Catching Up On Pies, Both Cutie and Pizza

Wow it's been busy lately! Teaching a senior synthesis class, attending end-of-the-year events on campus, getting ready to return to work at Providence Archives, strengthening our neck muscles...

Thankfully every now and then there's time to relax!


So, it's taken us a little while to post some of these, but here's a little photo round-up:

A couple more nice shots of Grandma Rhonda and Grandpa Ray's visit:



Thanks again for coming to see us!

And for joining us on some fun restaurant outings, including my first chopsticks-over-a-baby lunch :)


And here's Franklin, his mom, and his drool:


He was also a good sport the other day as we prepared a homemade pizza:

We saw Mark Bittman's recent article and had to give it a try. Verdict: yummy, could be yummier... so we're trying again this weekend!

And boy do I love that magic part of spring when asparagus is in season!


As I said, a busy time, but at least Emily and I have such charming and handsome company:

Two New Friends, and Tulips Too!

A rainy Monday afternoon at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival: just about perfect. Sure, it got a little muddy, but bright colors look great against grey skies, and it doesn't hurt to have some rain to thin the crowds :)

Franklin also really enjoyed meeting his Grandpa Ray and Grandma Rhonda. And they were nice enough to share some of their photos, like that one up above. Lots more available online.

Before the muddy Monday, we had some lovely weather in town, so Franklin showed his new friends around a bit. Here they are on the Seattle U campus:


And at the Volunteer Park Conservatory:


But the photographic highlights definitely came up north among the tulips:




A few more photos from the grandparents:

Thanks for the great photos, and the fun visit!

Just Sing, Little Darling, Sing With Me

I just love this song lately:

Interesting video, no? As this album review explains, they filmed it at Joshua Tree on "the birthday of Gram Parsons, who would have been 65 if he hadn't died there when he was 26."

Anyway, I can't sing quite as well as those girls, but I do like to walk and sing to Franklin:


Meanwhile, he just keeps it cute:


He recently enjoyed meeting Elliott, the newborn son of my officemate Will and his wife Jamelia:

Okay, here are a couple bonus sunny day photos:

Fresh Franklin Photos!

Things continue to amaze. Nice times at home and out around town.

Met up with some folks from our birth class a few days ago:


And got dressed up in some nice Easter colors:




And as you may have heard on Twitter, Franklin had his first car ride on Monday. He seemed fine. And it only took half an hour to get the car seat into the car! :)

Thankfully we were able to walk to brunch with Jamie and Monique the other day:

Let Us Eat One Last Cookie, and Then We Will Stop

Do you know that frog & toad story about the cookies? Has this sort of thing happened to you?

I'm teaching a class this quarter on what's known as "weakness of will" or "akrasia" (from the Greek ἀκρασία), which means doing what you know you should not do.

Here's the description of the class:

Is it possible for a person to willingly do what she or he believes to be wrong? Plato’s Socrates famously holds that we always do what we think is best, and that “no one willingly makes a mistake or does anything wrong or bad” (Protagoras 345e). Nearly every major thinker in the Western tradition has struggled with this challenging idea. Some have defended Socrates, denying the possibility of what has come to be called both akrasia and weakness of will. Other thinkers have attempted to show how it might be possible for someone to act against his or her better judgment. This quarter, we will examine key ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary accounts of weakness of will and akrasia. Doing so will give us the opportunity to engage with a fascinating ongoing philosophical debate while also providing a way to examine important views on the nature of the human person.

I don't know about you, reader, but for me this problem, hard as it may be to explain, is all too real. And, by a really cool coincidence, it was also the subject of the session I chaired today at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association. The speaker, of course, defended Socrates' position. Pretty interesting, and convincing (at least on an intellectual level). I even persuaded a few of my students to come! Huzzah for doing the right thing willingly!

Okay, well, how about a video to wrap this up?

One More Game!

Maybe my favorite KU team is in the championship game tonight. Lots of fun and lots of excitement. For a little taste, try our Jayhawk Nation blog.

In the meantime, although you've probably seen it before, please enjoy Franklin getting his game face on for Saturday's game:

Rock Chalk!

Oh what the hell, how about a little singing too?