October 24th, 2006
Today was warm, even downright hot up on the UCSC hilltop (perhaps 80-85). And I, foolish knave of the Central Coast climate, wore a sweatshirt as I walked up to campus in the broiling sun.
My reasons were just: just yesterday the temperature was in the mid 60s, though for the few days before it was in the high 70s. I had thought that Indian summer that comes to this part of the world in late September/mid October was gone, its passing heralded by the arrival of the monarch butterflies from Mexico (a sight we have yet to behold). But no, it was back in full force today.
But somehow, as with all days here, the afternoon heat quickly passed after 4. There was a sudden bracing chill when N picked me up at 4.40, and by 6.00 as it grew truly dark, the heat was a vague dream. Santa Cruz is too seafaring to have warm, let alone hot, nights. Every night it turns 55 with a forbidding suddenness, as though a storm is brewing.
But the vagaries of afternoons are more complex. Many days it simply does not climb back above 60, and fog hugs the hills like some wraith, making us remember the Boston grays. Other days it clears by 9.00, but the heat doesn’t come until 12.00. And some days, it feels like home again — we wake and it is bright and hot, and we can’t even smell the sea, so dead is the air. But as the day wanes, things turn aright again, the temperature plummets, and the palm trees remind us that paradise, after all, isn’t unending warmth.
October 24th, 2006
Today in the mail a true delight — an update on the privacy policy for my Chase credit card. The policy comes (refreshingly) in the form of a FAQ. Here’s a paraphrase: More
October 24th, 2006
I have been having terrible luck with computers for the past, oh, two years of my life. First, my desktop at home died a sudden heartbreaking death (the kind where it suddenly, one morning, simply won’t get up), effectively forcing me to write my dissertation on my laptop (which, incidentally, has led to a rather bad space bar problem with this machine). More
October 23rd, 2006
Can anyone explain what’s happening at the ACLU? Stephanie Strom from the NYT has been following this since 01.04, when the executive director Anthony Romero first signed while railing against federal aid terrorist blacklist regulations; then it was accused of data mining. Then there were the fundraising imbroglios of executive director Romero, then there was the report about gag orders (NYT 05.24.06). And now, it seems an internal faction led by Wendy Kaminer and Ira Glasser (executive director until 2001) has come out with a blog to voice their concerns publicly. More
October 23rd, 2006
Speaking of music still, I discovered today courtesy of Slate that Weird Al has an incredible presence on YouTube. The most entertaining, I think is his parody of "American Pie" as a Phantom Menace summary. More interesting, perhaps, is his parody of "Like a Virgin", which closes with a rather amazing series of contortions atop a gurney (around 3:10, if you want to skip through the boring stuff), prompting us to wonder if this was something Madonna did in the video.
Indeed. That’s sort of all that there is to the video. That and her wandering through Venice (somehow looking like she’s not on a gondola but floating above one). Oh, yes, and a dark prince wearing a Carnivale lion mask (2:42). It’s incredibly kitchy, perhaps far more so than Weird Al’s parody. Makes me wonder why he even tried.
October 22nd, 2006
Ok, no one has commented to me regarding this, so I guess it didn’t make it above the fold at major news outlets. I’ll just briefly mention it. Last Wednesday and Thursday, the UC Regents (the 26-person governors of the UC system) came to town to view the campus. This happens rarely; I’m not sure how rarely (my newspaper sources below conflict wildly on this), but a staff member told me that the when they visited the campus was during the Regan era they were not even able to get on campus. So, they no doubt viewed a return to radical UCSC with some trepidation. More
October 22nd, 2006
A little SC-pride — while listening to Gillian Welch’s Wrecking Ball this afternoon during bread-baking, finally caught the last lines:
With too much trouble for me to shake
Oh, the weather and the blindin’ ache
Was ridin’ high until the ‘89 quake
Hit the Santa Cruz Garden Mall
Like a wrecking ball
More
October 22nd, 2006
So on N’s favorite new station, we recently heard a song by the Monterey-based sister-singer-songwriter duo Vermillion Lies, which advertises itself as a found-object musical extravaganza (including, of course, musical typewriter, though in fewer numbers than the quintessentially Cantabrigian BTO). Their songs (from a quick perusal in Itunes) have that knowing fourth-wall bending style I’m a sucker for. By way of advertisement, a selection from the song we heard, “Global Warming” (this is, admittedly, from my hearing so it’s probably inaccurate in many respects):
…But what about the polar bears? They can’t go naked, they’re already naked.
We’ll build a freezer for the polar bears,
We’ll build a freezer and put all the penguins in there,
We’ll build a freezer for the elephants–
But that’s too cold for elephants.
Ok, ok…
We’ll build a fridge for the elephants,
We’ll build a fridge for…people who want to wear pants!
We’ll build a fridge for assorted miscreants.
Global Warming.
Global Warming.
Gloo-baal warming:
It’s too hot for school.
It’s of course a bit hard to convey the music here. Suffice to say, two guitarists, a lot of harmony, and a fair bit of dropping into voice.
October 22nd, 2006
Weekend Update:
Friday night: We made veggie dumplings. Also, watched “The Others” with Nicole Kidman while enjoying a santa cruz organic micro-brew. Micro-brew was ok. It was a hefeweisen that was very hoppy. It was the winner of a local homebrew competition. The movie was good, a thriller.
Saturday: Woke up and went to the Cabrillo (local junior college) farmer’s market. We purchased chestnuts and radishes. Then we went to a store in Aptos where we found nothing. Next, we went to Capitola downtown, a delightful area right on the beach that represents what we thought Santa Cruz downtown would be with little shops and outdoor restaurants. We were looking for a dress for me to wear to the wedding coming up in November. This has been an ongoing search and we were fortunately successful. More
October 20th, 2006
This is my first post.
So, we’re still settling into California. Check out the pictures on this site to see how our move went and what santa cruz looks like. People have been asking me similar questions about what I like about California and what I miss about Boston. Here’s a list right now. I will add and subtract in the future - N. More
