sheltering tree and an expanse of grass that looked very beagle-friendly. It looks like a good place to spend a year or two.

—Posted by Frank at 23:59:00 | 22-Aug-03

And here are the pictures from Day Nine:

« Our Move to Michigan – Day Nine » Ready to Move In

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Ahhhhh … home at last. A year ago today, we arrived in Ann Arbor. Whatta year, whatta year …

Day Eight

Day Eight — Lexington, KY, to Ann Arbor, MI

We’re here!! It’s all over. And, as Miss Celie says in The Color Purple, ‘I may be poor … I may even be ugly, but I’m here! Thank God, I’m here!’ [cue swelling emotional music]

And as I write this, they’ve declared a tornado warning in Livingston County, the county right to our north, with tornadoes reported to the north and west of Ann Arbor, moving southeast. Frank, therefore, is being welcomed to Michigan with his first encounter with severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Welcome to the Midwest, Frank!

First of all, however, some housekeeping: I was completely remiss in something last night: I neglected to herein congratulate and wish a very, very happy birthday to … Bayley Murphy Beagle, born Aug. 20, 1994, in Kemp, TX, to Laddie Lattie and No-No Emmett. I’m afraid his ninth birthday wasn’t that exciting; he had to sit in the Jeep all day and didn’t even have a cake or any candles. But he did get some pizza crusts as a special treat for his birthday. And this morning, he had a couple of bites of Krispy Kreme and parts of the bread from a sub sandwich.

Yeah, yeah, I know that’s the last thing he needed. But it’s his birthday, for cryin’ out loud, and he’s been cooped up in a Jeep for 3,252 miles … so sue me.

Anyway, he had a very nice birthday and is ready to begin his tenth year on earth with a whole new place in the world. On Saturday, he’ll be moving into his new townhouse, and probably will be waiting extremely impatiently for the couch (his throne) to be unloaded and put in place.

Anyway, happy birthday, Bayley Murphy Beagle. And many, many more may you have.

Here’s today’s post:

—US 23N, approaching Ann Arbor, MI, 17:00 CDT

Well, oh my goodness, we’re almost home. It seems like just yesterday we were starting out and already we’re crossing the Saline River (that’s pronounced suh-LEEN, to you non-Michiganders). We’re also just crossing the Washtenaw County line, and it all means that it’s all almost over. We can’t believe it.

What a trip it’s been. I have very mixed feelings at the moment. I’m primarily too tired and road weary at this point, to be perfectly honest, to feel much esle but numbness. It still seems unreal, like it’s just a vacation trip that we’re still on. After all, we have two nights left in a hotel room before our townhouse is ready and the trailer with our stuff is here. But I suppose it will sink in when we unload and I see Bayley’s couch sitting in our new living room.

Speaking of the beagle, he was quite alert as we crossed the state line, but is now back to sleeping. He’s very worn out by it all, and the two days in the hotel will do him good. Then a couple of days of chaos as things get unloaded and boxes get unpacked and things get arranged. It looks like we’ll be able to afford to pay someone to unload the truck, which was the biggest thing I was dreading on the whole journey. So it’s all good.

I’m very ready to get to the hotel room and rest. Our last few stops have come later at night; by the time you eat dinner and go to bed, it’s late, then you get up late, etc. We’ll be in our room by 18:00 and have the rest of the evening to chill out. I’m very, very, very happy we didn’t elect to spend the night in Nashville, and went on to Lexington. It made the trip much better and being more rested will help out tremendously with the unpacking over the weekend.

I guess I’ll sign off now until later this evening. I need to help Frank negotiate the route to the hotel.

—Red Roof Inn, Room 106, Ann Arbor, MI, 21:30 CDT

We’re here! And so is one big ol’ thunderstorm with tornadoes and everything.

For those of you who are Californians, a tornado watch means conditions are favorable for the formation of storms which could spawn tornadoes. A tornado warning means something nasty is on the ground and it’s coming for you. We don’t just gots the former, folks, we gots the latter. And I’m not going to remain online too long while something wicked this way comes.

Today’s statistics:

We travelled 339 miles from Lexington, KY, to Ann Arbor, MI. Spent $31 on gas, $17.97 on food, and $5.25 on miscellaneous expenses. And that concludes our trip, thank you for flying AirBeagle.

Yes, the trip is over. We were on the road 60 hours and 45 minutes over eight days, during which we drove 3,252 miles and used 208.165 gallons of gasoline for an average of 15.622 miles-per-gallon.

11 states. 4 state capitals. 3 Best Westerns, 2 LaQuintas, a Red Roof Inn, and, of course, Casa Manor Chez Don-n-Jean. An oil change. And Bayley left … DNA, shall we say … in all 11 states.

We saw cars registered in WA, OR, CA, ID, UT, AZ, NM, CO, KS, OK, TX, LA, MS, TN, AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, KY, OH, MI, WI, ND, SD, NE, MN, IA, MD, NJ, NY, MA, ME, CT, VT, PA, WV, IL … and Ontario and British Columbia. We saw 1.5 billion trucks, 6 million RVs/camping trailers and one tricycle motorcycle pulling a trailer.

We successfully concluded the trip without being stopped by the polizei and getting any tickets. No injuries, not even any really close calls, once you erase the memory of Tennessee drivers.

But we had fantastic fortune: After we went through Yosemite, a tree fell down and crushed a Jeep. After we went through Las Vegas, flash floods swept through town and left feet of mud all over.

And then we hit Ann Arbor; we’ll see if our luck holds and the tornadoes skip around us.

Now for today’s miscellany:

—What, exactly, was the person thinking who named a state park in Kentucky, and I quote, ‘Big Bone Lick State Park’? I am not making this up. Exit 175, Richwood, KY.

—There is a water tower in northern Kentucky which states, ‘Florence … Y’all!’ It’s not Florence, KY, it’s Florence, Y’all.

—There are many, many Ohio drivers, but they’re still not as bad as Tennessee. Show me a Tennessee driver and I’ll show you the subject of a future roadside memorial featuring flowers, crosses and bottles of bourbon.

—Krispy Kreme is oversaturating the market and at risk of becoming a turnoff.

—Cincinnati is a pretty city in a beautiful natural setting, but ya don’t wanna drive there or live there.

—AM radio offers two things: Screaming fascists haranguing listeners with rightwing agitprop which is stomach-turningly racist and idiotic or oldies radio featuring Karen Carpenter singing ‘Superstar.’

—Hotels which don’t tell you upfront, on phone or their websites, that they will charge you a $75 non-refundable pet fee should be spanked. hard.

—The most entertaining reading along the way (besides billboards advertising everything from the Ohio Pork Producers Council to North America’s largest stainless steel cross) has been local newspapers. And as a former smalltown local newspaper reporter, I’m entitled to talk about this. Let’s take a look at the Conway (AR) Log Cabin Democrat from Tues. Aug. 19, shall we?

—Item 1: ‘A Twin Groves man was found dead … after being run over by a vehicle driven by his cousin’ who saw something in the road as he crested a hill, hit the object after being unable to stop, finally pulled into a driveaway and drove back to find his own cousin lying in the road mortally wounded.

—’Police were called to the … home of former Conway attorney … on a domestic call. …. claimed his wife … hit him, knocking out three of his teeth. She said she pushed him after he hit her and that she did not cause his teeth to fall out.’ ‘Two pipes for drug use’ were found and confiscated.

And so on. And don’t think I’m picking on Arkansas … this is smalltown journalism everywhere … it’s infinitely more entertaining than the San Francisco Chronicle, let me tell you.

Here’s today’s trip statistics:

• 12:04 — Leave Lexington, KY — 0 miles | 2913 total

• 13:30 — Ohio State Line/Cincinnati — 81 miles | 2994 total

• 14:15 — Dayton — 141 miles | 3054 total

• 14:45 — Piqua — 162 miles | 3075 total

• 15:32 — Lima — 207 miles | 3120 total

• 16:00 — Findlay — 239 miles | 3152 total

• 16:21 — Bowling Green — 262 miles | 3175 total

• 16:39 — Toledo — 282 miles | 3195 total

• 16:47 — Michigan State Line — 291 miles | 3204 total

• 17:35 — Ann Arbor, MI — 339 miles | 3252 total

I’m off to keep an eye on the storms. But don’t go ‘way! Just because the beagle has landed doesn’t mean aSquared is finished. Posts will continue, at least until we’re settled in the house.

Besides, don’t you want to tune in tomorrow to see if we got blown away by a tornado or not? Sure ya do! Let’s see … if I remember what to do when a tornado comes. Oh, yes. The Oklahoma Drill. Bathtub, mattress, curl over the beagle and hope for the best. Right.

Good night, y’all.

—Posted by Steve at 22:03 | 21-Aug-03

And here are the photos from Day Eight:

« Our Move to Michigan – Day Eight » Lexington, KY, to Ann Arbor, MI

One thing that I’ve really learned in my time in southeast Michigan is an increased appreciation for the blues.

You have blues played on the radio and blues festivals in the Bay Area, to be sure, although for historical reasons I don’t understand, the Bay Area, as anyone who listens to KFOG (the only radio station with any decent reception that regularly plays anything remotely resembling blues) knows, tends to idolize white artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, and Susan Tedeschi and to either undervalue or ignore black blues artists (unless it’s BB King doing a duet with U2 on “When Love Comes to Town”). I mean no disrespect, because those artists have done a lot to help keep blues alive. But would it hurt KFOG to play more Leadbelly and Son House and Luther Allison?

Last year when Joss Stone’s album hit the racks the radio stations in Michigan played it to death for a while, but it was clearly the flavor of the month, because you don’t much hear her pathetic attempts at testifying anymore (though, unfortunately, she has another CD coming out next month).

Blues is not a religion in California (which is much more the land of the Beach Boys, Jefferson Airplane, Black Flag, and Dr. Dre). It is here. And if you’ve heard Otis Rush singing “Checking on My Baby,” which I did for the first time today, you would have to be made of stone not to understand why.

The students are definitely back. About the only thing that hasn’t happened yet is the start of classes, so the mad throngs of students filing across central campus haven’t materialized yet, but otherwise the “quiet” of summer is pretty much over with. The traffic on State is back to snail’s pace levels. A couple of undergrads were lazily sashaying across the intersection at State and South University last night when a cop car came roaring up State with its siren blaring. The students pretended it wasn’t there until the cop almost ran them over to get through the intersection. One of them covered her mouth and giggled as she bopped the rest of the way across the crosswalk, as though she’d just done something very amusing. It’s hard to believe they’re so self-absorbed, although the truth that I have to keep reminding myself is that we were all that way when we were teenagers, that I had more than my share of irresponsible, thoughtless, idiotic moments when I thought that every word that poured from my mouth and every sentence I set down on paper was the mark of genius and that any adults who tried to point out that I was only 17 or 18 or 19 or 20 and had a lot to learn were clueless dolts. I was paging through a Cole Porter biography recently and saw a 1912 photo of Porter in a Yale glee club. Of course, that was a very different time, but some of the cockier guys in that glee club had expressions on their faces that weren’t all that different from those on the faces of the strutting undegrads on campus now.

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

My second visit to Lexington, which I think is rather a pretty place …

Lexington, KY

Population 260,512 (2000 census). Seat of Fayette County. Second-largest city in Kentucky. Home to the University of Kentucky and Transylvania University.

Lexington was named in 1775 for the battle in the same name in Massachusetts (19 April 1775). In 1817, Lexington staged the first Beethoven symphony heard in the United States. Lexington’s public library is billed as the oldest library west of the Alleghenies and may be older than the city itself. The library became a “free” library in 1898, and Andrew Carnegie financed the building of a larger “free” library in 1902.

Horse racing in Kentucky began as a pastime of the frontiersmen who settled the area that became the state of Kentucky. Daniel Boone brought pack horses on a hunting trip to Kentucky in 1769. William Whitley developed the first circular race track in Lincoln County in 1780. In 1793, Lexington forbade horse-racing through the streets and confined it to the West Water Street part of town.

We didn’t see much of Lexington last night, and we left today before we could see much more of it. We were, frankly, in a hurry to get the last leg of the trip under way. What my main impressions of Lexington were: (a) It’s huge. It sprawls all over the place. The trip from one end of town to the other (where our La Quinta was) seemed to take forever. (b) It’s beautiful. © You’d need more than a day to do it justice.

—Posted by Frank at 13:40:00 | 21-Aug-03