Work, Play, and Be Merry

Hope you're having an amazing holiday season so far, reader!

Really glad I had the chance to catch up with Will and Elliott last week!


I'm pretty sure he rebuilt the hard drive in my office at Seattle U., but it seems to be fine—maybe even a little faster:

I share that office with three other contingent/adjunct/non-tenure-track faculty members. Encouraging to me that our voice seems more likely to be heard on campus lately.

In what is perhaps a parallel effort, some of my colleagues have been pursuing unionization. There's been a big move in that direction across the US—read more about it with the help of the two most recent posts on the SU College of Arts & Sciences Faculty & Staff Assembly blog: http://sufacultystaffassembly.wordpress.com/.

Recently I've been thinking that this is too important to go on behind the scenes. And when the Provost's Office issued a statement asking faculty to stop pursuing the option of joining a union before having any public discussion, I decided it was time to call in a favor from our old friends at CHS.

If you ask me, they did a great job with the story. That story in turn got the attention of KUOW. I told them they'd be better off interviewing someone more directly involved, which they did. Take a listen here.

Meanwhile, these happy workers enjoyed last week's Sisters of Providence Provincial Administration Christmas party:


But all work and no play, as they say... So Franklin and I continue our Friday visits to the Volunteer Park Playground, rain or shine:


No amount of sunshine or puddles for splashing would have helped, however, when we visited Santa:


At least Franklin can say he's carrying on a family tradition:


Christmas cards are also a fun tradition; happy to see Franklin enjoying the ones we've received. This one especially:

Hoping by the time we see Baby Rose on New Year's Day we can get a "Happy New Year" out of him :)

We didn't do a photo card this year, but please accept this blog post as our photo card. First, Yancy's most recent headshot:


And Franklin's school pictures. Our favorite is up top, but here's another:


And the whole class:

Note how everyone really wants to be looking at Emily, who is standing just off camera :)

All right, reader. If we're going to do this holiday, I'd better get back to work.

See you soon, and until then, the Merriest!

Let It Fall!

A little of this and a little of that:

Love this photo Emily took! And it sure is a beautiful fall here this year! Made our rainy walk through the Arboretum last weekend especially nice.



Franklin sure likes puddles!










He also seemed to like Halloween, though we stuck with just the indoor, daycare version over at Mt. St. Vincent and the St. Joseph Residence:






Back home, Emily and Franklin worked on some yoga poses. Here's the Three-Legged Downward Dog:

Emily usually goes to the Y to do yoga on Sundays, and last week while she was gone Franklin said "Mommy yoga," so it seemed like he was ready to try a few poses...

It's sunny and calm so far today, but it is fall, which means, in the words of the book that inspired the title of this post:
Chilly, windy, gusty breeze,
rake, rake, rake the blowing leaves.
And also this:

Whoa! Tree down blocking Thomas at 17th. Buses etc cannot get thru pic.twitter.com/zYJ290q7ab

— yancy (@yancy9) November 2, 2013

Luckily no one was injured when it happened; and luckily we happened to walk by at the right time: my tweet was front page news on CHS for most of Saturday!

Also showed up in a KIRO TV photo gallery, apparently uncredited... But hey, it's TV news, what do you expect? ;)

All the wind and weather couldn't keep our young friend from having fun at the park, though. Had it all to ourselves on that blustery day:


And finally, one of Franklin's current favorite words and objects: ladder!

I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller

Franklin says, Best stray object on the Miller Park playground yet:


Sure was excited to play with it. And although the big kids we were talking to said goodbye to him when we left, I'm pretty sure he was actually waving goodbye to the ball...

So, now I guess we just sit back and wait for Bill Self to give him a call :)

Meanwhile, the playground at Volunteer Park has been undergoing renovations for a while, but now it's finally open again!

I've been crazy busy finishing a paper for the upcoming West Coast Plato Workshop, but Emily and Franklin went and checked it out over the weekend:

Coolest part is that they have a whole separate area for 2-5 year-olds. So cute. And thoughtful. And fun!

I convinced Franklin to take me up there this morning so I could see it for myself. Lots of great stuff, but so far my favorite is the side-by-side baby slides, so I can go down next to him & keep a close eye on the smile on his face.


Two playgrounds in one day? Well, that's what happens when all of a sudden it's 60 and sunny. Obviously he's now tuckered out in bed, so hopefully I can stay awake long enough to crack the code of this new PBS show I've been reading about:

Watch Preview on PBS. See more from The Bletchley Circle.

Bubbling with Excitement

Three hours of work and a trail of recycling in our wake, and we've nearly got the room ready for our little guy. Hope you like his new dresser, reader (hope he likes it too!).

Also swung by Tricoter for some yarns and some ideas. If things go according to plan, this will soon be a hat:



And, on a more or less completely unrelated note, I heard about this on CHS the other day, and I think you need to see it.

A guy riding around our neighborhood on a bike delivering antique seltzer bottles full of sparkling water may sound a bit like a Portlandia sketch, but I sure hope we can sign up soon!

Neighborhood Gladness

Wonderful weekend up on Capitol Hill. Nothing like snow for making things peaceful and calm.

Started our weekend with a tour of the Group Health Cooperative Family Beginnings Birthing Center. (UPDATE: a few more photos here.)

Nice to know what to expect. Also nice to see that the rooms balance comfort (pullout bed for me; fridge; DVD player) with modern medicine. Cool to know that our son will be born in a room like this:


And every room has a tub:

(Sorry about the red; definitely makes it dramatic, though, no?)

I'm also happy that Group Health emphasizes "family-centered" care. I like their focus on supporting our birth plan, and I really like that their policy is to do everything possible to make sure that our baby will spend his first hours cuddling and bonding with Emily and me. Can't wait to cuddle with the little guy!

Finally, I love the location! Here's a view from the postpartum floor:

Can you see our living room window? Click the image to see a version with our window labeled...

Sunday brought some beautiful weather. This fisheye photo shows how nice our block looks on a snowy afternoon.

Oh, and it also shows the GHC Birth Center (red brick building in the center of the frame), so that's cool :)

Great day for wandering around the neighborhood. And a great chance for photos, like the one up top.

Some streets were closed and taken over by sledders; many snowmen (and other snow creatures) were made. You can read all about it over on CHS.


Finally, Happy MLK Day! Great opportunity to reflect on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and work. Looks like our local radio station is doing a show on his involvement in the struggle for the rights of the poor.

Hope you're staying warm, reader!

Humming and Copying

Enjoyed two movies this past weekend. First, spotted over on the Capitol Hill Seattle blog, some local humming birds:

Humming Bird Nest from Sy Bean on Vimeo.

Second, this great movie about images, originals, marriages, and chance encounters--or are those all just different names for the same thing?

I especially liked the way Certified Copy moved gradually from a superficial and abstract conversation about art and authenticity to a quite moving portrayal of a strained but loving relationship. And the way each of those enriched the other.

Good review in the Times. Roger Ebert's write-up is also worth reading.

SNOMG!Plus: Old Books and New Babies!

You probably saw this on Twitter already, but I like the way things look in the snow:

For more (so much more!) coverage of our #snomg experiences here in Capitol Hill, see (of course) the Capitol Hill Seattle blog.

There's a must-see video in the Tuesday update post. And don't worry--we're fine! A little cold, but just fine.



This was taken at 2:50pm on Monday:

This was 30 minutes later:

By this time, campus was officially closed.

Meanwhile, Emily was waiting for a bus in West Seattle:

Turned out that catching the bus was the easy part, as you may have heard.

Upside, of course, was that we got to enjoy a nice snow day together--a snowy walk, then some basketball on TV. Not bad for a Tuesday!


In other news, look at what the Bibliothèque nationale de France just put online:

That's a tenth-century, handwritten manuscript of Aristotle (takes a few page turns to get to the text). One of the best and oldest in existence. Amazing!

I know this sounds cheesy, but we really live in a magical time.

Speaking of magic, look at these smiles:

And notice the handsome booties Evan has on--from Bootyland, "Seattle's resource for eco-conscious clothing and supplies for women, men, kids, toddlers, and babies."

Thanks for the photos, Magen!

And thanks for reading, reader!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Good Times at Home

We had a wonderful night with some great friends on Friday. First attempt at hosting a party since we've been here, and from our point of view it was a smashing success.

We were even given some lovely flowers, some of which (from Justin and Kristin of CHS) are pictured above.

Sadly, between the fun and the duties of hosting (definitely in that order!), that's the closest I've got to a shot of our guests... but suffice it to say that we managed to gather 15 people in our apartment, and we loved every minute of it.

But why now? Well, for one thing, we finally know 15 people in Seattle. Also, we added this handsome utensil bar to our kitchen, and it made us feel like sharing the newly improved place:


We also shared Champagne Cocktails, which Emily did a great job of fixing for everyone. Her work station:

Well, what else can I say?
Cheers!

Happy

Lots of great cards, gifts, and warm wishes. (Must've responded to like 25 facebook comments--so there's one nice thing about being on there . . .)

Thanks, y'all.


Might do a longer post Monday or Tuesday, but for now I'm so busy with all the basketball. Timing has been great, since lately I'm doing grading and giving exams, both of which are compatible with watching the games.

And how is that possible? Thanks to the incredible wonders of technology:

Amazing!


On Saturday, got together with some CHS folks to watch the Huskies.

Kristin, Bowie, Justin, Sara, Yancy, Emily, Matt

(We even have a little tournament pool going, so that's been fun.)

Huskies lost, unfortunately, but it was a fun afternoon with some great people!


Now if KU can keep winning, everything will be just right.

Sounds Good

Got together with some fellow CHS folks for a CD swap at Vermillion on Tuesday.

Was a great way to meet more Capitol Hill neighbors, and a great way to get some new music!

Everyone (more or less) made a mix, then we drew names out of a hat (okay, a plastic cup) . . .

By far the best packaging, from Ryan:

Also included a playlist written with a typewriter!


Speaking of playlists, a few of us have posted ours over on CHS; if you'd like, please take a look.

Oh, fine, I'll give you a couple here . . .

Here's mine, much of which probably sounds familiar:
1. The Garden / Cut Chemist
2. What Up Man / The Cool Kids
3. Ride A White Horse / Goldfrapp
4. Do the Whirlwind / Architecture In Helsinki
5. take time / The Books
6. Figure 8 / Duplex
7. Out There On The Ice / Cut Copy
8. Graveyard Girl / M83
9. The Earthquake of '73 / Fruit Bats
10. Two Weeks / Grizzly Bear
11. Cachito / Juan Garcia Esquivel
12. Time To Get Away / LCD Soundsystem
13. Heretic Pride / The Mountain Goats
14. John Saw That Number / Neko Case
15. Day The Train Jumped The Tracks / Split Lip Rayfield
16. New Madrid / Uncle Tupelo
17. Jockey Full Of Bourbon / Tom Waits
18. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton / The Mountain Goats

Sample track:

Two Weeks (Live on Late Show With David Letterman) - Grizzly Bear


And I ended up with avitania's mix:
1. "Am I Robot?" - Goodnight Electric
2. "Sweet Child O Mine (Mylo Club Mix)" - Flatpack
3. "Do You Like Boys?" - Freezepop
4. "Job Application" - Meryn Cadell
5. "Don't Stop Believin'" - Petra Hayden
6. "What Would Jay-Z Do?" - Ben Lee
7. "Obey the Moderator" - Optimus Rhyme
8. "Seattle" - Public Image Ltd.
9. "Down With the Sickness" - Richard Cheese
10. "Toxic" - Juliet Turner
11. "Whatever You Want" - Vienna Teng (lyrics inspired by Office Space!)
12. "Pure" - Marsheaux

sample track:

.Am I Robot - Goodnight Electric

So far, I like it, especially the Petra Hayden and the Goodnight Electric. Oh, and speaking of avitania, these photos are all hers, and you can see more on flickr. Thanks for the music and the pics!


Look, she even got one of me that looks pretty good:



How about a few more samples to round things out?

From final answer's mix:

Plea From A Cat Named Virtute - The Weakerthans


From jseattle:

Divine Thing - The Soup Dragons


and from Uncle Vinny's mix:

No Regrets - Aesop Rock