Oski and the Tree

As I sitting here on my couch trying to write academic mumbo-jumbo, I'm being serenaded by the Cal Marching Band playing a medley of Cal fight songs in preparation for Saturday's Big Game against Stanford. I mean Stanfurd. Which, despite being an admittedly apathetic to football, I'm going to. Because I don't feel like I can graduate from this school without hitting the Big Game, and seeing Cal get the ax and chop down the Tree and fight for victory and Grrrrrrrrr -- rrrr -- rrrrr!

I have managed to memorize at least the first stanza of the Cal Fight Song, and now I know about the Grrrrr-ing from this other fight song, The Big "C", and I not only watched the heartbreaking Cal vs. USC game but also yelled at the screen, which is not something I usually do, so I think I'm ready. If I weren't 30 and trying to maintain some air of respectability, I might be tempted to get one of those "Fuck Stanfurd" T-shirts, but, ahem, I applied for a postdoc there, so that's probably not wise.

Grrrrrrrr.

2(3.14159)

Library Moebius Moment

Earlier this week on a reconnaissance mission to the library, I tried to recall a book from myself.

Me: "I want to recall this book."
Library dude [looking at computer screen]: "Ummm... do you have this book?"
Me: "No, I want to recall it."
Library dude: "Ummm... you have this book."
Me [doubting]: "I do? Wow. Huh." [now sheepish] "Oh yeah, I do."

Only later did I realize I could have chalked it up to secretly trying to test the accuracy of the library's computer system. This is my visual representation of the entire exchange, for you math nerds out there.

Algo nuevo for the SJBlog

On a morning when I don't have to jump in the shower, speed-walk the dog, chug a cup of tea and hustle off to campus to teach, I end up procrastinating by reading the paper and shuffling through email and blogs for a half hour before I settle in to whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing. OK, more like an hour.

It occurred to me this morning that although I'm true to my New York Times, it would be a good idea to check in with El País, one of Spain's three major daily newspapers (the most liberal, natch), on a more regular basis. And, although I generally don't know a whole lot about this kind of techno wizardry, I was able to put an RSS feed from El País right on my blog page (which, despite having written it and read it multiple times, I always seem to come back to). Exciting, exciting.

I know that many of you are a) not Spanish speakers, b) totally uninterested in breaking news about Spanish highways and weather patterns or c) have no idea what an RSS feed is. So, to you folks I say, please feel free to ignore the "Breaking News from Spain" section, which is located below the fold on this blog anyway, and should be easy to ignore. For my PQ girls, however, and anyone else who reads Spanish, I give you a little slice of España, for your reading pleasure.

In and around Morro Bay, California

A few photos from this weekend's jaunt to Morro Bay for Margaret's 30th birthday:

Vineyards near Paso Robles. Castoro Cellars was the standout, though we didn't make it to nearby Bonny Doon, where they make my beloved Big House White and Red.

At Montaña de Oro State Park outside Morro Bay and Cayucos.

Me and the birthday girl on the dunes.

California is so beautiful I miss it already!

Tastes so sweet

"What's changed today? The election's over. And the Democrats won." -- George W. Bush, 3 minutes ago. First true words to come outta this guy's mouth since 2000.

Update on Berkeley's Measure H:

68.9% Yes
31.1% No

So long, suckers.

Measure H? Why, Yes!

On the whole I really dislike the California Proposition system, in which California voters are asked to make the decisions that we pay our legislators to make. I mean, sometimes it's a no-brainer, like Prop 85 (the abortion waiting period and parental notification proposed amendment), but other times, like Prop 89 (the corporate tax increase, campaign contribution and expenditure limits statue), it takes more work to decide. I spent an hour last night reading through the ballot, sorting through the gazillion political fliers I've gotten in the last week, listening to Bill Clinton's messages on my cell phone, watching one tv station run all the conservative proposition ads and another run all the liberal ones, checking on who or what my union and the Democratic Party and the mayor of Berkeley and the Sierra Club think I should vote for. Whoo-hoo, what a way to spend a Saturday night.
Anyway, I'm sick of all of it -- and I know I'm not the only one, and it's probably even worse in those battleground states -- but there is one redeeming measure on Tuesday's ballot: Berkeley's Measure H:

Shall the City of Berkeley petition the United States House of Representatives to initiate proceedings for the impeachment and removal from office of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney and call upon the California State Legislature to submit a Resolution in support of impreachment to the United States House of Representatives?

First of all, who knew Dick Cheney's middle initial was B.? But also: you know what? I know this measure isn't going to do anything, and that everyone makes fun of Berkeley for all its lefty hippie pot-smoking legalized-prostitution-supporting out-of-touch-with-reality commie wacko "rules," but I love it. I love that I live in a place where Measure H will pass. Where we at least try. The rest of the country will have to wait until 2008, but in Berkeley we're kickin' 'em out 2006-style! In your face, Red States!

Which one of these masked Nacho Libres is an SJBlog reader?