Nate Knows Nada

This is my first time at Princeton, so I thought I’d walk around the campus a bit today.

It’s absolutely lovely. This is very much a college town, and the campus has a coherent, idyllic feel to it in a way that Harvard does not. Lots of trees, big fields and open spaces, and variation in building style. Princeton reminds me of UC Davis, in an Ivy League way. (THAT might be the first time those two schools have been linked in that way.)

And dinner tonight before our workshop begins tomorrow was also quite fun. I do enjoy getting together with these people; they’re the very few with whom I can talk about HIV as a political scientist, using our language and analytic methods. Plus they’re just generally nice, congenial, and collegial.

Number 17: Upon attempting to walk through the metal detector, the “security guard” tells you that no shoes are metal detector “safe,” so you’ll have to remove them. All right, it’s one more step, even though you’ve been through other airports where they let you leave your shoes on. (This leads me to believe that “security” is a relative term–why might shoes be safe on one flight but not another?) Then he lets the woman behind me leave her clogs on (which are easier to take off than my shoes).

My semi-husband, the Baptized Pagan, gets a little fame in the Boston Globe traffic blog.

For these we thank Brian of Cambridge, who obviously rides the Green Line and was raised by whales:

T.Q. (for “Transfer Quotient”): the ability to choose a spot on your current train which best positions you to transfer to your next train

Expresspair: a unique form of despair that comes when you realize a Green Line car is an express and will not be stopping to pick you up — despite the rain.

T-ear: the ability to understand and translate to fellow passengers the garbled sounds of MBTA announcements. A trait among native New Englanders who, due to freak accidents, were raised by whales.

The trailer for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie has been leaked.

Avast, mateys.

Yesterday was “Thropstalk” here in the house. It’s our get out and play in the outdoors for some fun event. Tire swings (you can see me and BF here on the one), giant Twister (I was the winner in “Tutor Twister”), and general fun.

So there was also Sumo wrestling, of a sort. In essence, as you can see, we put on suits that simulated the girth of Sumo wrestlers and which had enough padding to make sure nothing hurt. The fellow you see there on the left is Steve Rosen, aka Winthrop Master Rosen, aka my dissertation chair. Out of three, he won two bouts, but I finally figured out how to win by sidestepping his sumo weight on the third try. Given another, I think I might have come out on top.

‘Course, it may be good for my career that I didn’t. *grin*

The Harvard Blogs server has begun its migration to a new blogging system, and so much of the functionality of this blog is limited right now.  I’m inclined to go this on my own, getting server space and setting up a WordPress blog, where I can edit my site’s look much more than the current Harvard setup allows (although that should change in the near future).  I’ll also be able to use my offline editor once again (which broke down with the final shift over the weekend).

In the meantime, you may see this site undergo a radical visual redesign.  Don’t worry.  The content will all still be there.  I think.

Please bear with us as we continue to make Nate Knows Nada an occasionally entertaining, thought-provoking, and casually pleasant place to read.