Parting is such sweet sorrow

We did it. Sean and I are now fully moved out of Brisbane, the Bay Area's best kept secret. Yesterday, with the much-appreciated help of my friend Amy, we cleaned, emptied and painted the crap out of the little 250 sq. ft cottage on the hill that's been our home for the last two years.












Solano plum tree

102 1/2 Solano was the first place we rented as a married couple (our starter home, you could say, though I'd rather you didn't). It was the first place we'd each ever had with a view (we could see the bay, Oakland and Candlestick park) and was so small that we truly became pioneers in the art of vertical living. Most of all, I will miss living on the side of Mount San Bruno - the mountain that never failed to exhaust our dog and always made sure Brisbane was the last part of the peninsula to be fogged in.

Solano apple tree

So very proud

This is not the newest news out there, but one simply cannot overlook economist Paul Krugman's Nobel Prize. Besides being a leading voice in economics, Krugman writes a kick-ass opinion column for the NY Times and is generally adorable.

















Even Stephen Colbert felt it was noteworthy:



Congrats, Professor

Boxed in

I haven't posted much in a while. But then, I don't think people read this much, so probably no harm done.

Reasons. There are reasons. We just moved, so the last two weeks have been a time-suck of cleaning, painting, hauling and acquiring. We're almost done, yet nowhere near done. Our old house in Brisbane still needs to be cleaned and painted... and there's still some lingering crap of ours we need to collect. The new house is coming together well - we got the stereo hooked up yesterday, which really makes it feel like home, but we are distinctly lacking of furniture, namely bookcases. There's a hulking mound of boxes taking over our living room which speak to this fact.

We already had a guest, however. My good pal Emily came out for a visit last weekend, which was great except when I came down with a terrible case of consumption. Nonetheless we spent some quality time riding the cable car, drinking yummy Irish coffee, leering at cute pickle-selling hippies at the farmer's market, cavorting on the beach and drinking until we couldn't feel feelings. Sean was a good sport and took her hiking on Mt. Tam last Monday while I stayed at home and coughed up my pleura.

Here's a pretty picture of Emily just before she mounted the cable car. (Yup. I said mounted.)












So, I'm back at work (they were very understanding about my plague) and have to say I'm mighty proud of how much work I accomplished at home when I was sick. Our next project is to wrap up this move, buy some fucking bookcases and really get settled in before we leave over Thanksgiving for Hawai'i with my mom.

And, as if Rachel Maddow, leftist pundit extradonaire, wasn't already Queen of my Universe, the Sunday Times magazine had a little article about her and wouldn't you know it? She too has a Watergate hotel ashtray which she too bought off eBay.

I stand in good company.

Marvin

There isn't much to say about this except: "Marvin Gaye, we're not worthy."

Very-very-very fine house

Sean and I are officially residents of Palo Alto. We have no furniture and have discovered that our DirectTV account is useless at this new address, but we're moved in and so far everything's fucking super.

I've been riding my bike to work every day - besides the oil-less commute (which I love), the best part is smelling the eucalyptus each morning as I ride through the less developed parts of campus to get to my building. And this morning I watched the sun rise over Hoover tower - it also turned the rolling hills in the distance an amazing purple color.

The new 'hood requires some adjustment for our dog - Brisbane was the land of off-leash living, not so much Palo Alto.

Hopefully muttly will get used to leash-life before she dislocates one of our shoulders...

We're still in the process of emptying and cleaning out our old place in Brisbane - time and energy are at a premium, lately. *Yawn*

Emily, my first roommate in Alaska and good buddy flies into town this afternoon, so we probably won't get much done this weekend, either - she's worthy of the sacrifice, however; no complaints.

Autumn is beautiful in Palo Alto - maybe not as beautiful as New England's, but it's warm and colorful, so as burnt out as I feel, life is really very good.

And that's the news from here.

If you have second, check out this website about breaking the bottled water habit - our water supplies may depend on it.

Read it, embrace it and pass it along.

Palo Alto or bust!

Our new abode (the one on the right).


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Rattlesnake

Right after watching the first debate last night, Sean found this thoughtful commentary piece on Talking Points Memo, an excellent muckraking blog by Joshua Micah Marshall (who visited our group at Stanford last year... good times).

What I have posted below (here is a link to the piece) was written before the debates started and I think Marshall makes some excellent points. Enjoy!

Looking forward to what we can expect from tonight's debate, the most telling points are situation and character. The polls for the moment look good for Barack Obama. And what he needs to prove in the context of the entire campaign is that he has the stature and heft to be President of the United States. That and Obama's character both suggest that he'll try to put in a solid, reassuring performance rather than aiming for a knock-out punch or some game-changing moment.

Meanwhile, everything about John McCain's character and the situation he finds himself in suggests he'll do precisely the opposite.

Whether we call it John McCain's freak-outta-palooza or just some freewheeling maverickism, everything John McCain has done over recent months and especially and with a new intensity over the last week has been geared to upsetting the applecart and creating some event which trips up Obama and shifts the trajectory of the campaign. Some of us may see it in a negative light or a positive light, but descriptively, I don't think many people on either side of the political aisle would disagree with that analysis.

Add to that the issue of character. A high stakes campaign brings out the essence of an individual. And campaigns, in almost every case, are defined by the candidate. With these rapid-fire rash and erratic actions, I think we're seeing the real John McCain. It may be filtered through and packaged by Steve Schmidt or Salter or Davis. But fundamentally I believe this all stems from John McCain.

(To add to the miss, note this pool report filed as McCain headed for the plane to Mississippi tonight with Rudy Giuliani in tow -- the "general atmosphere is utter confusion." Not conducive to going into a high stakes debate. But very much in line with McCain's recent affect and behavior.)

Put those two factors together -- recent behavior/strategy and fundamental character -- and I think you have to expect a John McCain who is unpredictable, possibly uncontrollable and looking for any moment to launch a dramatic ambush or confrontation that will amount to his ultimate roll of the dice.

--Josh Marshall