Remembrance

"Let's talk sense to the American people. Let's tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains." -Adlai Stevenson

Memorial Day parade downtown this morning :)

Cruising

"Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving." -Albert Einstein. What a smart guy.

Headed back to CoMo after festivities in Boonville -- including the new Cooper's Oak store and Split Lip Rayfield :)

Trail Ride

"The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine." -John Howard. Powering Jake the Snake to Boonville and back this weekend for the Pedaler's Jamboree. 75+ miles of good times.

Flipper

"...a trained dolphin can sell for as much as $150,000." -from a Time review of The Cove. Watched it last night; pretty gruesome stuff.

Hello, Strawberries!

"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from cradle to the grave, is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress." -Charles Dickens

For Better and Worse

"If a man means his writing seriously, he must mean to write well. But how can he write well until he learns to see what he has written badly. His progress toward good writing and his recognition of bad writing are bound to unfold at something like the same rate." -John Ciardi

Bitter Valediction

"The glorious business of the University is not limited to seeking truth, but necessarily includes the search for meaning, a striving to understand from multiple perspectives what it is to be authentically human." -from an essay on the recent and unfortunate events at the Univeristy; by RBS Director and English Professor M.F. Suarez. A few days late but still thought provoking.

Sparky's To Go

Clearly, we are big fans:

Home

"Home sweet home. No place like home. Take me home, country roads. Home is where the heart is. But my heart is here. So I must be home." -from The Time Traveler's Wife, which I am currently reading.

Eat Up

"The only thing that really improves with age is your appreciation of food." -from an article in Gastronomica.

I'll say. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do now. Farmers' Market today!

Life Cycle

“Check in with your body. Do things you really love doing. Life is too short to sit and wallow about it.” -message from cyclist and cancer patient Dan Miller, who I wrote about for this week's Vox.

Bike Skills 101

Well, thanks to this video, there is evidence that I am 26 years old and still don't know how to properly wear a bike helmet.

Study Abroad

Who knew that my 116 Years of Corks & Curls would get my name in the Guardian? Ha.

Not Connected

"To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer." -Farmer's Almanac, 1978.

Without Internet for days now... kind of a struggle -- but a good excuse to visit the public library.

Rain, rain, go away

"All was silent as before, All silent save the dripping rain." -Longfellow.

Wondering if it will ever stop???

High School Woes

"I looked back at the six years I had spent at Gokomere High School. I was never going to come back again. I was 18 years old, had not grown a beard, barely 5 feet 4 inches tall and I weighed less than 110 pounds. I had not cut my hair for more than three months, and it had curled up and looked like a bunch of black raw pasta stuffed on my head." -my favorite lines from Munashe's book about growing up in Zimbabwe. I've had the privilege of editing the memoir -- definitely a great read.

Graduation Day

"I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities and to the most special places your heart has ever known."

Philosophy

"Feel free and take a fresh look. My emphasis is on options. My motto: 'Why not?'" -James Beard

Research Rhymes

It's been two (!) weeks since my thesis defense, and I never posted the poem I wrote for my committee (which was probably the only reason I passed -- with revisions, of course). I'll spare you all the boring stanzas about my research; here's the beginning and the end:

Twas the day of my thesis defense, and I was shaking with fear
In the final hours of my grad school career
This semester has really flow by,
And months of research have been hard on my eyes.
. . .
So, dear committee, what do you think?
Is the intro too short? Does the conclusion stink?
Tell me your thoughts, bestow your advice.
I’m open to suggestions, but please be nice.

www.

"The Internet is the most important single development in the history of human communication since the invention of call waiting." -Dave Barry

Is it? I don't know, but having ours out for a day was sure a pain.

Words of Wisdom

"I have been thinking this weekend about you, about the words, ideas and stories you have put together now—-part of the patchwork quilt of your passions and discoveries." -beginning of an e-mail from my thesis advisor, followed by An Old African Song:

Do not seek too much fame
But do not seek obscurity
Be proud
But do not remind the world of your deeds
Excel when you must
But do not excel the world
Many heroes are not yet born
Many have already died
To be alive to hear this song
That is a victory

I've posted that before, but it's always good to read again :)

Out of State

Parked in front of Jesse Hall. Cute.

Thinking Positive

Written on one of the J1100 exams I'm grading. Hmm.

School Days

"Our power is in our ability to decide." -Buckminster Fuller. Quote from Eco School House, a Columbia-based documentary about an environmentally-minded architect who dreamed up a "green" school house for Grant Elementary students after their classroom trailer burned. Check it out here.

Flipping Out

"Well, I get off the bus at 3:18..." -13-year-old Petey's response when Nate asked him what time he was coming over to ride dirt bikes. He's a punctual little guy ... and soon to be the next Shaun White of dirt biking?!

On the Move

Prep School Pep

Goodness gracious. They were much better behaved when I was there ;)

Read the story here.

SPAM

Blast from the Past

"Oh yeah, it's on..." -Mike from 9th Street Deli tells us about being (romantically) reconnected with a high school flame. Hehe.

Delicious

"I like my coffee black, my beer from Germany, wine from Burgundy, the darker, the better." -Ode to Chocolate by Barbara Crooker, from the Writer's Almanac. Read the rest here.

May Day

"May and June. Soft syllables, gentle names for the two best months in the garden year: cool, misty mornings gently burned away with a warming spring sun, followed by breezy afternoons and chilly nights. The discussion of philosophy is over; it's time for work to begin." -Peter Loewer.

Also means lots of rain and flooding!