Mitt liv som Tobin

It is amazing and horrible what is happening in New Orleans, and I only know 1/100000th of it. I feel very media deprived on the issue, but I get the feeling most people (not there obviously) are still in the "just another hurricane" mindset. I wish I could go down there and be of some use. The stories, though, are crazy.

Does anyone in ROC have an extra TV antenna?

Good weekend. My housemate Amol and I drove down to Ithaca for Dana's barbecue. Saw Robin there too (I hadn't seen her since 2003, our summer in Geneva), and met a bunch of fun people, mostly new Physics grad students. Lots of happy and cheery and goodnatured folks.

Wandered the streets of Ithaca, crashed some piña-colada party (earlier the german guys were very endearingly debating whether it was a piña-colada party or a piñata party, and what exactly is the difference). (At some point I stole a coconut and later we initiated some kind of cult based upon it.)

Drove home this afternoon, with my car's exhaust system held in place by a coat hanger and some pipe fittings, praying that the whole thing wouldn't hit the fan, as it were. This arrangement lasted just until my very driveway.

Back at the Ant Hill, there were excellent festivities tonight involving a barbecue with various friends and with some of the new people. Now half the people living in this house are women, so thankfully there will be no more worries about being confused for a fraternity.

Did you hear about New Orleans? Insane. Also, I have a trip to there planned for Sept 30, so I am not so sure that is going to happen, to say the least. Recommend John McPhee's The Control of Nature as some reading on the subject.

It seems everybody is going to Burning Man right now. I'm a little bit envious but also really get the feeling the whole thing has "jumped the shark" as it were. You guys had better come back with good stories.

Good luck to vyncentvega and others who are taking the Physics department's preliminary examination tomorrow. (I am not.)