I picked up my new Yamaha Zuma today in Cheshire and drove it back to campus through the chilly afternoon air. WIth a 125cc motor, it runs quieter and has a lot more zip than my old 50cc model: I used to get up to about 40mph heading down a steep hill and I was able to go faster than that while climbing uphill on the new one. Now I'll have to get a motorcycle license, however. And since it's easier to go faster, it probably would be prudent to purchase a helmet.
I saw this trailer at the Bond flick the other night, and it looks damned good!
In my continuing search for the Holy Grail of organizational tools, I am trying out OmniFocus on my Macs and iPhone. It's been a source of frustration that iCal syncs so well with the calendar on my iPhone, but it does not sync tasks associated with each calendar. So I am giving this GTD-based approach a spin.
So I've made the move to the girls' side of the squash program this winter, coaching the varsity squad. No doubt the players are talented and hard-hitting, though I've noticed the girls take MUCH bigger swings to generate their pace. While drilling on court this afternoon, I got clocked in the face by a backswing. Fortunately, the goggles caught then brunt of the impact--good thing I was wearing them!--but it did shake me up a bit. I'll be a little more wary of these big swings in the future.
Took a mid-bus full of Choaties tonight to see Quantum Of Solace, the latest entry in the 007 franchise. Clearly the series is moving away from a lot of the trademarks of the Bond I grew up with: the gadgets, the tricked-up cars, the double entendre dialogue, etc. This film felt more like one of Jason Bourne's adventures: a grittier character piece with the usual exotic backdrops. The plot of this movie didn't really hold together, but there was enough decent action to make it worthwhile. Good, but not great. And not as sure-footed as Casino Royale.
I am up in Massachusetts the next two days. Reebok International is hosting the NEPSAC Executive Board meeting this afternoon, a dinner tonight, and the Annual Meeting tomorrow morning. In addition to today's Board activity, tomorrow I am co-hosting a panel session for new athletic directors and then presenting an award--sort of a "lifetime achievement" recognition--to my colleague Tom Yankus. Then I have to hurry back to campus for girls' varsity squash practice.
The last few nights I've caught up on the most recent Bond film, Casino Royale. I saw the first Daniel Craig outing when it was initially released in theaters, but I wanted to see it again on DVD in preparation for the weekend arrival of Quantum Of Solace.
Amazon delivered the fourth and final volume of the Absolute Sandman series today. Having met Neil Gaiman just the other night, I am looking forward to immersing myself in his magnum opus once more. I originally read the ten trade paperbacks collections of Sandman some years back, but these deluxe slipcase volumes beckon me to re-read the saga; they are awfully pretty, with oversized artwork that has been re-colored using contemporary computer technology. Like DVD releases, they also contain all sorts of beghind-the-scenes "extras."
Since we are starting winter sports on Wednesday and I have a Founders League meeting on tap for tomorrow, this afternoon was to be my only free afternoon while school is in session until the last week of May 2009. But this slot just got filled with a committee meeting, so there goes my only unscheduled afternoon time of the year!
Just spent most of the evening in Manhattan at the 92nd Street Y for an event in which designer Chip Kidd interviewed author Neil Gaiman. I've been a fan of the work of both gentlemen, so this was a treat. The pair signed books--Kidd's Bat-Manga and Gaiman's The Graveyard Book--for me afterwards and I had a pleasant chat with each, as well.
At the meeting of the New England Interscholastic Squash Association earlier this afternoon, the boys' and girls' team coaches agreed to change our scoring system to point-a-rally games to 11 points to reflect the coming change in World Squash Federation and U.S. Squash tournament formats. We'll be a little ahead of the curve in the New England prep schools, but that has been typical of our Association, which also led the way in the shift from hardball to softball play.
Here's my rather crazy schedule for the weekend:
Friday
12:20 - teach PS550 class
1:15 - teach PS550 class
2:15 - prepare team meditation and collate letters from CC alums
3:30 - final cross country practice of the season
4:00 - team meditation session (source material: "The Carpet Crawlers" by Genesis and Tennyson's "Ulysses")
4:30 - read letters from CC alums at team meeting
6:00 - deliver welcoming remarks, Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
7:00 - serve as master of ceremonies, Deerfield Day Pep Rally
9:00 - Deerfield Day Bonfire
Saturday
6:30 - check playability of athletic fields
8:15 - team breakfast
9:00 - deliver lecture to alumni on 2008 election and teaching politics at Choate
10:00 - make the rounds to Deerfield Day sub-varsity games
11:00 - team bus departs for cross country meet
12:00 - arrive at Avon Old Farms, warm up for races
1:30 - New England Championships varsity race
3:00 - New England Championships JV race
4:30 - New England Championships award ceremony
5:45 - team bus back to Choate
7:00 - team dinner at Iron Chef Hibachi
9:00 - prepare meet statistics and e-mail summary
Sunday
10:45 - depart for Simsbury
12:00 - preside at meeting of New England prep school squash coaches
3:00 - drive to New Haven train station
4:00 - train to Grand Central
7:30 - Chip Kidd/Neil Gaiman event at 92nd Street Y
Whew! I should sleep well Sunday night at whatever late hour I get home!
My parents arrived in Ireland this morning for a two-week tour of the auld sod and Scotland with a church group. Not sure I'd choose to be there in November, given my druthers, but I'm a bit envious of their trip nonetheless.
Just saw my first Christmas-themed commercial of the year. A Campbell's Soup ad. A bit early, no?
Just voted across town at a local elementary school. No wait. Paper ballots for the first time in my Connecticut voting experience. And lest there be any doubt how I cast my vote, here's a hint:
This is it: the culmination of two years of campaigning for the White House. Of course, there are lots of seats up for grabs in the Senate, the House, the governorships, and local races. Get out and vote!
1. Get up.
2. Breakfast at Abbott's
3. Vote.
4. Community lunch.
5. Teach PS550 classes.
6. Athletics staff meeting.
7. Cross country coaching.
8. Meet with girls' squash captain and co-coach.
9. AVOID ALL INTERNET SITES ABOUT THE ELECTION, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH LEAKED EXIT POLLS.
10. Eat dinner.
11. Go to Goodyears for Election Night Party.
12. Await good news.
As a coach, it's pretty satisfying to see one's team rise to the big occasion. In a season that included a few frustrating close losses--due perhaps more to illness and injuries than anything else--it was a treat to see Choate Cross Country summon winning performances in the JV (thirteenth straight win in this meet) and varsity (ninth of last twelve) races in the League championship.
I checked out Zack And Miri Make A Porno tonight. I'm in the general category of Kevin Smith fan, though it's hard to put this with his best work. Some funny bits in the first half of the flick, but it gets a bit predictable and downright sappy by the final reel. The humor is typical of the View Askew movies: sophomoric, even scatological, but good-natured.
The tradition of "mischief night," as they seem to call the night before Halloween nowadays (at least around these parts) was never part of the tradition when I was a kid. All the mischief was on Halloween night itself.
This is a good part of the year. It's past the peak of the fall foliage and the first frost has made its appearance. Nights get cold, but days can still be warm. This is truly autumn.
Okay, I get it. Public radio stations need to raise money. But as one who has been greeted by NPR most mornings since graduating from college, I find the constant haranguing for dollars so tedious. And this last pledge drive for Connecticut Public Radio went on for extra days. Thank goodness it's over.
Closing in on Election Day! With a week to go, is the die cast? Or will there be unexpected shifts in the days ahead? Either way, this will be fun to watch.
. . . I am still trying to figure out what this moment at the third presidential debate was all about:
Oh, the things one comes across on the Internet! Here is Obaman and Robiden, suited up to take on their foes:
I like the looks of this new poster:
Hard to believe this is the nineteenth "Treehouse Of Horror" episode of The Simpsons! This is often one of the best shows of the year for this series.
I am not one of those faculty who grouse about Parents Weekend and the ordeal of meeting families. In fact, I like it a lot. But there's no doubt that once it's over I am pretty much ready to collapse. I am now unscheduled until 3:30 on Tuesday, when my team practices.
I generally try to steer clear of the screaming heads on cable television, but lately I have been viewing Countdown with Keith Olbermann in video podcast form every night. He's a bit off the wall, but certainly an entertaining alternative to the Bill O'Reillys and Sean Hannitys of the commentariat.
I guess some folks working for the RNC are catching hell right now for the horrible symbolism associated with outfitting GOP vice-presidential nominee and "one of us" "Jane Sixpack" "hockey mom" Sarah Palin with $150,000 worth of fancy duds from stores such as Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. This stuff isn't gonna play well in an economic crisis, methinks!
Sunday's New York Times has a good piece by Public Editor Clark Hoyt on the question of media bias. Here's a choice excerpt:
In political coverage, the accusations are always that the reporter or publication has ideological or party bias. But Cline has written that journalists have a whole set of professional biases that have nothing to do with politics. Journalists are biased toward conflict, toward bad news because it is more exciting than good news, and, obviously, toward what is new. When Obama was the new candidate on the presidential scene, The Times did some tough reporting on his background and record. But that was a long time ago, and memories fade. Palin was new much more recently, so the tough reporting on her happened closer to the general election, leading her supporters to complain that The Times was picking on her and giving Obama a pass.Being human, journalists do have personal biases, and a long line of studies has shown that they tend to be more socially and politically liberal than the population at large. There is no reason to believe Times journalists are any different. But Tien-Tsung Lee, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Kansas, wrote in 2005 after reviewing the literature that “a link between reporters’ political beliefs and news coverage has never been convincingly established.”
You can read the entire article here.
Dave Gibbons, the artist who paired with Alan Moore to produce Watchmen, released a book detailing the laborious behind-the-scenes preparation of the graphic novel. The book, designed by the brilliant Chip Kidd, arrived from Amazon today.
A provocative presentation on morality and political preferences from the always worthwhile TEDTalks podcast series:
General Powell speaks articulately and elegantly without notes on the choice of presidential candidates and the issues before the country in this election:
Nice to see a leader like this "reach across the aisle" and "put the country first."
Just finished seeing The Tempest at the Classical Stage Company in New York. This time around--unlike two weeks ago--I saw the part before the intermission, as well! Determined to see the play in its entirety, I took the train into Manhattan with two Choate students for the afternoon. This was the final performance of the limited run and there were a couple of well-known actors in the audience: John Glover and Sam Waterston (whose daughter Elizabeth was playing Miranda). The show was quite good, with innovative set and lighting design. The acting was solid throughout, as well.
I'm in the Apple Store in lower Manhattan putting the new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops through their paces. The displays are indeed "gorgeous"--as Steve Jobs is prone to say--and the multi-touch glass touchpads work brilliantly.
Frank Rich is brilliant, as always, in capturing the moment in our cultural and political life as a nation. Here's a snippet of the wisdom he dispensed in today's column:
The Bushian ethos that McCain embraced, as codified by Karl Rove, is larger than any particular vote or policy. Indeed, by definition that ethos is opposed to the entire idea of policy. The whole point of the Bush-Rove way of doing business is that principles, coherent governance and even ideology must always be sacrificed for political expediency, no matter the cost to the public good.Like McCain now, Bush campaigned in 2000 as a practical problem-solver who could “work across the partisan divide,” as he put it in his first debate with Al Gore. He had no strong views on any domestic or foreign issue, except taxes and education. Only after he entered the White House did we learn his sole passion: getting and keeping power. That imperative, not the country, would always come first.
One journalist who detected this modus operandi early was Ron Suskind, who, writing for Esquire in January 2003, induced John DiIulio, the disillusioned chief of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, to tell all. “There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus,” DiIulio said. “What you’ve got is everything—and I mean everything—being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis.”
Interesting tennis developments in what is usually the least interesting part of the season: the circuit's fall indoor European swing. Rafa Nadal wrapped up the year-end #1 ranking for 2008 today, even though he fell in the Madrid Masters semis to Gilles Simon, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6), in what was reportedly one of the best matches of the year. In the other half of the draw, Andy Murray avenged his loss in the U.S. Open final by upending Roger Federer in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
I saw Oliver Stone's new movie, W, tonight. It paints a portrait of the man currently in the Oval Office that is alternately sympathetic and buffoonish. This is hardly a great film, but it's an interesting take on a polarizing figure of our time.
This week's Entertainment Weekly cover should make a lot of geeks happy. I am not gonna lie: I am looking forward to this flick and I hope J.J. Abrams isn't screwing it up.
So my Yamaha Zuma--which was stolen, stripped, and then recovered in August--is going to cost at least two grand to fix. So I have decided to get a new one. This model, which will arrive next month, is 125cc (the old one was 49cc) which means I'll have to get a motorcycle license. And here is what it will look like:
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull arrived on DVD from Amazon today. Sure, the final half hour of the movie kinda sucked, but this is Indy.
My words now appear on the back of Choate Cross Country sweatshirts all over campus. Not my idea, I promise. And I couldn't order one of these for myself lest I be considered a megalomaniac.
In his endorsement of Barack Obama--a bit of a surprise, given his politics--Christopher Hitchens saves some of his most potent venom for the GOP's vice-presidential nominee:
[T]he only public events that have so far featured [McCain's] absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience.[snip]
I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to [Gov. Sarah Palin] just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.
Ouch!
I spent most of today on the campus of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. My time there was filled with waves of nostalgia, as SPS was where I spent my most formative summer. This was where I started teaching after my junior year in college, the place I discovered what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was 20 years old and experiencing a prep school for the very first time. I was lucky to meet my mentor, work with a terrific group of kids, and given the chance to teach, to coach, to supervise a dormitory--things I've spent a fair bit of my life doing ever since.
A neat little app for the iPhone: a virtual lighter, with a flame that moves as you tilt the iPhone. This will be handy for concerts.
This is too funny: Gail Collins in her New York Times column on Thursday's presidential debate:
Remember how we used to joke about John McCain looking like an old guy yelling at kids to get off his lawn? It’s only in retrospect that we can see that the keep-off-the-grass period was the McCain campaign’s golden era. Now, he’s beginning to act like one of those movie characters who steals the wrong ring and turns into a troll.During that last debate, while he was wandering around the stage, you almost expected to hear him start muttering: “We wants it. We needs it. Must have the precious.”
The Japanese market lost about 10% of its value today and the European exchanges are down 7-9% at this hour. Could be another rough day on Wall Street. It's a bit frightening to see all of this wealth disappear so quickly. Makes me glad I am not near retirement, I suppose!
Lest Obama supporters become too optimistic 26 days before the election, check out this trip down memory lane from October 9, 2004.
I took Choate's American government classes up to Hartford on a field trip today. We checked out the State Capitol, met with State Senator Len Fasano, and then crossed the street to the Supreme Court, where we spent some time with the Chief Justice, Chase T. Rogers. Believe it or not, in all these years of teaching politics and government classes, this was my first time dealing with the Connecticut state government or visiting any of these landmarks.
The latest issue of The New Yorker contains an editorial endorsement for--surprise, surprise--Barack Obama for president. The piece itself is worth a read: it's a scathing indictment of the current administration and a point-by-point assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of Messrs. McCain and Obama. A sample:
What most distinguishes the candidates, however, is character—and here, contrary to conventional wisdom, Obama is clearly the stronger of the two. Not long ago, Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, said, “This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.” The view that this election is about personalities leaves out policy, complexity, and accountability. Even so, there’s some truth in what Davis said––but it hardly points to the conclusion that he intended.Echoing Obama, McCain has made “change” one of his campaign mantras. But the change he has actually provided has been in himself, and it is not just a matter of altering his positions. A willingness to pander and even lie has come to define his Presidential campaign and its televised advertisements. A contemptuous duplicity, a meanness, has entered his talk on the stump—so much so that it seems obvious that, in the drive for victory, he is willing to replicate some of the same underhanded methods that defeated him eight years ago in South Carolina.
Perhaps nothing revealed McCain’s cynicism more than his choice of Sarah Palin, the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, who had been governor of that state for twenty-one months, as the Republican nominee for Vice-President. In the interviews she has given since her nomination, she has had difficulty uttering coherent unscripted responses about the most basic issues of the day. We are watching a candidate for Vice-President cram for her ongoing exam in elementary domestic and foreign policy. This is funny as a Tina Fey routine on “Saturday Night Live,” but as a vision of the political future it’s deeply unsettling. Palin has no business being the backup to a President of any age, much less to one who is seventy-two and in imperfect health. In choosing her, McCain committed an act of breathtaking heedlessness and irresponsibility. Obama’s choice, Joe Biden, is not without imperfections. His tongue sometimes runs in advance of his mind, providing his own fodder for late-night comedians, but there is no comparison with Palin. His deep experience in foreign affairs, the judiciary, and social policy makes him an assuring and complementary partner for Obama.
The longer the campaign goes on, the more the issues of personality and character have reflected badly on McCain. Unless appearances are very deceiving, he is impulsive, impatient, self-dramatizing, erratic, and a compulsive risk-taker. These qualities may have contributed to his usefulness as a “maverick” senator. But in a President they would be a menace.
You can read it in its entirety here.
It's looking more and more like "that one" will be our next president. There's a certain appeal to Obama's cool-headedness in a time of economic crisis, especially contrasted with the sometimes grumpy, emotionally erratic bearing of McCain. Most pundits seem to be scoring these contests on points. I think many (most?) voters are looking for non-verbal cues: looking presidential is about projecting confidence and demonstrating command of the issues. Though neither candidate scored a "knock-out punch" in these first two debates, the polls suggest Obama is enhancing his credibility as a potential commander-in-chief.
I'm putting in quite a few miles behind the wheel of my Ford Explorer these days: to Manhattan and back Friday night for a play, to Boston and back yesterday for a concert, to Worcester, MA, and back today for a NEPSAC Executive Board meeting, and then to Watertown, CT, and back for a League athletic directors meeting. A good chance to get caught up on podcasts and iTunes U. lectures!
This is my second season as a subscriber to the Handel & Haydn Society. Today I attended the "Celebrate Handel!" concert in Boston's Symphony Hall, with a program featuring a mix of the composer's coronation anthems and his arias from various oratorios. The orchestra plays with period instruments and the chorus was joined by soprano Gillian Keith.
It's amazing to me how a game played under portable lights can generate so much enthusiasm on our campus--especially if there's a dramatic win in the closing minutes of play. For only the second time ever, Choate hosted a night football game and filled the stands with kids, teachers, and parents. After a sluggish start--going down 0-14 in the opening stages of the game--the Wild Boars came to life as the sun went down, defeating Andover, 33-29.
I just finished watching the second half of Shakespeare's final play. The Tempest. I drove to New York City after practice this afternoon, hitting Manhattan in plenty of time for the 8 p.m. curtain downtown. Unfortunately the West Side Drive was snarled in standstill traffic. Moving through the streets of the city wasn't exactly quick either. The upshot was I didn't arrive at the theater until 8:45. What I watched was very enjoyable. So I may have to head back down to see this play again--hopefully in its entirety--before its limited run ends later this month.
Both vice-presidential nominees exceeded expectations in last night's debate (which garnered much higher television ratings than the presidential debate last Friday). Joe Biden was in very good form, avoiding long-winded answers and gaffes--both factors that have hampered him in the past. He also managed to treat his opponent deftly, neither appearing the bully nor overly chivalrous. Of course, expectations for Sarah Palin were so low, if she could speak in complete sentences and not fall off the stage, the night might be considered a success. She did more than that, conveying charm and an ability to convey her prepared talking points in a lucid manner. The format helped her considerably: Palin's embarrassing moments with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric the past few weeks were usually with follow-up questions that forced her to provide an answer that went beyond her prepared script. In the end, though, Palin's performance last night will alleviate worried GOPers. Biden probably enhanced the credibility of the Democratic ticket at the same time. I doubt this event will have much effect on the final outcome of the election; only the men at the top of the ticket or a major unforeseen event can move that needle at this point.
It's far too early for any candidate to be counting his chickens five weeks before an election, but in the last couple of days, there have been seismic shifts appearing in the state-by-state polls for the presidential race. Barack Obama has opened up significant leads in virtually every key battleground state, according to multiple polls.
Here are recent CNN/Time numbers in five critical swing states:
Florida: Obama 51%, McCain 47%Minnesota: Obama 54%, McCain 43%
Missouri: Obama 49%, McCain 48%
Nevada: Obama 51%, McCain 47%
Virginia: Obama 53%, McCain 44%
If these figures hold--and they may well not--the Electoral College contest won't even be close.
After last week's Jackson Browne release, this must be the season for reviving the best-know singer-songwriters of the 1970s. This week James Taylor unveiled his first album in years, this one a batch of cover tunes he has performed in concert over the years. Supposedly some new material of his own is in the pipeline too.
In the last few minutes of my MetroNorth trip from New Haven to Grand Central tonight, I was able to accomplish what proved elusive for months back home: I activated the Exchange syncing so my school account--my primary e-mail address--is now accessible on my iPhone. I'm not sure if my e-mail messages following me everywhere I go is a good or a bad thing, but I'll try it for at least a week to see.
Just as I am wrapping up a unit on Congress in my American politics and government class, the House of Representatives jumps to the lead story in the news cycle with the dramatic vote on the financial rescue package. I was discussing in class how each legislator has to vote based three primary considerations: the desires of constituents, his/her personal beliefs and analysis, and the needs of the party and other organizational demands. Clearly the third category was deemed far less important than the first one for many of the Congressmen just five weeks before Election Day!
It's a bit scary when the Saturday Night Live writers get their material word-for-word from the news shows. This sketch was less a parody than a replay of the Couric/Palin interview!
Last night's debate between candidates McCain and Obama was surely lacking in fireworks. There were no devastating gaffes, and no clear slam dunk moments either. The Democrat started strongly and appeared somewhat more surefooted on the economy questions. The Republican was visibly more at home with foreign policy later in the debate. Hard not to call this one a tie. But since McCain is starting to nosedive in the polls, he needed a big win and he certainly didn't get that. Moreover, since Obama appeared to hold his own with the foreign affairs topics--supposedly his opponent's strongest suit--he may have established himself as a more convincing commander-in-chief with undecideds.
I watched the debate on CNN and was most interested in the focus group feedback of the independents, as represented by the white line on the meter at the bottom of the screen. These voters seemed to dial downward whenever either candidate made an aggressive attack. My informal gauge of the data was that Obama did better with the independents, at least those in the CNN studio. The consensus of other polls done in the last twelve hours confirms that.
