Making my institution look cool, one punk party at a time

Last Friday was my 5th year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we braved a huge thunderstorm to go and have sushi at the best restaurant in the area: in the middle of an industrial park in the suburbs, near the airport. Not the most appealing location, but the sushi is absolutely incredible (you know the place is good when 60% of the patrons are Japanese, and there isn't a very big Japanese population in the area to begin with). After the sushi, B. and I went to watch the Olympics opening ceremony with friends.

Yesterday, there was a The Clash vs. The Ramones dance party at a bar/club in a neighborhood close-by. Punk rockers at heart, B. and I decided to go. The layout of this place is such that there is a bar/eating section on the front, and a dance floor and a patio on the back. We entered the place, and I hear: "Doctor SP, what are your doing here???" I turn around, and there was a former student having dinner with friends. I told her that I wouldn't miss a punk dance party for anything in the world, and that it was the way B. and I were celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. She turned around and told one of her friends: "See, I told you [insert name of my institution] was cool, and professors were awesome. When was the last time you saw a professor from [insert name of big regional public university in town] celebrate his/her wedding anniversary at a punk party". I smiled, and felt happy for upholding the reputation of my institution, even through unconventional methods.













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RBOC - random thoughts about the Olympics

- After the freaky Chinese opening ceremony 4 years ago, getting Danny Boyle for the London Olympics was the best idea ever. The ceremony was as good as it could be...

- Except for Paul  McCartney at the end. Listening to his version of Hey Jude, taking himself too seriously, was pathetic.

- NBC couldn't be worse if it had tried. 

- Why was everybody laughing about the Spanish uniforms? Granted, they looked as if they just got out of work from McDonalds. But the Germans and the Czech uniforms were way worse. 

- And the Americans with the berets were ridiculous. In a way that subtly undermined all the jingoism going on. It was as if Blake Edwards had designed them. Great irony.

- After Mitt Romney gaffe regarding the Olympics, and David Cameron's perfect reply, I can't wait until some journalist asks Romney what he thought of the opening ceremony. The potential for embarrassment is great.

- Random piece of sexist trivia. The Japanese women soccer team is number 1 in the world. Their male counterpart is number 20. The women flew to London in coach. The men flew business class. 

-Only British and Americans can take David Beckham seriously. The rest of the world knows he is a celebrity, and was never more than an OK soccer player with a doll-like face. 

- I am a punk rocker at heart. But I heart the Queen. What can I say?

In another chapter of learning how to be an American

I just drunk-bought (does the expression even exist?) tickets to see our baseball team play at the end of the month. B. is laughing like crazy over this one: drunk and all, I figured out how to get the best possible price: $30 for two tickets (all the extra charges included), instead of $48 through Ticketmaster, full price. I'm very proud of myself. I bought 2 tickets, it's a night game (so I won't bake under the sun like the other day), and I don't even have a conflicting schedule. I fell like a real Midwestern. The only thing I'm lacking is a shirt from the team. I promise to buy it if they win the World Series (not a chance). Besides that, I am a proud representative of my city.

On that note, I am writing a rant against the ass**le snob of Thomas Frank and his article in The Baffler. I promise to publish it Monday or Tuesday. But it's been a long time since I've read such a lazy piece of fluff. David Brooks can write better than that, and that's saying a lot.

My baseball adventure. Better than expected...

My baseball game went better than expected (I don't know how to link from my IPod, so look for a post from a few weeks ago if you don't know what i'm talking about). The start was not very promising. We carpooled, and the person driving decided to park more than a mile away from the stadium in order to pay $5 for parking instead of $12 (I offered to pay, but ze refused). Normally, I wouldn't have had a problem. It's a stunningly beautiful walk... on a sunny day. It was raining cats and dogs, and in fact the beginning of the game was delayed 35 minutes. It finally cleared up, and the baking began. 95 degrees under the sun is not fun. I drank a lot of overpriced Gatorade and tolerated until the 3rd inning. By then, I felt dizzy and, even worse, we were already down by 2. So I did the reasonable thing and went looking for some shade.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one being miserable, because two more people from our contingent followed me. I made a quick comeback on the 5th inning. By then, nobody was really socializing , just coming and going trying to feel comfortable. A few die-hard fans were withstanding what was until then an awful game under the sun.

Things were so bad that a few people actually left during the top of the 6th inning. Big mistake. Things got magically better during the bottom of the 6th. The clouds set in, so it was actually bearable to watch the game in the seats. And more importantly, the team began its comeback. The 7th inning was pure magic. I cheered as if I was at a soccer game back home. 

In the end, I even got to demonstrate my deep knowledge of baseball. Sitting next to me was a student that was even more clueless than I was. At the beginning of the 9th inning, the star pitcher made its appearance and the stadium went crazy. The student looked at me and asked: "Why is everybody clapping? Is the game over? Did we win?". I explained her that no, it was just the pitcher who's been having an amazing couple of weeks. When the game was finally over, I looked at her and said: "It's over, you can cheer now". Her answer: "Thank God it's over. My professor pressured me to come. I hate sports". I told her that on a scale from 1 to 10, there are worst things to do for work than having to attend a baseball game, specially if you get the tickets for free. I don't know if I convinced her. 

So in the end, I had a good time. And the tickets are really cheap. Ours were $11, and they were not the cheapest tickets. In fact, B. and I are planning on going one of these days. But I'll try to buy tickets for a game later in the day. Baking in the sun is still no fun.

So that's why I got stuck in traffic for 20 minutes the other day

The president was in town. I better start checking those events more carefully. Something tells me he'll be around more than once this Fall. I live in a swing county in a swing state.

Sports question to my readers

I've been brushing up my baseball skills for the upcoming game. I saw the last 3 innings of my local team game last Sunday, at a bar, with an appropriate amount of beer (we won!!!). Now the question to my readers is: at this point, if you had to name the 5 teams most likely to win the World Series, which teams would they be? I know the playoffs haven't even started yet, but I am curious.

Starbucks PR disaster in Argentina

Yesterday, whoever is in charge of Twitter for Starbucks Argentina forgot to drink hir morning coffee and created a PR disaster. Apparently, due to restrictions to imports in Argentina, Starbucks has started using national cups that don't look like the standard Starbucks cup. So the company apologized through Twitter. The message was something like: "We apologize to our customers because, due to problems in the supply chain, we've had to start using national cups and sleeves". As you can imagine, such a message started a firestorm in Twitter. Here are more details.

Of course, irony and non-politically correct humor is one of Argentinians favorite pastimes. If you read Spanish and want to immerse yourself in Argentine slang for a while, I recommend that you look #labandadestarbucks on Twitter. I've been laughing hard for the past half hour reading the Tweets.

Proud of my country again.

I've never been the ultra-patriotic type. Quite the opposite. I am among those who think Argentina should forget about the Malvinas/Falklands, and focus on more pressing issues. Occasionally, though, I feel proud of my country. This was a recent occasion. Yesterday, I felt that pride again.

One thing that differentiates Argentina from other countries that went through atrocious dictatorships is the relentless search for justice on the part of the victims. And I mean justice, not revenge. Despite obstacles and disappointments, groups such as Madres and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo have always gone forward trying to bring those responsible for the atrocities in the 1976-1983 dictatorship to court. Yesterday, they achieve another victory, when an Argentinian court found two former dictators guilty of stealing dozens of babies. As a result,

Jorge Rafael Videla, who ruled as a dictator between 1976 to 1981, was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Gen. Reynaldo Benito Bignone, who ruled the country from June 1982 until the nation's return to democracy in December 1983, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Sometimes, it is good to feel that justice was served.

Help!!! Professors - Student Research Assistants bonding time.

The powers to be at my institution decided that it would be a good idea if all the professors who have a student research assistant this summer, and the students themselves spend sometime socializing together. I guess it's not a bad idea in itself, although it sounds rather random to me.

Now, what's the plan? A get together somewhere on campus, with snacks included? Nope. Going to the Dean's house for pizza? Think again. The bonding experience is: the Dean got us all tickets for a local baseball game in two weeks!!! 

I've been to the stadium, and it's beautiful...if you get good seats and it's not miserably hot. I even enjoy going to bars and watching games while drinking some fabulous Midwestern beer. The local team has an incredible propensity to collapse in the last inning or in OT, which makes it even more dramatic. So what's the problem, you may be asking? 

In all my years living in the US, I've never learnt baseball rules. Not even close. And if this is supposed to be some bonding moment, I fear I will feel either terribly dumb, or as an outcast. So my question is: can you provide links to any sites where the basic rules of baseball are explained? Nothing complicated, just understanding who gets to pitch and when. Also, can you think of any phrase or topic of conversation that will make me look less dumb? I can always resort to explaining the most obscure rules of soccer (which I do know), but that sounds a little extreme.

Bob Dylan concert for free!!!

This morning, my friend J. called me and said: "I just won two free tickets on a radio sweepstakes for the upcoming Dylan concert next month. Hubby and I are out of town, so we can't go. Do you want them?" Of course I wanted them. I have never seen Bob Dylan live. He comes to town pretty often, but the tickets are always outrageously expensive. B. has seen Bob Dylan three times, including once somewhere in the middle of nowhere Louisiana. As a result, he doesn't feel the need to see him again. And I don't like him that much (or I do, but I also take into account his age) to pay at least $60 to see him. But next month, I'll be attending a concert for free. Wohoo!!!

Has any of you seen him lately? How good was he?

Hiding from the heat-wave in style

Last Friday, B. and. I were among the lucky ones that only lost power for three hours. Many people in the city lost power for 6-8 hours. Furthermore, the weather forecast for the weekend predicted severe thunderstorms. So B. and I, not exactly the adventurous type, decided it was time for a mini-local vacation.  We booked a room at the Westin downtown for Saturday and Sunday (it is the only hotel in the city with an indoor pool in the top floor). We also left laptops and other means of accessing the Internet behind. It was a full weekend of lounging in the pool, reading, and trying new restaurants downtown. I won't lie and say it was cheap, but if you can occasionally afford it, it beats complicated planning for a weekend getaway.

Today we came back to normality and the Internet. What had happened that I missed during the weekend?

- TomKat is no longer an item (earth-shattering, I know)

- Anderson Cooper came out of the closet

- Spain beat Italy 4-0. I didn't even know they were playing, so no big loss.

- I had a request for an encyclopedia entry in my mailbox. I'll do it. 

- a few administrative changes at my institution. They do not affect me directly, but I question the wisdom of such decisions.

Moral of the story: disconnecting is good, and it is not required that you are available at all times. And somehow unrelated, I discovered that my city is able to produce the ugliest sculptures you can imagine. On the other hand, I parked my car at a public parking lot without apparently noticing that that side was going to close for a few days the following day. But instead of just towing away the car, they towed it to the other side of the parking lot. I wanted to kiss the attendant when he showed me where the car was. I love the Midwest!!!