Countin' cows.

Visited L's ancestral homeland this weekend. It was a final farewell to her mom, as well as an opportunity to catch up with relatives (naturally), visit the farm (any excuse really) and failing to do any fishing (gale force winds and driving rain). Sunday morning greeted us with a dusting of snow on top of the hills--I always forget that the valley floor is at 5500 feet. (So they say. I haven't looked it up.)

It's still calving season there. Lynn has taken to later to over-wintering the steer, rather than trying to get them ready for market by October. He loses fewer calves to harsh spring conditions (I suppose that means May snowstorms!) this way.

Another thing I learned: cows can swim. Well, at least the one that I scared into the irrigation canal figured out how real quickly. One appeared to be caught up on some brush on the bank of the canal. Mama and everyone else had scattered (my Dr. Doolittle powers apparently don't extend to livestock) and he was either hiding from me or really was stuck. I figured that I would have to go get Lynn if he was hurt or so caught up that I couldn't move him. (How much do 3 week old cows weigh anyway?) But as I approach shear panic seemed to do the trick. He thrashed his way out of the bushes and rolled right into the water. He swam downstream a bit, climbed the bank, and ran like hell for mom.

Listened to in the car on the way out: Chieh Chieng's "A Long Stay in a Foreign Land." Highly recommended. On the way back: the first two-thirds of Jonathan Letham's "Fortress of Solitude." The first half was fantasic. Part 2 is a little slow, but I have great hope. I'll have to grab a print copy to finish it up.

Small town welcome home

Yesterday one of my co-workers left a note for me: 'your rabbits are in the yellow freezer.'

I don't think that would be happening if I was living in the big city.

So yes, four rabbits, raised by the local 4H club, were awaiting me. Each wrapped lovingly in a ziplock bag. When I ordered them, I was assuming a couple pounds each. These are bigger than chickens! My bike was totally overloaded on the way home. They take up quite a bit of room in the freezer.

And my mother asked me to please not serve them to her when she visits. However a friend told L today that she loves bunny and will be glad to help us eat them.

hmmmmmmm....bunny.

wi fi Canada!

Took three measurements today of wi fi here in BC and paid one more visit to the Parker Place Mall for some beef noodle soup, er, field observation.

Even on a business day lunch hour, I was still the only white guy there (ok, there were like 3 others, but definitely less than 1% anglo). The mall totally reminded me of a Japanese zombie movie I saw once.

I'm not in my first net cafe--although it's more of a gaming cafe. Lots of Warcraft and a couple things I don't recognize. It's fascinating.

They are using what appears to be using Malaysian client software, or it's a franchise, it's kind of hard to tell.

Vancouver was a smashing success. Now I've got to get home and catch up with my blog reading, because I received a stern talking to about my bad reading habits.

Overheard

At the corner of 24th and Ash, still in sunny, beautiful, civilized Vancouver about 10:30 this morning:

OW!



Fuck.

Small town, big city.

I found myself seriously questioning my allegiance to small town life yesterday morning here in Vancouver BC. After breakfast (where I was allowed to order off the menu and the table full of police officers next to me were polite and did not pepper their conversation with profanity) I wandered down Broadway into a newstand that had more titles than the Eugene Public Library; picked up a patch cable at a Future Store (I have seen the future, and it's great big flat screen monitors for all); caught up on Canadian literature at a Chapters bookstore; and walked past more different types of ethnic restaurants in a 5 block stretch than exists in all of Oregon.

Not that I'm complaining. No, ok, I'm complaining. It was so freakin' pleasant. The newstand had NINE different flyfishing magazines. I didn't even know there were that many!

I also stepped into an art book store, but was immediately overwhelmed and walked back out. One can take only so much stimulation.

For dinner, one of the other WAMLites suggested Afghani. Afghani! How often do you get to eat Afghani food? It was fantastic.

So yes, I've got the small town blues.

Conference is good so far. Today is the real meat and potatoes. And tonight I see the geographers. Hurray!

Banner Chicago day

I took my time trekking to the airport yesterday afternoon, rather than accepting a ride to O’Hare from my parents. I took advantage of the comfortable seats on Metra to finish up a paper. I viewed some nice video installations and a show of Estonian horror movie still recreations (think Cindy Sherman in Eastern Europe), and then a string quartet and some more art at the Cultural Center. Kramer saved me from having to read the wall cards at a sculpture show there. Really nice pieces.

Walking through the Thompson Center (nee State of Illinois Building), it struck me that the pink is almost exactly that of my library’s walls. Very mid-80s Miami Vice. Remember when Helmut Jahn was cool?

The El took me to Wicker Park, where I took my 3rd wi-fi measurement of the trip. Crazy results. Far outside of what I would have expected. A beer at the Lincoln Tavern, a stop at Quimby’s for reading material, and lunch at the Silver Cloud (not exactly what I had in mind, but I was in a lunch-to-dinner transition zone. I should have gone to Feast, but I ate there last time I was in Chicago) rounded out my Chicago adventure. Wish I had had an extra hour.

Oh, and I hit a culinary home run: White Castle, kiszka, Ricobene's, and gyros. I thought it was only going to be a triple, but Sunday brunch at a Greek place brought me around to home plate. Thank God for the agioplasty stand at O'Hare.