Turkeygiving

It's Sunday night, and I'm nearing the end of the Thanksgiving break. So let me explain how this wonderful four-day holiday works round here.

Thanksgiving itself is on the Thursday, but late on Wednesday night I sent out a nearly-complete draft of The Paper to my coauthors. This meant I could devote my full concentration the next day to celebrating Squanto---apparently his efforts to help out the Plymouth pilgrims are remembered by eating as much food as humanly possible. It's also crucial to do this in the company of other people, and we ended up entertaining ten at the cottage. Ten!


This prompted some very-necessary rearrangements, but I think we turned the living room into a passable dining room. Allison then roasted an enormous bird, which combined with everyone's desserts and sides meant that, frankly, we did eat a little too much. As I say, that seems to be the point of Thanksgiving.

Friday is a second day off work, which we spent making Christmas happen in the cottage. It still seems a bit early for all that, doesn't it? But somehow it felt right to be standing on a ladder putting up lights and decorations. And there's more...Saturday brought a near-infinite number of college football rivalry games, including Oregon whipping Oregon State 65-38.

Which was cool. And yet still I had Sunday left to run some errands, apply for a patriotic new credit card and get prepared for work. I want more four-day weekends.

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The other news of note is that I'm the proud owner of a new Macbook Pro.


Yes, I'm finally cool enough. Make of that what you will.

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This track is currently airing on a LeBron James commercial...but it's by Cornershop! Believe it or not, the song is from the same album as Brimful of Asha.

White boy hippy dancing

Before I came to Oregon, I confess I didn't know much about bluegrass music. But since several members of my department play bluegrass weekly at a local pub, and several other friends seem to be big fans of the genre, I've been gradually exposed to more and more of it. Almost without realizing.

Last week it was time to take a leap: I went out for KD's birthday to see Old Crow Medicine Show, who hail from Nashville, TN and are kings of all things old-timey. Here's the video for Wagon Wheel, the song everyone seems to know round here:



Anyway, being at this show meant I needed to do some dancing. Hippy dancing, as they call it. I think I did pretty well, though probably it's easier to pull off if you're wearing a baggy pair of denim dungarees, a straw hat and have dreadlocks.

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The other exciting recent happening was that I went to see the the Oregon Ducks play Arizona, at the mighty Autzen stadium:


I went with Allison, and we tailgated with my old housemate before the game. It was all pretty awesome, and the Ducks won 55-45. Yes, 55-45! None of your low-scoring SEC games out here in the West. And after those efforts, Oregon are back in the Top 25. (Just about.)

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OK, you've had music, you've had sports. I thought that might be enough, but there are a couple of other news items to throw in. First, the gender analyzer tells me that my blog has a 71% chance of being written by a man. On the other hand, Pierre's old blog has a 72% chance of being written by a woman. Who knew?

And finally? Johnson could be the new Dr Who!

The New New World

You probably noticed there was an election this week. And you're probably desperate to hear my commentary on it.

Well, I'm happy, and happier than I expected to be. I think there was a small, unvoiced fear at the back of my mind that Obama would lose, so now that he's won I feel there's some kind of weight lifted. Does anyone else feel like that? It's going to be an incredibly tough four years for him, but I'm optimistic to see what can be done.

One thing the election highlights is the lack of a reasonable option for American conservatives these days. I'm sure the numbers will be analyzed in excruciating detail over the next few weeks, but I won't be shocked if Palin is picked out as the biggest liability in the campaign. There surely are many conservatives out there who are not anti-science, anti-intellectual or as exuberantly parochial as Palin. My guess is they didn't vote GOP.

But let us not dwell on that. Let's keep the excitement and optimism and just see what the new guy can do. God Bless America!