Thursday 7/22

A few things to update:

Yesterday was a busy day, though after lunch I did manage to go to a used book store for a brief while with some of my colleagues, and also stop by a true Japanese supermarket across the street while my colleagues were still prowling the shelves of Rainbow Books and Records. I didn't understand 99% of the items for sale, but I did find some rice cakes to pick up for consumption later on.

Lisa and I got a late start for dinner, not leaving the hall until 7:30. We then missed the bus, so we didn't get on the bus until nearly 8:30 and then it took us 20 minutes to get where we were going for dinner. Since Lisa has been a picky eater, I decided to take her to an Italian chain restaurant that serves family style meals: Buca di Bepo. It was at the Ward Centers where we saw the movie last week. I was a little worried that Lisa might not like it, but she loved it, though her food choices were somewhat simple since she only eats chicken and fish, and then only grilled not fried. So that meant we ordered plain garlic bread as an appetizer and Chicken Carbonera for the main course since it is supposed to serve 2-3 people. We were so hungry that we ordered a small margharita pizza (again serving 2-3) and finished that off as well. She really liked the place, so when her boyfriend comes in next week, we will likely go back for dinner. By that point it was 10:30 pm, and the bus was running on a 60 minute schedule, so we took a taxi back to the East West Center and walked a bit of the rest of the way up the hill to work off dinner.

This morning I didn't get enough sleep, waking up at 4 am once again, after getting a good night's sleep the night before. I laid in bed until 5, then got up, worked on the computer, then went for a walk at 7 pm. I also had to call my doctor in Melbourne to reschedule an appointment for Monday I forgot all about. Then it was shower, change and off to class. This morning's lecture was on something called eco-feminism in India and it was not a very good lecture. I think when I made a comment it was about some new agey, neo-Marxist/neo-Maoist, anti-science/anti-technology agrarian movement. Some agreement, a lot of hissing from some of the more leftist scholars, but being able to teach History of Science for the last five years gave me more than enough evidence to counter some of the debate that got nipped off before it could really start. I know some people came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my comments, and were disappointed that the debate got shut down before it could start.

Then it was off to lunch with Lisa, Colin and Mike, the last two instructors at Rio Hondo Community College in Southern California. It was an interesting lunch time discussion, and when we were heading back to the afternoon session, I had to stop by the bookstore to get a new pen and a card. As I was cutting back across an unfamiliar section of campus, I lost my balance when stairs and a ramp for a wheelchair intersected. I stumbled forwards about six or seven steps before I fell, catching the brunt of the fall on my left calf and right hand.

I am not seriously hurt, but my leg aches and it will likely bruise pretty badly. My hand is fine, nothing is broken, but I had to ice my leg for the afternoon session. Then it was a meeting with some of my colleagues on the project I need to present next week, and then upstairs at 5 pm. I decided I would take some of the weight off my leg and write a blog before it got too late. I'll also post a few of the pictures I have from the last few days.

I am not sure what dinner is going to be, but we will figure something out. Tomorrow is a morning session, then picking up a rental car at 1pm from the airport. I'll be mailing out some packages rather than lugging them back, so a few people will be getting packages/souvenirs this week from Hawaii. I hope those people enjoy what they get. For a few others, I am still trying to figure out what I want to get them, and I still have two weeks to assemble the items/gifts.

Anyway, it is going to be a busy weekend, and then the final week of the first workshop next week.

I hope everything is going well with you. Miss all of you and I know I will see some of you in a couple weeks. For the others, email is always welcome and if you have my number, a call too would be nice. Just remember there is a six hour time difference, being six hours earlier from the east coast.