Sabbatical

2012
01.27

Sorry, but I haven’t “felt the love” for ye ol’ blog since I have returned from Louisiana. What can I say? I’ve honestly been too busy reading, typing notes, printing, and setting up the master outline for my Big Book Project to really sit down and think about interesting things to write in my blog. For now, you should know that I learned why bayous are different from rivers (the tide causes the flow in a true bayou to change directions) and that I am trying to figure out how the culture of Louisiana politics plays a role in my research. I’ve also figured out my research methodology framework (a combination of Ostrom’s IAD framework and Bardach’s eighfold path to policy analysis). In fact, I’m calling next Monday “Methodology Monday” — I’m going to wipe my whiteboard clean and diagram my “Unified Theory of Policy Making” against my research methods and the IAD framework, which will put me in a good place for starting the second chapter of my book. That’s an excellent thing, seeing how I’m about 80 percent done with all the things currently listed on the whiteboard — all leftover from last semester.

I might be ready to start writing by February 1.

Mostly, though, I feel like I’ve been a bit of a slacker. Granted I did crank out my conference paper this month and I did spend several days in NOLA, but I’ve also been sleeping. A lot, in fact. It’s like my body has said that 13 years of nonstop work — grad school, nonprofit, tenure track, new administrative duties — is enough. Honestly, I thought I would be working and researching eight hours a day during my sabbatical, but the most I can handle without getting a massive brain freeze is six or so. And, I’ve been taking off weekends to catch up on all things pop culture: morning matinees at the local AMC, Downton Abbey on the DVR, Breaking Bad on Netflix, and Buffy from my DVD collection.

I guess I’m human after all, eh?

For the Record, I’m a Rooster.

2012
01.23

Happy Chinese New Year!

According to the interwebs, 2012 is the year of the Dragon. It is the rén-chén  year (Water Dragon). Rén (Water) is the ninth of the ten celestial stems and chén (Dragon) is the fifth of the twelve terrestrial branches and marks the year of the Dragon. To celebrate — and because I am weird enough to have saved some of the more memorable fortune cookie guts — I offer you the following blog fodder:

Went to the Thai place for lunch.
Got the following fortune:
“One of these days you will realize how futile your life really is.”
Ummm. Okay …
May 4, 2007

“Welcome the change coming soon into your life.”
Let’s hope that’s not an early onset midlife crisis …

“Your luck will soon be at a high point.”
Well, it certainly can’t get much lower …

“If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”
And get a sunburn …

“You will have many friends when you need them.”
Just not when you need bail money …
after being kicked out of the Creation Museum.

And The Coach’s most interesting fortune:
“An admirer is concealing his affection for you.”
Well geez, dear, is there something I should know?
June 21, 2007

I got this one while worrying about tenure:
“All the effort you are making will ultimately pay off.”
August 2, 2007

When I got this one, I was amused.
Later, I saw it as foreshadowing my tenure as chair.
“You’ll be called to a post requiring high ability
in handling groups of people.”
July 11, 2008

NOLA: Travel Tidbits

2012
01.19

I went to several panels during the conference — but not a one of them was related to my research agenda. It seems like this year’s SPSA was very focused on political theory and the institutions of American government — and not so much on public policy. As an aside: my dissertation director was the chair and discussant for one of the panels I attended, but I didn’t actually get to talk to her because the panel went over the allotted 90 minute period.

My panel was actually pretty interesting — two case study papers, two very quantitative papers. The best paper, by far, did not come from a professor. It did not come from a graduate student. Oh no. The best paper was from an undergraduate! Yes, indeedy. It was her honors’ thesis and it blew my socks off. For the record, I tried to talk her into going to IU.

As for my paper, well, I got some ideas for how to make it into two papers. And, one of the discussants completely panned me because, apparently, the IAD framework does not focus on politics (and, by god, this is a politics conference!!!). Hmmm… After the panel, I did have a bit of an epiphany about how to restructure the theoretical model so that I can get a pub out of this thing. That’s really the take-home message here.

My buddy D., and her husband B., came all the way from the middle of wetland country to go to dinner with me on Friday night. They ended up getting stuck in Hornets’ traffic (Go Hornets?), but they were still happy to see me. And, the food at the Bon Ton was pretty sweet. I had crawfish and pineapple sorbet. {Funny, but some of the best food up here is also from the Bon Ton.} They also introduced me to a new breakfast place — Daisy Dukes — where I ate a seafood omelet in a room full of military guys.

If you are what you eat, then I have turned into a piece of seafood.

The train ride was, well, interesting. The train was SOLD OUT leaving New Orleans, can you believe that? It was also a bit rowdy — including the folks who BYOV’ed (Bring Your Own Vodka) and made cocktails while playing cards in the club car.  By the time we hit Memphis, though, I was able to score two seats all to myself so I could sprawl out and sleep. We were actually on time into Centralia and I managed to beat the sunrise home.

BTW, those folks were still drinking and playing cards when I got off the train — 13 hours after we left New Orleans! Talk about stamina!

Since I got home on Sunday, I have seen two movies (The Iron Lady, War Horse), been to my work office twice (don’t ask), did the laundry, and managed to finish a day’s worth of research reading. Next week, the real writing begins!

What happens in NOLA …

2012
01.18

… stays in NOLA. Well, at least $40 of my fun money stayed in Harrah’s. I should have known that fate was against me when two of the nickle slot machines rejected my payment voucher. LOL.

Red Leather Seats, Designer Popcorn

2012
01.12

In for the night, but not by choice
Darned conference presentation anyways!

It’s a damn shame that I had to come all the way to New Orleans to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I’ll admit that it has only been recently that I’ve picked up anything by John le Carré to read and that was only because The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was on a list of books that I was trying to complete. Yet, somewhere along the way, I’ve developed this interest in Cold War espionage – around the time I went to Berlin, perhaps? – so I thought I’d give the movie a whirl.

That is, before I actually read the book.

In the past, I’ve read many a book before I went to see the movie and, quite frankly, I end up annoyed – and I end up annoying The Coach because I complain about the liberties that the director has taken with the source material. You know, Eat Pray Love was a lovely movie – but the details were different enough to tick me off. I don’t think I’m the only person who gets upset by this – I remember having a conversation with TQE about one of the Harry Potter movies – but maybe, just maybe, I am too much of a film and book geek for my own good.

So, anyway, after consuming copious amounts of muffuletta, I took a nap. But, I made sure to set the alarm on my cellphone because I really wanted to see this flick. It has been a dog’s age since I’ve actually gone to the movies all by myself, which is something I like to do when I want to think deep thoughts about what I am viewing. I’ll admit that when I woke up, I was still a little footsore from this morning’s grocery shopping fiasco – why didn’t I pack my sneakers? – but I pried myself out of bed and shoved my feet back into my clogs. Fortunately, the movie theatre was only three or four blocks from the hotel.

Let me tell you, the movie theatre in Canal Place is pretty freakin’ fancy. One kid escorted me to my assigned seat. Another kid gave me a menu and instructed me to hit the red button if I wanted food. Seriously, if I didn’t have another chunk of muffuletta waiting for me, I would have ordered one of the yummy looking salads on the menus. Instead, I settled for a Diet Coke and some designer popcorn coated in garlic salt and paprika. I suspect I am channeling my inner Rachael Ray when I say that popcorn was Delish! And, frankly, I was dying for a Diet Coke because the vending machine in my hotel is out of everything except Barq’s root beer – and you can only drink so much real soda before you feel like your teeth are rotting out. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had a sugared soda.

As for the movie: Focus Features never fails to disappoint. I’ll admit that the flick was rather complicated, but then, shouldn’t a film about spies be complicated? I know that Chris Krapek over at the Huffington Post warned that you’d “better think twice before that large popcorn and soda” and that his teenage cousins would “compar[e] it to doing homework.” To those people I say cast off your intellectual laziness and pull up a theatre seat. In addition to being physically satisfied by the smoky garlicy goodness of my popcorn, I was also mentally satisfied by the end of the flick even though I sorta’ figured out who the spy was about 30 minutes into the movie – and I was right, yo!

Now that I’m in for the night – after a stop to buy overpriced bottled water from a really rude chickie in a Canal Street store – I suspect I should probably get around to making my Power Point slides for tomorrow’s presentation. That could be amusing, seeing how my Netbook is, well, a Netbook. Great for portability, terrible for productivity.

Making Groceries the NOLA Way

2012
01.12

The Things I Miss about Louisiana
or Making Groceries the NOLA Way

One of the best part of going down to NOLA is the chance to – as my New Orleans born-and-bred mentee says – make groceries. Granted it is easier with a car and a cooler, so you can go to the Piggy Wiggly or Winn Dixie for things like tasso, boudin, and andouille– but beggars can’t be choosers, if you know what I mean. So after checking into the conference and sitting through a panel session (all the ones I want to see are scheduled for Friday), I headed out to the Quarter in search of the old A&P on Royal. I found the store – now a Rouse’s – and proceeded to buy more stuff that I had a right to: bags of Camilla beans, olive relish, Community Coffee, and Hubig’s pies. How I am going to fit all this stuff into my luggage is beyond me, but then, I like a good challenge.

Originally, I was only going to buy the fried pies, but once I got into the store I just couldn’t help myself. This, in and of itself, presented a problem because I had to haul all my groceries back to the hotel and I still had other stops to make and it was windy – like a spring day in Chicago windy – and cold outside. I consoled myself with the fact that I am going to be mucho happy when I’m chowing down on real red beans and rice on some cold February day in Indiana.

So, with around 10 pounds of groceries in hand, I wandered down Royal a bit more, stopping to drool over the Blue Dogs at Rodrigue Studio – man, I wish I could afford one of those – then headed for my favorite hole in the wall bookstore, Faulkner House Books. Before I got there, however, I stopped to look at the cathedral (a little ritual of mine) and was semi-accosted by a street musician who told me all about the rough time he was having. It seems that the NOLA cops are cracking down on the street folks and this guy had not one, but two, court appearances scheduled for Friday. I hope he’s not superstitious, seeing how Friday’s the 13th and all. Either way, he was mad as hell because one was in the morning, the other was in the afternoon, and he was “fucking ready”—not just ready, fucking ready! – to get out of this city. Yikes!

Anyways, I went to the bookstore, still toting the groceries. In a way, this was probably a good thing because it kept me from spending more than $50 on new books. I ended up buying Piazza’s Devil Sent the Rain (I like his nonfiction writing) and a UP of Mississippi book about Katrina’s impact on Bay St. Louis. I’ve noticed that University Press of Mississippi is publishing a lot of Katrina-related stuff; maybe I can shop my sabbatical project there if I have bad luck over at LSU.

And, maybe one day I will see a copy of my book sitting on the table at Faulkner House.

I ended up running over to Central Grocery to get a muffuletta as big as my head just because I was already on Decatur Street – and then I hauled all that stuff back to my hotel in the warehouse district, wishing the whole time that I had remembered to pack some decent walking shoes. The muffuletta was worth it though – it made for a great lunch when paired with one of my Hubig’s – and I have the leftovers iced down in my spare sink so I can eat it for dinner tonight. Yummy!

Now, I am just chilling out. Maybe I’ll take a nap. Maybe I’ll read a book. Either way, I still have plans for the rest of today: a matinee at Canal Place and conference presentation prep.

Adventures in Train Travel

2012
01.11

The Lake from the Train
Retro Camera Option on ye old cell phone

Subtitled: I can now cross “riding the City of New Orleans” off the bucket list.

Last night, I drove to the middle of nowhere Illinois (well, okay, Centralia) to catch a midnight train to Louisiana. I had a few issues getting out the door – that damned Birdie dog has some kind of sixth sense about being left behind and decided to play keep away for what seemed like hours. Then I had to take a detour over to the University to print out copies of my papers for the conference. When I made it out the door, Nuvi the Garmin Goddess introduced me to a new route to the interstate, but I still made it to the train station with a decent sized time buffer.

Too much of a buffer, as it turns out.

Amtrak was running behind by an hour and three minutes – I checked the website – so I ended up waiting in a little station in the middle of the night with an assorted of odd folks. First there was the guy who was talking to himself, but he left after about 20 minutes. Then there was the drunk lady who proceeded to tell me how she had her nose, belly button and tongue pierced, all within the last 4 years. By the way, on her next birthday, she was turning 62. Fortunately, she had just stopped at the station to avoid the rain and eventually she wandered back out into the night.

When the train finally came, I was more than ready for a long night’s sleep. The train wasn’t too full, so I managed to curl up across a couple of seats and sleep until we hit Memphis – and then, it was like being in a hospital for the rest of the ride. Behind me, some guy was praying out loud, quietly loudly – and that went on for at least 15 minutes. Then, we all had to re-present our ticket stubs because we had all new conductors. Then, there was the announcement about breakfast in the dining car. Then, the announcements for each of the stops in northern Mississippi which were spaced about 90 minutes apart. Yeah, I should have packed some ear plugs eh?

The noise aside, the train ride wasn’t that horrible. I’ve got to give Amtrak some credit: there’s serious legroom in coach. Then, even though the train was an hour late picking me up in Illinois, we ended up arriving in New Orleans ahead of schedule. And, when I went to the desk to change my homebound ticket from Sunday to Saturday (long story of miscommunication between me and the travel office), I was out of there in five minutes, new ticket in hand – and I didn’t have to pay any kind of fee.

Of course, I had never been to the NOLA train station before and I had to figure out how to get to my favorite hotel in the Warehouse District. My phone pointed me the right way, but it was confusing as hell because the sidewalks were all torn up on Loyola. Ugh. But I got to the Ambassador, took a nap and a shower, and went to Mother’s for an oyster po-boy. You know you’ve made it to Louisiana when they include little packets of Tabasco in your condiments.

Next up: Making my schedule for Thursday and going to bed early. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep for more than 90 minutes at a time.

And, done!

2012
01.09

Finished up ye old conference paper around 2 p.m. today after 24 1/2 hours of work. To celebrate, I am taking the rest of the afternoon off to watch Downton Abbey and the LSU football game. Tomorrow? Packing, printing, and prepping my slide show before heading out to Centralia to catch the midnight train to Louisiana. By this time on Wednesday, I’ll be getting ready to eat red beans and drink Abita beer. Yum!

I feel like I’m missing something …

2012
01.04

… Ah, that’s right. University-wide meetings started at 7:45 this morning. Thank you, sabbatical gods! Thank you!

Tuesday Tidbits.

2012
01.03

It’s the Tuesday after New Year’s Day which means two things: (1) The Coach went back to school today and (2) the real end to my “presabbatical” break comes tomorrow. I’m going to keep saying that to myself so I don’t feel so bad about wasting the majority of my day. Granted, I have made a huge dent in the pile of research books on my desk, but I also watched something like five episodes of Bones and played a couple hours of Jam City Rollergirls on the Wii.

Yeah, that’s gotta’ stop tomorrow or I’ll never get my conference paper written in time.

In other news, I need to find some way to balance my tendency towards “night owlism” against The Coach’s “early bird, worm” schedule. Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself staying up later and later … and getting up later and later. If there was something like a 11-7 shift for professors, I’d be there in a heartbeat. So you can imagine how very annoyed I was when I woke to a trio of barking dogs at five in the morning. That better not happen every morning or I’m going to have to move into an extended stay hotel or buy doggie taser collars (j/k) or something. Argh.

P.S. >>> Can someone please explain to me what is wrong with the people of Iowa? Santorum and Romney, neck in neck? Seriously? How can Santorum even be considered a real candidate? Yikes.