8 for 08.08.08

1. My sister-in-law's nephew is in Beijing right now, rowing (in the glamour boat!) for the U.S. Olympic team; read about Matt here.

2. Obama visited the Copper Dome in St. Small yesterday and asked a baby about his voting plans.

3. Last night was quite possibly the nicest evening of the whole summer: pleasant, unusually cool weather, good friends visiting, hang-out time on the back porch, lots of tasty food from the farmer's market and CSAs, and grilled eggplant rolls that served as the perfect delivery system for goat cheese.

4. This Chronicle story about having your syllabus plagiarized by a colleague brought back fond memories of a former professor who plagiarized mine. Right down to leaving my home phone number on it. Although I won't name names, I am pretty sure it's okay to blog about this because he willingly shares this "hilarious" story in public as his representative anecdote of our relationship.

5. Attention grads and undergrads alike! Today I stocked up on brand-new Pilot Precise Rolling Ball V7 pens (blue). And I'm not afraid to use them.

6. When you invent the name of a television show in a short story that you started writing over a year ago, and then discover that there is now a new show with this name, does this mean that you can get residuals? Or should you just be satisfied that you are that super-tuned-in to the pop-cultural zeitgeist?

7. Today's NYT has a piece on a wildernessy place very near here that I'm embarrassed I've never visited. We will rectify that this fall.

8. I saw a hummingbird in our backyard yesterday.

Comments

[Scott Springman]

Nice to know that Obama and I hang out at the same places as I had lunch there a few weeks ago with the kids. It is nice knowing that places still exist where you can get a large stack of pancakes anytime, and there is no credit card machine...just cash or check please. (It is a good thing I had change in my pocket that day...)

[V]

Um, I am so NOT cutting-and-pasting anything from your syllabus into mine.