Rediscovering an old love

I used to be an English major. Which basically means for four years, it was pretty much my job to read everyday. But that was for school, and ironically, there was little time for me to read things I enjoyed as opposed to things that were prescribed in the syllabus (if you put a gun to my head and asked me to read Samuel Richardson's Clarissa again, I'd tell you to shoot...) Over the years, between being a teacher, a grad student, then a grad student and mom, and then a working mom, I've tried to carve out time to read, mostly before bedtime, although I haven't always been as successful as I'd like.

Since we've been back though, I've tried to make a greater effort to clock in some good reading time- I schlep a book with me everywhere so if there's any downtime-- when I'm having lunch alone, while in line for something, waiting for a friend, etc., I have a book to occupy me. It's really a more productive use of my time than constantly checking my email or Facebook on my phone (and shaves off data plan usage on my phone plan too...). I also try to spend half an hour to an hour reading before going to bed. It actually helps wind my mind down for the day.

Books I've finished in the past month:
Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World (Lisa Bloom)
The Marriage Plot (Jeffrey Eugenides)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

In the midst of:
An Everlasting Meal (Tamar Adler)

In the queue:
Wishful Drinking (Carrie Fisher)
The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes)
The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls)
Possession (A. S. Byatt) (I'm going to try starting a tradition to reread this once every year. That's how much I love it)

While I do most of my reading in bed, Jude and I are also starting to read more with Sophie. As in, reading our books as she flips through hers. Initially, I worried that if I sat and read a book of my own, I'd be ignoring her. But then I realized that I'm modeling a healthy habit for her- a child who sees her parent reading for pleasure quickly gets the message that reading is pleasure. And so we made a book nook in our room for all of us to read together-- Jude has his POÄNG chair from Ikea, we got Sophie a kiddie-sized one too, and I usually just sit on the bed. We filled a basket with some of her books (that we rotate every week or so) and after dinner or bathtime, we'd just all flump down together with our own books for a little bit before putting Sophie to bed. It usually isn't for long-- 20 minutes at the most-- but it's a nice way to just be quiet around each other and unwind from the day. Sophie understands that this is a special reading time and she doesn't ask us to read to her; besides, she knows she'll get a bunch of books read to her in bed just before she goes to sleep.

It's so trite to talk about how soulful it is to read but it's hard to find any other activity that feeds your soul and mind so richly as reading. Books have always been a huge part of my life-- in one way or another-- and as I grow older, I can only hope that they will continue to be. For me, and for Sophie.

Farm in the city

When people think of Detroit, they think of cars, urban blight, Eminem, and maybe casinos. If you ask Sophie about Detroit though, she'll tell you that's where farms are, and where you hang out with chickens and collect eggs. That's what happens when you bring an almost three-year-old to visit your friends who live in Detroit who have turned the abandoned lots next to their apartment complex into a wonderful cornucopia of fresh vegetables, healthy happy chickens that lay eggs everyday, and of bustling bees that help with pollination and also produce a modest amount of honey.

Talking to Rachel about the chickens

Trond and Rachel have painstakingly turned what was otherwise another prairie-zed piece of land into a precious gem that is just teeming with life. Sophie spent the evening feeding mulberries to the clucking chickens and learned about all the different baby plants (squash, tomato, chives, lettuce, potato, etc.) that would soon bear fruit and vegetables. I think it was good for her to see the effort that goes into growing and cultivating the food that makes it to our table and to recognize that food doesn't just come from the store or the market.

Helping to feed the chickens

She was particularly thrilled to be able to help collect the freshly laid eggs and put them carefully into a carton for us to take home. It occurred to us that since she can't actually eat the eggs because of her allergies, it's the closest contact she can probably have with eggs for now :)

She can't eat them, but she sure knows how to pack 'em!

We made the eggs for dinner tonight, as part of "Breakfast for Dinner"- the country bacon was from our new favorite artisan sausage store, Biercamp, and the potato and fennel were from the farmers market. It was about as local and farm-fresh as they come and it was as soul-satisfying as it was delicious :)

Country bacon, farm fresh eggs, roasted potato and fennel

[More pictures here]

How to end a vacation

I saw a dolphin today. Leaping out of the sea.

At sunset.

It was beautiful. And special. And I love that I got to share that moment with Jude and Sophie.

Because you can never say it enough...

Thank you, my love...

The birth of a word

If you have or know a child under the age of three, you must watch this video.

Coming out of the Media Lab at MIT this is an astounding study of how children learn words- what the role of the caregiver and context is, and how we can visualize that information. As a parent and early childhood researcher, this blew my mind. Since Sophie spoke her first word, I've been keeping a record of each word that has come after and the approximate date of its acquisition. Call me obsessive, but like I tell Jude, "It's data!" How else would I know that what was "ta-too" in September last year finally evolved into "crackers" two weeks ago. But this study takes that obsessiveness to a whole other level, with 140 000 hours of audio and video data. The visualization of the data is stunning but more importantly, what Deb Roy presents in this video barely scrapes the surface of what the study can potentially tell us about children's vocabulary acquisition and what we can do to support their learning. There's still so much we don't know about how children pick words up- learning how to speak is a natural and instinctual process but it is also one that is profoundly complex and mysterious.

I'll let the video speak for itself. Really, watch it, and feel yourself tingle when you hear how "gaa gaa" evolves into "water".

Happy thoughts

Finally, Ann Arbor is quiet again- Commencement is over, the undergrads are slowly moving out, and today, I drove into the parking structure with 219 spots open (unheard of at 9.30 in the Fall or Winter semesters). While I love October and November, I really do enjoy these few weeks of cool, breezy tranquility before it gets too hot or the Summer Festival or art fairs start to bring droves of people from the area into town. It's also a time to really appreciate the perks of being in a place that enjoys four very distinct seasons- everything's suddenly so green and trees and shrubs are blossoming like there's no tomorrow :) While just a month ago, we were experiencing snow storms.

Yoga this week was about renewal- it's the beginning of May and Spring is in full bloom (pun fully intended) and it was wonderfully calming to be practicing while feeling all that breezy, sunshiney energy spill into the studio as I focused on the tulip bulbs outside during Vrksasana (tree pose). I'm feeling really good these days-- hopeful and inspired-- and on a beautiful morning like today's, no matter how your day or week has been going, I hope you're blessed with some positive radiance as well :)

And we'll collect the moments one by one
I guess that's how the future's done...
-Feist, "Mushaboom"

Eating from the earth

On Monday, we attended our first CSA meeting at the public library. It was uplifting to say the least, where we got to see a slide show of the farm, all the various activities that you can participate in as members, and more importantly, the different processes that go into planting, caring for, harvesting, and ultimately preparing the produce for pick-up. It made us feel like we were part of something good, not just for ourselves, but also for the community writ large. Jude and I decided that this season, we'll definitely try to make it down to the farm a couple of times if for nothing else but to see where our veggies are coming from, which for someone who grew up in a big city, is an awesome prospect. And that's one of the reasons why we decided to join a farm share to begin with- apart from the assurance of fresh, organic produce every week, it's also that we know exactly where our food is grown, how, and by whom that really appeals to us. The fact that our friend, Eric, says that Tantré Farm has the best vegetables he's ever tasted (I think his exact phrase was "vegetable epiphany") definitely helps :)

And we got a preview of exactly how true that is when we took home with us a whole bag of fresh spinach, French fingerling potatoes, and chives from the meeting. Tonight, I made a spinach-mushroom quiche (recipe adapted from here) and boiled fingerling potatoes with a garlic mayo-sour cream dip (garnished with the chives). Everything was delicious and I don't think either one of us realized that it was completely vegetarian! We would probably have been able to appreciate the flavor of the spinach a little more had it not been baked in a quiche (I can't wait for all the crunchy raw salad leaves and herbs!), but the potatoes were definitely yummy- creamy and rich (even without the dip), with a slightly nutty flavor that I've not noticed in many other varieties of potatoes.

If tonight's meal is any indication of the simple delights of fresh produce coming our way in June, Jude and I really can't hardly wait! :)

And we're having a...

...GIRL! :)

Jude and I decided to find out the gender of the baby at our second trimester ultrasound today. It has less to do with the blog poll (although we'd like to thank everyone who did vote- either way) and more to do with the fact that we know our parents really wanted to find out. And being so far away, this was our way of allowing them to feel closer to the baby :)

So now that we know the gender of the baby, it's like a whole new phase of the pregnancy has kicked in although essentially, nothing has changed from yesterday. Now I'm wondering more concretely who she'll (OMG, she!!) look like, whether we'll keep her hair long, how she'll look like in blue instead of pink, what part of her will be like me, and which parts will be like Jude. Or maybe she'll inherit something from her grandparents, aunts, or uncle :) With the knowledge of her gender, it's like she's gained a real identity now- there's a little girl growing in me, a person who will have traits of her dad, her mom, bits of their family, and a whole lot of her. Like this GORGEOUS song by Marc Cohn and Art Garfunkel says, our girl is going to be the sum of all the things handed down and then some. It's off one of my favorite soundtracks ever-- the TV series Mad About You-- and it truly captures everything we're feeling right now about this person who we feel like we've suddenly come to know. I'll let the song speak for itself. Listen to it and read the lyrics- I've heard it so many times but only today did I truly, truly *get* it. It moves me in such a tremendously profound way, I can't even quite articulate it. Just listen, and you'll know why I started crying buckets the moment he sings the first line...

The Things Weve Handed Down - Marc Cohn

Don't know much about you
Don't know who you are
We've been doing fine without you
But, we could only go so far
Don't know why you chose us
Were you watching from above
Is there someone there that knows us
Said we'd give you all our love

Will you laugh just like your mother
Will you sigh like your old man
Will some things skip a generation
Like I've heard they often can
Are you a poet or a dancer
A devil or a clown
Or a strange new combination of
The things we've handed down

I wonder who you'll look like
Will your hair fall down and curl
Will you be a mama's boy
Or daddy's little girl
Will you be a sad reminder
Of what's been lost along the way
Maybe you can help me find her
In the things you do and say

And these things that we have given you
They are not so easily found
But you can thank us later
For the things we've handed down

You may not always be so grateful
For the way that you were made
Maybe some feature of your father's
That you'd gladly sell or trade
And one day you may look at us
And say that you were cursed
But over time that line has been
Extremely well rehearsed
By our fathers, and their fathers
In some old and distant town
From places no one here remembers
Come the things we've handed down
- Marc Cohn & Art Garfunkel, "Things We've Handed Down"

To love...

My Funny Valentine
Sweet Comic Valentine
You Make Me Smile With My Heart
You're Looks Are Laughable,
Unphotographable
Yet You're My Favorite Work Of Art
Is Your FigureLess Than Greek
Is Your Mouth A Little Weak
When You Open It To Speak
Are You Smart
Don't Change A Hair For Me
Not If You Care For Me
Stay Little Valentine Stay
Each Day Is Valentine's Day

-"My Funny Valentine", Chet Baker

Let the river run

Sometimes, nothing beats an old song to remind you that classics should always have a place in your playlist. By some quirk of the channel-surfing karma, I watched the last hour of Working Girl again yesterday after a really long time. It's all '80s in it's big-hair, shoulder-pads glory, and in a time when Harrison Ford still looked like he could play Indiana Jones without getting a cardiac arrest. The acting isn't the greatest-- least of all Melanie Griffith's-- but the last scene is worth it all.



I think it's the combination of how director, Mike Nichols pans out of her office into a panoramic view of the cityscape and Carly Simon's uplifting "Let the River Run". The song hits such a euphoric note that it gets me every time. The movie may be dated but the song definitely isn't. Moving, inspiring, and triumphant, it's a call to dare, to dream, to desire, to demand, and to declare.

Listen "Carly Simon let the river run"

Download for free "Carly Simon let the river run" mp3

Silver cities rise,
The morning lights
The streets that meet them,
And sirens call them on
With a song.

It's asking for the taking.
Trembling, shaking.
Oh, my heart is aching.

We're coming to the edge,
Running on the water,
Coming through the fog,
Your sons and daughters.

We the great and small
Stand on a star
And blaze a trail of desire
Through the dark'ning dawn.
-Carly Simon, "Let the River Run"

Let there be light

So during today's dark, rainy, pre-winter solstice evening, instead of cursing the darkness, Jude and I lit candles.* Well, made candles, actually, and with the Cooks and Cooneys. I have to say, it was one of the most soul-satisfying experiences I've had; there was something about hand-making one's own source of light (although we're not sure if we'd use our candles anytime soon- right now, they're too precious...) that moved me very deeply. And the significance of us doing this during the last few longest nights of the year was not lost on me.

Regular beeswax candles are expensive (I calculated, Jude and I now have the equivalent of about $100 worth of beeswax candles) but Dan managed to score a great deal on raw beeswax at a local farm and so we had 16 pounds of beeswax to work with today. I now understand why these candles are so coveted- for one, the smell of melting beeeswax is awesome- like a cross between honey and sunshine :) And they're supposed to burn brighter and longer too.

Making candles must be one of the most painstaking tasks in the world- the dipping of each individual layer of wax, dripping, waiting, dipping some more. Until what starts off looking like Pocky slowly evolves into this sturdy light-bearing vessel, full of promise and brilliance. Surrounded by good friends, good food, the sounds of laughing children doing all the wonderful things that children do, it was one of the most inspiring and rewarding ways anyone could choose to spend a gray and dreary winter afternoon :)

* From Adlai Stevenson's eulogy of Eleanor Roosevelt: "She would rather light candles than curse the darkness and her glow has warmed the world."

[Photos here.]

Writing spaces

So last night, we stumbled upon the BBC's cool slideshow featuring Eamonn McCabe's photographs of writers' rooms. It's a fascinating insight into the working environments of writers like Beryl Bainbridge and Roald Dahl. Some are austere (like V.S. Naipal), others are more genteel (like Margaret Drabble), and then there are those whose rooms are exactly how you would imagine them to be- Roald Dahl's, for one... Can't you just picture him writing while sinking into that comfy old armchair, surrounded by quirky odds and ends? :) My favorites, though, are Seamus Heaney's and Martin Amis'. For no other reason than the flood of natural light that comes in through their skylight.

While we aren't writers in the purest sense of the word, as graduate students, writing has become a huge part of our lives. And until that slideshow, I hadn't really thought about my writing space very much. It's just a place where I work and because it's also in our bedroom, it's not like it has some independent identity of its own like a real study room. But I should probably take more pride in my writing corner- it is after all a space of labor and thought, a space of creation, even if the product is a mundane dissertation.

Jude's writing space is in the smaller of our two rooms and while he does have a larger table, he shares the table with our printer, and the room with our guest futon and three huge shelves of all our books combined.

One day, we will have a large room devoted just to our books and our writing. It will have built-in shelves, generous working tables facing each other, a corner-to-corner-floor-to-ceiling white board wall, and preferably a skylight to let in as much natural light as possible. Yes, one day... :)

What does your writing space look like?

Christian the Lion

How could I have not known about this? Apparently, it was quite the phenomenon earlier this year, with 17 million people having watched the clip on YouTube already. But until this morning, I had no idea. I was catching up on last week's Screens Issue of the NYT Magazine when I came upon a section where they got an eclectic bunch of bloggers, celebrities and media personalities to write about their favorite screen moments of the past year. Starlee Kine, my new radio idol next to Ira Glass, called hers "the most solid reason for why the Internet should exist..."

Christian the Lion was a little lion cub that two young guys saw on sale at Harrods in London in 1969, back when department stores sold these kinds of things. They took him back to their flat, where he got into their sock drawers and played with balls of string. They befriended a vicar who let them use a local churchyard as a playground for the cub, and at the beginning of the video (which someone pulled out of an old British documentary and posted on YouTube last summer) there’s Super 8 footage of them frolicking about. Then text appears on the screen explaining that once Christian got too big, the boys had to take him to Africa to be with his own kind.

A year later they decided to go visit him, even though they were warned that Christian had become a full-grown lion with a pride of his own and wouldn’t remember them and would perhaps attack them if they went. They went anyway, these two tall, floppy-haired guys whom I admit I am seriously crushed out on, and the next thing you see is this grainy footage of them standing in the African sand, calling Christian’s name silently, because there’s no sound. Oh, and I’m sorry, did I forget to mention that Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” is playing in the background, and that as you see Christian appear and are still unsure what’s going to happen (my friend Heather was convinced she was going to witness the two boys’ deaths; she couldn’t understand why else I was freaking out so much when I made her watch it) you hear Whitney sing, “I wish you joy and happiness, but above all this, I wish you lo-uh-ove,” and then Christian is running toward the boys, leaping onto his hind legs (“Watch out!” Heather screamed at this part) and the music is all, “And I will alll-ways love you,” and you see that Christian not only remembers them but that he loves them, dearly, desperately, he is hugging them with his enormous lion paws? And one of the guys, who looks a lot like a young Roger Daltrey, actually, has this huge smile on his face and you can see him choke back a sob. It’s just the most solid reason I’ve seen yet for why the Internet should exist. By the way, the video isn’t nearly as effective without the Whitney Houston song. I’ve tried watching it both ways and, really, you need the song in order to experience the full-blown effect.
- Starlee Kine, NYT Magazine, November 23, 2008

I challenge you to not choke up at the display of pure, unadulterated love and happiness... It's wonderful.

Election by Facebook

Serene is up early to prepare for the election returns. 7:57pm
I had actually woken up at 7.00 Singapore time (6pm EST) and opened up the laptop in eagerness. Then I realized that polls probably hadn't even closed yet and promptly went back to sleep. It was fitful sleep though and I woke up half an hour later, had a proper breakfast, made myself a large mug of coffee, open up the laptop again, and planted myself in front of the TV for CNN 'live'. This was the beginning of a rapturous 5 hours.

Serene is getting emotional watching election returns and she can't even vote. She can't imagine if she had voting rights. 8:53pm
I think there was just something about watching CNN's projections, parts of maps turning blue and red, percentages going one way or another that got to me. Plus watching it with Jude's mom and talking to her about what we were seeing made me realize that Jude and I have been more invested in this elections that I had thought.

Serene says "Go Ohio!!". 9:34pm
Ohio goes blue! This made me so indescribably happy, I literally yelped! srah's status, "You're welcome!" made me smile even more :)

Serene is becoming intimately acquainted with U.S. geography. 9:44pm
Between watching John King's fancy gigantic interactive touch-screen map and the many different maps I had open on the laptop, it was like I was receiving a crash course in American geography. Eric put it best when he commented, "Nothing like a highly contested election to get you familiar with county names in states you've never visited in person!"

Serene thinks we might see Obama sailing past 300 electoral votes. 10:04pm
With PA, OH, and NY in the bag, and none of the West Coast votes even counted yet, it didn't take a genius to do the math and realize that once you throw CA into the mix, 270 would be a cinch, and 300 an almost sure thing. Final electoral vote count for Obama: 349.

Serene never thought she'd hear the words, "Coming to us via hologram..." in a real-life non-ironic context. 10:51pm
It was a bizarre Star Trek moment when we saw will-i-am "beamed" into the CNN newsroom via hologram. Fancy interactive touch-screen map I dig, hologram on the other hand, now that was a little freeeaky...

Serene is tearing... Long-distance euphoria! 11:07pm
CNN calls it! I literally started weeping. I think I updated and deleted my status several times until I felt I captured the right emotion. And still I don't think words were capable of expressing the true euphoria. No one was at home for me to shriek at/to/with so I ended up just sitting there, starring at the screen in a puddle of happy tears.

Serene Everything about that was wondeful, from the speech to how loving they are to their wives. And a puppy!! 12:20am
It was a beautiful speech. Moving, gracious, humble; that call to service, rousing. And every man should describe their wives the way he talked about Michelle Obama. And a puppy for the girls! Come on... When Joe Biden came out at the end with the two wives, it was a wonderful picture of promise and hope. And if there was ever such a thing as political happiness, I think I felt it then :)

[Compare this all to our sentiments exactly four years ago.]

And because this deserves to be played over and over again:

Yes you did!

[click for the defining video made for this campaign]

Enough said :)

Up with people!!!

As Election Day finally approaches tomorrow in the U.S., we thought this might be an appropriate song to play for all our friends out there who are voting. As newcomers to the U.S., we sometimes don't feel comfortable speaking out about politics in person or in electronic form. But we do strongly believe that these are critical times and it's an important decision and right that the folks in the U.S. are exercising.

And so since we're not in the thick of things right now, we thought this might be an appropriate track to dedicate to all you voting folks out there. We think Lamchop's slightly obscure lyrics do not betray partisanship; rather, it's an uplifting track with chant-able lines like "Up our lives today!!" and "Come on progeny!!".

So as we count down to tomorrow, we know you guys will vote wisely, thoughtfully, and justly. Come on progeny... up our lives today! :)

-Jude & Serene

Quote of the week

Decision-making — whether it’s taking out a loan or deciding whom to marry — isn’t a coldly rational, self-conscious act. Instead, decision-making is a long chain of processes, most of which happen beneath the level of awareness. We absorb a way of perceiving the world from parents and neighbors. We mimic the behavior around us. Only at the end of the process is there self-conscious oversight.

From an op-ed in the NYT by columnist David Brooks titled "The Culture of Debt".

Retrospective

For the past two years, we've spent New Year's at home, and being caught up in the festivities and celebration, we never really got a chance to reflect back over each year, remembering what it was that made it special. This year, with a little more quiet time to myself to be pensive- in the words of my dearest best friend- I thought it'll be nice to look back over the year to all the things that made 2007 memorable...

1) Jude kicked off 2007 in a big way by meeting Hiroshi Ishii in person when we were still home in January.
2) We experienced our very first ice storm in all its insane, treacherous beauty.
3) I finally picked up- and promptly fell in love with- yoga after years of thinking about it.
4) The Cooks and Cooneys brought us sledding for the first time!
5) Having not seen her in three years, my cousin, Jean, came to visit from Hong Kong :)
6) Our friends, Zahra and Jennie started their own handmade chocolate business, Hedonist Artisan Chocolates. Yay!
7) We visited Terence, Stan and Susan in Boston, my first time in Beantown.
8) Chipotle finally opened in Ann Arbor! Apart from the Mexican taqueiras in Ypsi, we've gone nowhere else for our burritos...
9) We went curling for the first time in Windsor, where I promptly slipped on the ice and hit my head hard. Way to remember the experience...
10) We "celebrated" St. Patrick's Day with Rick, Emilee and Kumo with our first corned beef dinner complete with homemade Irish bread.
11) My old friend from secondary school, Shirlyn, launched her first solo album in Singapore. She's apparently been getting a lot of radio play back home and was nominated for a couple of music awards! Really happy for her :)
12) I went to my first baseball game in Lansing. I still don't quite get the game, but the atmosphere was awesome, and the company, even better!
13) After putting it off for years and spending another several months planning the design and content, Jude and I finally got our personal websites up and running.
14) One of my best friends here, a.k.a. the Four-Year-Old Next Door, Audrey, and her mom, Tia moved away from Ann Arbor when Tia graduated... We still miss our old neighbors terribly, but thanks to Facebook, we still keep in touch. Apparently, Audrey's becoming quite the chess whiz! :)
15) I got my brand new Mac for $127.48. Never have I been more thankful for an Excel spreadsheet...
16) Watching Damien Rice "live". Enough said...
17) I got my first publication out :)
18) My sister, Sherri got engaged!
19) We saw Sonic Youth play Daydream Nation "live" at the Pitchfork Music Festival. Phenomenal...
20) We caved in to Wii-mania and bought one for Jude's parents and one for ourselves. It was inevitable...
21) Jude watched Mercury Rev "live" in Singapore.
22) We were finally home to celebrate my dad's, my mom's, and my grandma's birthday's with them. Until this year, we were never home in August.
23) Our first- and hopefully not last- tamale party at Libby's and Molly's :)
24) I dragged Jude to the Buffy Sing-a-long Musical Extravaganza and had the time of my life!
25) If nothing else, culinarily speaking, I can now say that I roast a fairly mean chicken :)
26) We welcomed to the world our nephew, Aiden!
27) In 2007, I watched two "musicals" that now have a permanent place on my for-repeated-watching-favorite-movies list- Across the Universe and Once.
28) I rediscovered my love for Scrabble after signing up for Facebook and promptly becoming addicted to Scrabulous. I now look at combinations of letters and immediately try to look for words within them. It's not healthy, really...
29) Added two new favorite bands to my playlist, Rilo Kiley and Au Revior Simone. It always makes a year when you discover lovely new sounds :)
30) I finally made candidacy and am now one step closer to completing this darn degree...
31) After two years of not seeing them, I finally caught up with Yong and Beryl again in Austin!
32) Celebrated our first Christmas in Ann Arbor with our wonderful friends here. Thank you for making what we thought would be a depressing holiday away from home so warm and joyous!

And to round things off, we just want to thank all of you who read the blog for sharing all these wonderful memories with us this year! Happy New Year!

Really achieving your childhood dreams - Randy Pausch

I was alerted to this webcast by Rick and Emilee and I have to say that this is the second time that I have watched a webcast and wished I was present in the audience (the first being Noam Chomsky's presentation in UM). This lecture and the Chomsky one were well worth the hour and a half I spent watching them.

This is a capture of the webcast lecture given by Prof. Randy Pausch of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. This was advertised to be Prof. Pausch's last lecture. What makes this lecture even more poignant is the back story of Prof. Pausch's battle with cancer and how he realizes the fact that he doesn't have much time left.

Prof. Pausch's lecture was at once inspiring, a little sad and renewed my faith in the field Human-Computer Interaction. Those of you working in the field of HCI know that you can easily lose the forest for the trees. Prof. Pausch's lecture tells you to stop for a while and savour the forest that you are in. And more importantly to work to grow that forest to inspire others. I have already recommended this lecture to several friends and thought that I would share it on this blog as well. You don't have to be in the field of HCI to appreciate Prof. Pausch's message.

(As a footnote, I managed to get this webcast as a torrent. I have shared it on the blog because I thought that it was a very inspiring lecture. I do not own the rights to the video and would happily take it down if asked to.)

Yes I can...

Whenever I'm struck by those moments we all encounter when I am momentarily paralyzed by the fear that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with my life, I remember one of my favorite scenes from You've Got Mail (yes, everything in Serene Koh's life can- and has been- explained by that one movie. Shut up.) Anyways... who needs Anthony Robbins and his motivational system when all you have to do is to order a cup of coffee at Starbucks? It's like walking into Chipotle and having them ask you what burrito you want; suddenly, you're in control, all becomes clear, your life has purpose, and you know exactly what you want!: "Carnitas, black beans, less rice, and salsa verde. No sour cream, no cheese. And guac. Please!"