Short Shots

Don't really have one single item for tonight so it is time to throw out a few small items.

The weekend had a couple of highlights. Finally got my haircut. I also had one of those metaphysical abnormalities, where I had at one point in time (a) all the dishes were clean, (b) all of the clothes were washed and put away (except for the ones I had on), and (c) I had a full refrigerator. If you throw in that the carpet was vacuumed, all I needed was a freshly cleaned bathroom and the world probably would have come to an end.

Played a little bit of golf on Saturday. The game is still trying to decide if it wants me back in its life. If it wants me to quit, the weather is going to have to be a lot worse than it is down here. I can tolerate a lot of abuse on the golf course with the beautiful weather we had over the weekend.

For the first time in a few weeks, I didn't go anywhere to listen to music. There was also a light turn-out at my normal Friday night hang out, so the cue for Karaoke was short. I thought I would re-visit the stage. Partly because the planned Duet on Halloween is now attracting a lot of attention, so I thought it would be best to get back up under the lights and hold the mic again before the big night next week. It turns out that my half-octave vocal range has found a bit of a home in "contemporary country." Despite having to follow a guy with a really good rock 'n' roll voice doing AC/DC, I got a pretty good reception with my rendition of Dierks Bently "What was I Thinking?" It is a fun song. most of the patrons, gave me a "we've all had a night like that" type response. Apparently it is hard to go wrong if the song has an Alabama reference in it. If you are curious you can check out the original video (not of me, of Dierks) by clicking the title (hit the back button to return to the blog when you are done) and try to wrap you head around me singing this song. I apologize in advance for that mental image. The video is a homage to the movie "Momento."

My computer at work decided to stop cooperating first thing Monday morning, so I have been a bit disoriented at work with out it. I got it back late this afternoon. Tomorrow begins the long road to getting back to my customized settings.
Congratulations to Guerin Catholic Girls' Soccer Team. What a great run. Keep it up!

Just checking in

Not a awful lot of specific stuff to report, but I didn't want to go too long without posting something. This blogging thing is really all about making it a habit, so the best plan is to write even when there is nothing to write, that way it is more likely that you will write when you DO have something to write. What is on my mind right now is how it seems like late October and early November seem to get by-passed each year. When working in academia August and September are always consumed with the rituals of school year start up. About the time that a groove develops (which is right about now) the topics of discussion shift abruptly from this semester to preparations for the next and before you know it, the main concern becomes January and February. This year is no different and maybe even more so. I have spent the last couple of evenings in meetings and a common theme is that it is possible (maybe probable) that I will be spending parts of 2009 overseas. That possibility makes the planning for other stuff in 2009 even more critical. And with that the calendar jumps ahead leaving my favorite time of the year shrouded (more like fogged in) by the anticipation, both good and bad, of what is to come.
I have been enjoying the exchanges with a particular student I have this term. I can't tell you too much about him due to confidentiality, but he coaches volleyball at a small college and runs a club team. His submissions on the discussion board and the paper assignments have been absolutely spot on. Not just textbook (I say that because, unfortunately I find many of the textbooks lacking), but what textbook should be. I have had somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 students in master degree coaching programs. I have enjoyed working with just about all of them, but there are less than a dozen that I have told, I would have liked my daughters to play for you. He is one of them. It reminds me that the bottom line on this southern adventure is trying to have some influence on the future of coaching in this country. I can't claim any credit for him, except maybe that someone with no "dog in the fight" so to speak, appreciates his philosophy and approach. Maybe if he ever takes enough heat from wayward parents or a knucklehead AD to make him doubt himself, he might think about what his old professor said and keep on doing what he is doing.
Speaking of coaching, I find my name has returned to the slot under Guerin Catholic Swimming. There will likely be a lot to this story for a later time. I think it was my uncle who was the first one I heard say "Coaches...coach." How prophetic that was.

Did paper companies invent the microwave?

Alright, I know they didn't. I know that they were developed after an engineer at Raytheon had a chocolate bar melt in his pocket when he was working around the radar equipment, but my random observation for this week came when I used the last paper towel on a roll I bought at the beginning of August. It was one of those "imagine that" kind of moments when I hadn't thought about it until that moment and then I realized that this roll of paper towels has lasted an extremely long time compared to my previous experience. I figure that I am spilling at more or less the same rate that I did in Indiana, or Pennsylvania for that matter. Even compensating for the fact that I am alone doesn't seem to cover it either. The only major difference in usage rates I could come up with is that I don't have a microwave. Then I remembered that I have yet to buy paper plates down here. We went through about 500 every two months in Indiana. Thus, my question. How did companies that counted on paper plate and paper towel sales make any money before microwaves became the dominant form of cooking in the US? As I thought longer about our use of paper towels in Noblesville, it dawned on me that sometimes the dogs can cause us to use a roll a week. Maybe paper companies invented dogs.

Those of you that have been around me a while know that I have been sleeping to the sound of talk radio since I got a clock radio for Christmas shortly after we moved into 1201 DeCesari. For the past 20 plus years I have used an earphone so as not to disturb my wife, and most recently (again due to very generous gift from said wife) I had been using my portable satellite radio. Unfortunately the location of my apartment (bottom floor , only window faces north) violates every rule for the radio being able to pick up the satellite feed. I went a few unhappy and relatively restless nights before I figured out how to listen to Internet radio to lull me to sleep. Now with a mix of XM radio online and a few different radio stations on www.Live365.com, I can get my typical mix of BBC and NPR radio shows for the over night hours. This morning, I woke up listening to Krista Tippet's NPR show "Speaking of Faith." this is one of my favorite NPR shows (you can check out the podcasts if you are curious www.NPR.org is where you would start). This morning's show was about Autism and the definition of being "human." The special guests where parents of a son with Autism who have just publish a book. The actual content of the show is not really the basis for this observation, however. This show is on in the 5 AM hour here. The parents reminded me about a show I had heard the night (early morning) before on a show called The Parents Journal about danger of "labeling" children, that I wanted to make a note of so I could go back to it for an article I am working on. That is when it hit me that the people that I find the most interesting and beneficial are on the air in the wee hours of the morning. These shows are on when it is LEAST likely that the people that would benefit most (parents with young children) would be awake. This isn't really a rant, just and observation...and maybe a bit of advocacy for the use of podcasts for those with normal sleep patterns.
For those who were curious about this weekend's travels. Sunday afternoon was spent at LuLu's in Gulf Shores. It is an open air restaurant owned by the sister of Jimmy Buffet. There was musical entertainment, good food and perfect weather as we sat river side and watched the pleasure boats and the barges go by. No, Jimmy didn't stop by unannounced (as he is know to do from time to time), but is was a good time had by all anyway.

Shrimp Fest and dodging political ads

I don't know if L.A. (Lower Alabama) is the Festival Capital, but it certainly seems so. We are in the mist of a string of weekend festivals. Two weeks ago was Jubilee festival, last week Bayfest (see Oct. 10 post), this weekend was Shrimp Fest, next week is the Boggy Bayou Mullet Festival (the fish, not the haircut) in Niceville, FL not to far down the road, and the week after that the Fairhope, AL Art festival.
The shrimp fest was a lot more laid back than Bayfest. First off, it is more about the food than it is the music. Also there is an art festival component. This was my first look at the famous beach in Gulf Shores. From what I saw, it is a very nice beach; very wide, white sand, clean, and it has relatively easy access. I also got to see such Gulf Shores icons as the store with the great big shark, the one with the huge purple octopus and the Pink Pony Pub. I had a shrimp pita for dinner. Outrageously expensive, but it was tasty and when you couple it with the fact that there was no charge for parking or admission, it still ended up being a pretty cost effect evening of entertainment. The featured music act on Saturday, Molly Hatchet, one of my favorite bands when I was in high school. They put on a very solid show and since it was basically free, it was very entertaining. They saved Flirtin' with Disaster for the encore, but they also threw in their cover of Free Bird. Southern Rock in the south. Nothing like it. All though the purest say that "all rock" is southern so Southern Rock is actually redundant. The interesting observation of the evening was that a Jimmie Hendrix-esque version of the National Anthem was played as part of the lead guitarists featured solo by the warm-up band for Molly Hatchet (Les Jeans), then Molly Hatchet, and then on the over the P.A. after Molly Hatchet as the crowd was leaving. I haven't formulated any conclusions on this yet, but I thought I would pass on the observation.
Speaking of things national. This week I realized that I have managed to avoid living in states that would be considered "battle ground states" and thus being barraged by political ads. Indiana was the first state called in 2004 (I believe that CNN called it for Bush at 6:06 PM), so who would have thought it would become a state that would be considered "in play." Alabama may take the mantle this year, so neither candidate is spending much money down here. Did I mention that I think that money spent on political campaigns has to be one of the biggest wastes of money imaginable. I know that our system has made it a mandatory piece of puzzle, but wouldn't it be nice if a candidate took the 20 million dollars a month they raise and did some "good" with it rather than having to buy television ads? For most charities and "good causes," 20 million is real money. Some real problems could be solved rather than just trying to convince people who would be better at solving the problems. OK, I done with that for now.
Good news of the weekend is that a gallon of gas has dropped below $3 per gallon locally. It almost makes a drive back to Indiana for one of the upcoming weekends look attractive. But then I would have to deal with those political ads.

Music, Music, Music

Lots going on. Finished chairing my first dissertation of the year today. Another fresh Doctor pushed from the Ivory Nest. This one has a long flight back to Thailand to take up his teaching position. While the "congratulations" after his oral defense may have been music to his ears, it is not the cause for this post's title. Last weekend was ambushed by music of various quality. People in Alabama do love their Karaoke. You can find it in multiple places on most nights and once it gets rolling, the mic is hardly ever left unused. Now it is important to note that I still have not found a state that takes its singing as seriously as Indiana. An "average" church choir in Indiana has a dozen American Idol worthy singers and the musicianship is also typically first class. That has not been my experience every where else in my travels. Not that the other states are bad, but they certainly have been less consistently good. My typical Friday hang out has Karaoke with a usual cast of characters, most have nice voices, some are very good entertainers, and a few of the regulars make it possible for absolutely no one to have an excuse for not taking a turn (if you know what I mean). I have managed to dodge the bullet because there has been a long line of willing singers. Last Friday, however, was an usually dead night at the Yacht Club, and before closing time arrived, they were out of people. My bluff was called and there I was trying (mostly in vain) to get through Over My Head (Cable Car) by The Fray. A couple of lessons learned.; You never sound as good as you do in the car by yourself, headed south on I-65 at 3:00 AM; there is a tipping point where waiting long enough for no one to be there to hear you runs up against having talked over everyone else singing so long that your voice was as shot as it would be following a three day water polo tournament (indoors); Your real friends will tell you you did great no matter what. I have waited a week to tell everyone of my exploits because I wanted to perfect my YouTube search skills to make sure that there is no actual evidence of my crooning available on the web. What does one do after making their Alabama karaoke debut? Go to another place and take the dare to do a duet. The victim "Meet Virginia" by Train.
The next night I found out why the small crowds on the Eastern Shore on Friday. The annual music festival held in Mobile called Bayfest was going on. This was my first experience being around a lot of southerners since spending part of one 4th of July at Stone Mountain in Georgia. It was raining in Georgia, so this that one doesn't really count. First the music and then a few other random observations. The main headliner on Saturday was Kid Rock. Warning to my parents - Do not Google this band! In my Uncle Gary's vernacular every song would have to start with the phrase "Cover your Ears." I knew what I was getting into, but clearly there were some parents that had not been paying attention. See it turns out that the most popular song in Alabama right now is Kid Rock's Song "All Summer Long" which features guitar riffs and references to the Lynard Skynard Song "Sweet Home Alabama." This song has been written and then slightly edited to permit heavy radio play (an believe me, down here it fits EVERY radio stations' format). Well, it might be the only song in his repertoire that is radio worthy with only minor edits. Needless to say, there where plenty of 10 year olds that begged their parents to take them to see Kid Rock based on "All Summer Long", that had know idea what they were getting into. I did not hear any of those parents provide the wisdom of my mother by telling their children " when you get to be a million selling record artist you can speak like that too." That would not be too bad a deal considering I had to become a four star general or get admitted to Harvard (these are deep family inside jokes, so if you don't get them, don't worry and just keep reading). Now for a couple of other observations, southern girls for the most part...are short. I came to this conclusion standing in a mob waiting to get a corn dog and sweet tea (everything else was sold out). Anyway I was surrounded by of a group of young women (normally not a problem), however this time they all had these over-sized purses (shoulder bags really), that when combined with their consistent 4'10' statures, placed those oversize Prada bags at exactly crotch level for me. If anyone moved, I got whacked. BTW, the corn dog was OK, but not worth beating I took. Second observation; in the south your shoulders are a fashion accessory. Lots of spaghetti straps, strapless for girls, muscle shirts and no shirts for guys. Third, other than the girl fight that broke out waiting at the corn dog stand, everyone was as polite and good manner as the legend of southern hospitality would have you believe. The civility of the traffic alone would amaze the folks in the Northeast.
This weekend is Shrimp Fest in Gulf Shores. Stay tuned for that report.

Statistics and Mishaps

The theme lately has been small mishaps that in the solitude of "bachelorhood" seem like a big deal (at least for a little while). First one was me trying out my "Food Network" skills when I needed to flip over an egg I was frying. My one spatula was dirty so I thought instead I would just flip it using the pan the way I see all the cooks on TV. I have done it before with other food items so it seemed like the right move. Well, I missed judged the trajectory and the egg ended up flush on the burner. At least I was smart enough to NOT reach to try to catch it or grab it off the burner. Cremated eggs linger a lot longer than I would have figured. It has been cleaned up now, but there seems to be some iota that remains and relights each time I use that burner (it is only large one I have. The second little mishap came on my first workout in the apartment complex pool. A little back story. The brochure said the complex has an "Olympic Size Pool." Hotel and Campground signs that advertised such aquatic facilities were ubiquitous back in days of our family vacationing via travel trailer and not once did the pool measure up to the claim. Well in turns out that Easy Bay/Pelican Bay actually has a four lane, 25 yard pool. Not a Beijing Olympic Pool, but that is pretty close to the dimensions of the pool used for the 1904 games in St. Louis. In this election year, that counts as a lead pipe fact compared to some of the spin we have witnessed. Anyway, I manage to get in a very slow and lumbering 2000 yards before I got cocky and decided to do some backstroke. It has been a while since I have been in an outdoor pool with few sight lines and no backstroke flags so despite what I thought were my best efforts, I cracked my head on the wall on the second length of back. Fortunately I am no worse for the wear. The statistics goes with the dissertations I mention in the last post. Statistics, along with Calculus and being fluent in a foreign language are the big regrets of my life at this point. Anyway, I have spent the better part of the last two days trying to figure out a compromise for a student's statistical analysis that doesn't match the data he collected so that he can still answer the research questions he intended. I have found myself shoulders deep in the literature that features the dispute about whether replies to surveys with Likert Scale answers. These are the surveys that ask you to reply with things like Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree, but they have you circle a number such as 1 - 5 instead. Long story short some statisticians argue that you can use those "numbers" like real integers and other argue that they are really categories and are not numbers that can be manipulated mathematically. I fall squarely with the latter group. The big problem is that many social scientists and most certainly graduate students have cast their lots with the former group; not because they understand what they are doing, but because the "saw someone else do it some where." As with most graduate student stories we are under a huge time crunch with really high stakes for completion. The solution clearly includes a fancy mathematical manipulation, the proofs of which are making my head hurt. I do think I have figured out a way to get all the pieces in place so we can finish him up. Tomorrow will tell. I am off to work on my spanish.

My time with the Thais

Much of the previous week's events centered around the visit by the Sport Authority of Thailand (SAT). A delegation of 18 of Thailand's sports leaders were touring various aspects of the American sports landscape. In bit of serendipity, they were in Los Angeles touring the athletic facilities of the University of Southern California (I know many of you think USC stands for something else, but I digress) the Monday after the featured football game against Ohio State and then where in Auburn, AL on the Monday following the featured game between Auburn and LSU. The tour had been scheduled months in advance. It appears as though ESPN's Game Day Live sponsored by Home Depot was copying the SAT travel itinerary. They also visited several sports facilities in Chula Vista, Mobile, Daphne, and Washington, DC. My participation was marked by giving a presentation on the status of youth sport in the USA and serving a van driver around Mobile Bay and then up and east to Auburn. We got a very cool tour of the facilities at Auburn. They are very nice. We even got a chance to go inside the football stadium that is on the TV as I type this. We didn't go on the field, but I was close enough to hover my foot over the turf. So now I have started my check off list of SEC campuses. Some of you might remember my visit to Univ. of South Carolina in 1988, but that USC did not join the SEC until 1991. So I am keeping my list at one, Auburn. This is to go along with my 9 of 11 Big Ten campuses (Iowa and Northwestern missing); and six Pac-10 schools (I seem to be adverse to institutions that have State in their name. the four I am missing are Washington St., Oregon St., Arizona St. and I am probably the only member of my family that has not been on campus at USC. So this part of the update has come full circle. After the tour at Auburn we drove to Atlanta so the group could get on a plane to DC. The gas lines you see on the TV news are for real. Getting gas for the vans was a bit of an adventure and it was definitely expensive. Fortunately for us here in Daphne the gas shortages start a couple of hours north of us (at least for now). I am doing my part in conserving gas with my own vehicle. I have been to the gas station twice in the last couple of weeks ... to put air in my tires (I have a slow leak in two tires). The weather here on the eastern shore has been absolutely a Chamber of Commerce special order. Beautiful blue skies, low humidity, high 60s in the morning topping out in the low 80s. I have been making the 1.2 mile round trip walk to the office twice a day (I come home for lunch). Gas lasts a long time that way. Work has been mostly reading and editing papers. Journal submissions, Dissertations, and other student assignments. Tomorrow's mission...laundry.

North wind

Overnight we had the first "cold front" that has occurred since my arrival. Temperatures have dropped some during the day (highs are in the mid-80s), but the big changes are over night (lows now down around 60) and much of the humidity has retreated. Today was a real Chamber of Commerce Special. With no threat of rain for the first time in over a week. I got to walk home for lunch. Very pleasant. I am hoping that the cooler weather will slow down some of the bugs. Again, contrary to popular belief, they are not all that bad where I am at, with two exceptions: 1) the bugs that do seem to like to be around humans seem to be in a constant state of mating. I am sure that I should know what kind of bugs they are, but all I know is that they fly around in pairs attached tail to tail. So they look awkward in addition to doubling their size and their pestering factor. It seems as though they just get tired of flying around that way and are happy to rest on any none moving surface they can find. If you are in motion, they are not much of a bother, but sit down and you become a landing pad; 2) the spiders are big. I swear if they could eat humans I would have been a goner a couple of weeks ago. I have walked into a couple of spider webs and instantly looked around for the spinner to find prehistoric looking creatures. Apparently they can sense that whatever just stumbled into their web is too big to wind up, because both times they have headed in the opposite direction. Besides those two things, (and neither of them are really that big of deal), I have had much bigger problems with bugs in Central PA and in places like Yosemite.
Another observation, is that they like their beer down here. I had heard about the south's affection for all things Budweiser, and that appears to hold up, but you can also find the widest variety I have ever seen in places like the grocery store. The Winn Dixie has three different sections of the store devoted to beer. For those of you with a connection to PA, you will be happy to know that Yuengling is available on tap here. Now the people from Bloomsburg, Mountaintop, and Pottsville have no excuse for not coming to visit me.
This is my first night trying to go with the TV. it turned out easier than I thought it would be as I had three very cool phone calls. Another set of refreshing breezes from the North.

Yes I live in the south now

For all of my loved ones that are scattered around the country that are curious what is up with me. I have decided to kick the Sunday Chat up a notch and put my my thoughts, news, and questions on this new blog. If you are wondering about the title it comes from my realization that I have now lived in a state that borders the body of water that marks the edge of a compass point for this country. Some my want to quibble about Pennsylvania. I respond with two points (a) The southeastern tip of the state has a look at the Atlantic Ocean, (b) Most of southern New Jersey is really part of Philadelphia anyway, (c) 3.75 compass points doesn't sound as good.

A few early observations of my new state of residence.

- Contrary to popular believe, this part of the south (the Gulf Coast Area to be specific) has an incredible density of Catholic churches. A masstimes.org search lists more that a dozen Cathedrals, Parishes, Shrines, and Missions that are within about 15 miles. Christ the King is the closest to me and has been the one I have attended the most so far, but I am planning a trip to the Cathedral in Mobile in the near future.

-Everything you have heard about football and Alabama is true. At tonight's 5:30 mass, the pastor made note that attendance was a little light and attributed in to the fact that the Auburn Game was set to kick off at 6:00. At the end of mass he concluded the blessing by letting the congregation know that the game was on ESPN. Almost everyone was gone before the recessional was finished. Add to that, the CAthloic school for the area, McGill-Toonan, plays in the same stadium where the GMAC Bowl and the Senior Bowl take place. For the opportunity to get Season tickets (yes for the high school team) you have to join the Booster Club. I have found out how much the membership dues are. There is a different call in talk show about either Auburn, Alabama, or both each night of the week on the local Sports Talk Radio Station. Grandmothers call in to argue how should be third verses fourth on the Quarterback depth chart. Finally, I have been told (although I have not independently confirmed this) that a school district was FORCED by the state to build a new high school, because the original school had appeared in too many State Championship Finals.

- This part of the country has a disproportionate representation in the military. It takes almost five minutes to read the names of parishioners that are currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. That is the case at both of the parishes where I have attended mass.

-Yes it is hot. This was driven home, when the Cooling system failed at the Academy.

-It gets dark early here. Makes me sleepy. Good thing that Prime time TV starts at 7:00 or I wouldn't be awake for any of it.

-The Weather Channel is one or the other channel that you can get to with the "switch" button on your remote. We have been very lucky so far, those around us have not been so lucky.

Other than the lack of air conditioning for about a week, work has been good. My minimalist living experiment continues. It turns out you can survive without a microwave, but it is amazing the percentage of items in the grocery store that require a microwave. I will provide some pictures soon.

Don't want to use up all my obs in the first post. So that is all.