activities of daily living

Since a lot of people are reading You Shall Know Our Velocity, here's a link to an ongoing discussion about the new Dave Eggers book.

Of the reviews of YSKOV I've read, I feel like James Surowiecki's really comes the closest to capturing the point that I took from the story. Why do so many completely focus on the travel aspect? And why have so many reviewers latched on to the phrase Jackass-style adventures? Is this, like manolo blahniks of last season, journalistic laziness or the power of the memepool?

I disagreed with a few things that Daniel Zalewski wrote [the prevailing tenor of the book is gently humorous, Eggers also seems to be making an implicit case for person-to-person charity] and I hope that their discussion doesn't immediately shift the Eggers the Phenomenon.

I went to the CHRU and worked on my poster, but decided that I wouldn't be done in time for the afternoon meeting. The day was a lot less stressful after erasing an artificial deadline: an oceanography student came to learn about epidemiology, and all of the office people put together a pretty great halloween party.

In the afternoon, I went back to campus to help with a techfee workshop. It went well (and ended early), but only four proposal authors came. With extra time, I walked up to the bookstore to get something for my dad's birthday. Hooray for the college sweatshirt, the all-purpose gift!

After that, I went downtown to pick up some things for my trip and came home and did laundry. Now I should be packing.

Instead, I watched the West Wing. The pretend debate featuring a carbon copy of George W. Bush was too much. I'm probably just being unnecessarily melodramatic, but the differences between Sorkinland and the last election just feel devastating right now.