...wanderings

I gave a paper at a symposium in Berkeley this week (using a prezi...it went very well); I feel as though I'm starting to figure out how to properly negotiate this whole academic thing...and I might get a publication out of it too!

Joe joined me the day following the symposium and we took in the city from a beer and food angle (surprise, surprise). We both took the train down on separate evenings..which gave us a topsy turvy feel to what day it was...

Taking in the pizza of the day.

We plotted out some of our trip, making reservations for a B&B up the hill from the UC campus.
We also made the requisite month early seating reservations for dinner at the famed restaurant pictured in the post below (p.s. it was just okay).

Taking the recommendation of a bay area native we made sure check out this place, where we had a slice of gourmet pizza (which was effing amazing) and listened to live jazz music during the lunch rush...glad we didn't try to get dinner, walking past later in the evening the line wrapped around the block. In fact, the seating was full for lunch too, so we ate our fare in the middle of the street seated in an obliging grassy median.

the famous circle of anarchy, UC campus.

 Otherwise our trip was mostly unplanned, a complete delight given our normal agenda setting days. I took to the books there and back and fielded some questions from students via email about their upcoming exam, but otherwise we checked out from our day-to-day.


We wandered about the city and UC campus taking it in and enjoying beers, kombucha, gelato and other delights as we went. It was a nice business turned pleasure trip. I think we walked about 20 miles over two days.

Humongous hen and chicks!

Just cause we happened to be in the neighborhood....literally.

Joe plays with the house-made chips.

that's the bay, behind our big heads

Golden Gate from our B&B room

City and Bay Bridge from our room

Bouldering fool : )

Taking in some sun in the gourmet ghetto. I'm not kidding, that is the actual name of the neighborhood in Berkeley. This was at the gardens adjacent to the imperial tea room. Despite the royal nuptials having been that day, we declined a pot of tea in the sun and 70 degree weather.

Channeling Tommy...mmm Gelato

 The train, while long and full of strange and mysterious folks, was a nice and affordable way to get to and fro and I was able to get a ton of work done both ways. Although they lie about 'free wifi'...it's free if you're a premium customer...in the parlour. bastards. Thank goodness for the almighty iphone and for sour beers (not from the train...the train only has $5 AB and liquor, we had these prior to the train). These menus are from here, which we hit after walking to this place, which had a nice selection, but only half the ambiance.

Through the Cascades

Yeah, I'm a foodie.

I'm okay with that.

...dog new tricks

I've just come off a week at the annual professional conference for geographers. I lost my voice due to sickness the week prior and was still recovering, which made me sound as though I'd been chain-smoking since birth and was rather uncomfortable...all things considered. I gave a talk, I used powerpoint. Other people gave talks, they used powerpoint. Because this conference allows any paper to be given that is submitted, I've learned that it is largely a networking opportunity rather than a moment for critical feedback on your own work. But I digress....

I have nothing in particular against powerpoint (except for people who use it to display the full text of their paper, while they read to you). But I want to step out of the linear style of presenting...I have reasons, empirical evidence and other anecdotes to this effect (I won't bore you).

I'm giving a talk (peer reviewed!) at a symposium in Berkeley this coming week and to that end, I took precious hours to teach myself how to use prezi today.

I'm not a particularly expressive/visually creative person...but I think my first attempt is alright. In fact, I'm obnoxiously giddy about it. Tomorrow I will test it in front of my colleagues (which is sure to bring me down to normal). A full report will be forthcoming...

Baby Hughes!!!

Remind me again

Why do people go to college?
Oh right, independence, sex, drugs and alcohol.
It certainly isn't for the classes.
I'd say about 10% of my 150 person class is clued into college = education.

Since classes started last week I have received 5 emails...which I know is only a paltry 3% of my class...asking if they missed anything crucial in the first week of class and demanding my syllabus. I have received 1 email offering me a correction on my apparent confusion over terms (citing the about dot com professional geographer) (p.s. my definitions were correct). I have received 1 email asking me which of the required reading is really the most useful. And finally, the all important nameless folks who have approached me at the start of lecture--10 to be exact--who have claimed various reasons for potentially missing class at some point and how unfair my pop quiz (you can't make them up) policy is.

Now that I have complained (yet again) about students not caring about class, I must admit that I recognize the formative experience that college is and I do not begrudge them the opportunity to grow as adults and sleep, drink and smoke their way through the undergrad student body (er...time...experience). I certainly did my fair share of those things and I realize that my experience as a student is different, as I am in love with college and classes and research and writing. I realize I'm weird.

I just want them to respect me and pay attention when I'm talking. Is that so much to ask? It's hard to know how to earn the respect of students who won't give you the opportunity to try. And, who will later feel entitled to a good grade, despite having not attempted to earn it.

I have decided not to harp on about paying attention though. In class on Wednesday I gave them the breakdown. If you are an in-state student you're paying (before fees) $600 for my 4-credit class; if you are an out-of-state student that jumps to $2200. I told them that it was up to them how they wanted to use this time that they had paid for. I will leave it at that.

It's an intro class, I can't be expected to win the hearts and minds of people who are taking gen-ed credits right?

Also, I aged several times during my second lecture having mentioned close-encounters of the third kind and 'young' Richard Dreyfuss. 150 blank stares is an amazing sight.