Happy New Year!

(pictures coming soon)

hope everyone has a fabulous '06!

merry xmasses

some xmas photos, not exactly all in chronological order:


Merrica and Mom, ready for dinner on Christmas Eve


Mimi with the roast at my mom's


xmas at my mom's, with Emily, Dorothy, Merrica, and my mom


a funny t-shirt from my mom (translation available upon request)


Merrica seems pleased with this Times collection of stories about the Beatles


at Chris and Carries place, after seeing them both perform at Improv Olympic . . . funniest single joke? well, it has to be Carrie's talk of twins having sex in the womb--unstoppable

and on to Mimi's family:


well, although the roast at my mom's was big, it wasn't a nearly 20-pound rib roast . . . yow, Fran & Dave!


a whole lot of Campbells and relatives . . . and crying babies

and now, some bonus material:
a video of my cat grooming me--I know it's dark, but if you brighten your screen it should work

and a video of Braxton playing his new drum, with help from his, um, cousin once-removed, or something, Matthew Larkin

finally, the Chris Parnell/Andy Samberg song from SNL is available for free on iTunes, and it's just awesome: click here

welcome, Merrica!

Merrica's back stateside, for the 1st time in like a year and a half; & she flew here Monday to attend a KU basketball game (against the Pepperdine Waves)

first things first: we had Merrica go ahead & open one present, a new KU hat . . .

and then Merrica & I trekked through the snow & got to the game just in time for tip-off; the seats were good, the place was packed; the team seemed off that night, but we had some fun anyway

Sasha Kaun at the free-throw line; unfortunately, the Jayhawks missed quite a few that night


well, this should be a photo of CJ Giles dunking the ball off an in-bounds pass; as many KU plays that night, though, it didn't quite work out . . . they did still win by 20 points, so not a total loss


say what you will about the game, it's always great fun at Allen Fieldhouse

today, we slept in a bit, then did a little last-minute shopping downtown

and it looks like I'll be flying to New York next week to interview for a job at the U of Wyoming--so cross your fingers that the transit strike ends soon!

cheers

ps, in case you can hear the music, props to my Mom for telling me that it's Jim Nabors' version that rocks that song

pps (added 21 December): I guess since I bought that song on iTunes, it'll only play on my computers; so now you can listen instead to this fun 'Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo' and just think about how good that other song must've been . . .

happy holiday parties; and, congratulations, graduates!

Emily had a holiday celebration with her co-workers last week, and though I'm going to offer her the chance to do a guest entry about that later on, I do want to use her picture of the tree at the Unity library to lead this post--notice the archive-box decorations on the tree . . .

well, on Friday, we went to Tom Tuozzo's for a philosophy department holiday party, which was great--good food, good stuff to drink, heat lamps on the deck for the smokers . . . and the people were okay too
(especially, I should say, as the hour got later--when, for example, the smokers just moved inside the house & gave up on the heat lamps)
Sadly, this weekend Emily & I forgot to bring our camera with us, so all I can offer are blurry photos from my cell phone, like this one:

Here Rodd offers Dodie some sort of house-plant (Christmas cactus, I'm told), towards the end of the party . . .

On Sunday, Deron invited us to attend the December graduation ceremony for the Journalism School. Deron receives his masters degree this month--well done

My friend Kengo, who took that free Spanish class with me a couple years ago, also graduated, with a bachelors in journalism


Mimi and Haley with our graduate himself--congratulations, Deron!
(& yes, if you're wondering, he did keep his collar up like that even as he crossed the stage . . . that's our Deron)


I know this is quite blurry, but here's a photo of the J-school faculty and graduates singing the KU alma mater to close the ceremony

well, there's still 45 papers I'm supposed to be grading, so that's all for now
though I just wanted to mention that I think I may set up a second blog (no, Deron, not about basketball--though I'd gladly read it if you started one)--people (well, at least two people) have asked about some of the 'fancier' things I've been doing on here lately, so I think that from now on, for anyone interested, I'll keep a tally of any web-design tricks I run across . . . so I guess that's something to look forward to in the next few days (?)
(the address will be www.yancy9b.blogspot.com)
cheers

it's beginning to look a lot like . . .

well, though I am slightly afraid of appearing overly domestic/sentimental/bourgeois, I thought I'd put up these few pictures of our tree (well, actually, it's Diana's tree, but whatever) & of my 'Christmas goose'


Emily hanging an ornament


and what ornament? our friend the back-packing moose, which we got up in Minnesota after the canoe trip in August '04


almost done . . .


in the soft light of the tree

delicious

so with my Mom in town for the week, we cooked up our first thanksgiving dinner; Emily & I did some preparation over the weekend, but things really got going Monday--with some help from my Mom, I got things started while Emily was at work

my Mom, grinding some guajillo peppers for the mole which we served with the turkey


my Mom, helping prepare the stuffing

When Mimi got home, we treated ourselves with some chili (not pictured) that I made once the t-day stuff was ready . . . and then got up (or, in my case, tried really hard to get up) bright & early to see Mimi run a 5-k race along the river with a couple hundred fellow-citizens . . .
. . . unfortunately, in my groggy haste I forgot the camera, but I did manage to get a shot of Emily before she removed her #

Mimi, after finishing the Thanksgiving day 5-k in 28:47--nice!

and then it was time to get the food going

Mimi and the bird

it took a couple of hours for the turkey to cook, which gave us a nice chance to visit . . . and have some beer


Merrica on the phone and a beer in my hand--Happy Thanksgiving indeed

now, I know that's the only picture I'm in, but honestly I did do some cooking; I just don't look very good when I cook . . .


As the turkey cooked, our friend enjoyed his thanksgiving meal outside


success!


our spread--some Amplexus champagne (you can look that word up if you like--but trust me, the champagne was tasty), spiked cranberries, candied yams, jalepeño cornbread stuffing, and the turkey


the remains


for desert, some fantastic pumpkin pie

Friday, Mimi showed us around the ground (and undergrounds) at Unity Village, where she works as Archives Technician

in the tunnels under Unity


Mom and Mimi at Unity

a great holiday

bling!; and, turkey on the way!

check out Emily's phone . . . what sparkle!

so my mom got in last night (just in time, sadly, to witness KU's loss to Arizona--but at least we put up a good fight)
tomorrow begins the preparation of the thanksgiving meal . . . which, if it goes all right, may be the best thanksgiving meal EVER

our menu, you ask?
some turkey, with a spicy mole, of course
candied yams
cranberries prepared with, among other things, Grand Marnier (mmm)
some jalepeño corn bread stuffing
and, of course pumpkin pie

wish us luck

updates to come!

Fayetteville, AR

here I am somewhere in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas

We went down there this past weekend, so I could deliver a paper on Aristotle at the Southwestern Philosophical Society meeting. The weather--though a little chilly--was great & though it was fall the farmers' market there (a block from our hotel) was overflowing with delicious looking (well, you can't cook in a hotel room, you know) food . . .
While I enjoyed hearing some papers, Emily went out & explored the city--one candidate for a highlight (?) was a tour she took of the 1st house the Clintons lived in together, when they were teaching at the U of Arkansas

Emily in front of the house where the Clintons lived & were married . . .

So my paper went very well--the people there seemed to like it, and I got some good questions (most of which I felt I answered pretty well, if you ask me), and the commentator was Chris Caldwell, a KU PhD who was there with his wife Delilah (also a KU PhD, who was herself there to give a paper) and their handsome 15-month-old son Jay, who was wearing an adorable vest and clip-on tie combo (for some insane reason, we forgot, alas, to get any photographs).

on Saturday afternoon, Emily showed me around a bit, including the beautiful new public library (which, rumor has it, was designed by the guy that Lawrence is hoping to have renovate their library--here's hoping)

Mimi outside the Fayetteville library


the front of the library


the back of the library

we also had the chance to enjoy the film Good Night, and Good Luck, which I would highly recommend, and not only because George Clooney is so cute . . .
and, on our way out of town, there was some entertaining traffic:

a car I thought my sister Merrica, at least, would enjoy . . .

and so we drove back toward Lawrence, and then, about 4 hours into the drive home we got to the Kansas City suburbs, and then . . .

alas, this is how our trip ended . . .
until Deron drove into Kansas City to pick us up & take us home--thanks, Deron!

the good news is a) the car's already fixed for not too much $ (the lug nuts on the front driver's side wheel were broken) and b) at least we had a great trip, and made it almost all the way home . . .

poll results, etc

Well, the results (such as they are) are in: it looks like the majority of you agree with my feeling that term limits for justices are probably a bad idea . . . to view the results, click "view" on the poll in the previous post, below, or click on poll results. Thanks for voting!

A couple of you--Rodrigo and Chet, to name names--were kind enough to send comments on your views; I think what I'll do is post those comments myself in the "comment" area at the end of this post. Thanks for sending those along! And please enjoy, dear reader, those comments.

For now I think it best to keep this post short and resist the inclination to talk more about court terms or politics in general (though Frank Rich's column on the administration's questionable policies in yesterday's Times was excellent, and I'd recommend reading it--if any non-subscribers out there are interested, I know some people and can probably track down a copy for you). . . .

we just (barely) got back from Arkansas, so expect some news on that soon

cheers

court poll, music update

well, on Halloween night the thing too frightening for me to even mention in the earlier post was Deron's suggestion that Supreme Court Justices ought to have limited terms (18 years was the figure he mentioned, but the big question seems to boil down to a limited term or not . . .)
at first I was quite horrified by the idea & sure it was either a horrible holiday "trick" or that Deron had lost his grip on the world . . . but now I've become a little less certain how I feel
I'm quite sure I don't like the idea, but it's gotten a little harder for me to explain why that is . . .

So I'm inviting you (yes, all three of the people who read this blog!) to let me know what you think: there's a poll below, which I invite you to vote in; and please feel free to comment at length on your view.

For anyone with the time or inclination to make a slightly more informed vote, I offer you two pieces of reading on the subject matter.

Now this may be ill-advised, but I'm a fan of stuff that's old & has stood the test of time, and I'm a fan of considering things in the proper context . . . thus, the first document is by Publius (Alexander Hamilton, in this case):
The Federalist #78, on the Judicial Department
An essay by a founding father explaining, in part, why lifetime appointments seem like a good idea.

The second piece is one Deron brought to my attention, an article by Stuart Taylor Jr. from the National Journal, 25 June 2005:
"Life Tenure Is Too Long For Supreme Court Justices"
(& I sure hope posting that is 'fair use,' or I may see some judges soon myself)

The issue, as I see it, hinges on the independence of the judicial branch, crucial to the whole checks & balances thing--can the Court remain truly independent without lifetime appointments?
On the other hand, is having Justices who serve into their 90's such a great thing? And wouldn't it be nice to know whether a President would in fact be appointing a Justice? Further, Taylor argues, perhaps the confirmation hearings wouldn't be so rough (now he wrote before Chief Justice Roberts breezed by, so we'll forgive him that one) if they occurred more often. . . .
Again, though, what about that independence? . . . so, anyway, what do you think?

do you favor term limits for Supreme Court Justices?
	absolutely
	sounds pretty good
	not sure
	I don't think so
	hell no
Free polls from Pollhost.com

On another note, I can't stop thinking about that group, Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, that we saw last week--and now we finally got the album!
it turns out that buying Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re's album on iTunes is possible, just a little difficult: you have to spell their name right . . . so the correct spelling then, is つしまみれ . . . (???) . . . so if anyone's interested, clicking on their name, つしまみれ, in this post should take you to the iTunes page with their album, an album which I would recommend again and again and again. Fabulous. つしまみれ.

happy halloween

well, though we didn't make it out this weekend, we did go out Monday to enjoy the Halloween atmosphere


Emily as Velma!


Scott as—and this is great—the Supreme Court nominee


Haley, as a Toulouse-Lautrec can-can girl


Alito and Velma


our halloween crew--Haley, Deron ('KU parents' weekend guy'), Mimi, Scott, and Yancy (no costume, just a guy who wants a filibuster of the supreme court nominee--I mean, what is there to lose at this point? Five years of going along with Bush has just ended with more and more shit, so the democrats might as well, at this point, just say fuck it and bring the senate to a standstill--at least that would be something . . .)

ah, and one more attempt to bring the magic of fall to the small screen:

a tree near our place

some fall

we've been doing our best to enjoy the season here in Lawrence

a tree by spooner hall (24.10.2005)


on KU campus, 24 October 2005

Emily spent Friday afternoon in Kansas City at the site of the original Unity headquarters, which was built in 1906
Emily says "the building is being renovated—many of the original features (maple floor, stained glass windows), luckily, still exist"

original Unity building, at 9th & tracy in KC, MO


window at original unity building, at 9th & tracy, in KC MO

later, she met me on campus for the KU soccer team's final home game, against rival Missouri

at the KU/MU fútbol game


KU vs. MU, 28 October 2005


KU's soccer team celebrates its double-overtime victory over Mizzou