Interesting, entertaining, unproductive days.

Yesterday EC inadvertantly came up with a new expression: "packed the boat." She was telling FN and I about PB's birthday bash on Monday night, which I skipped out on, bemoaning my old age. She said that he had packed the boat. Or, that's what I heard. What she really said was that he had packed "The Boat." (The Kensington Market club where the festivities were held.) Apart from this being a case where having our conversation take place in proper written English would have solved my confusion, FN and I found this expression rather amusing. She had images of Noah's Ark in her mind. I was thinking about a raging harbour party. Anyways, so now we have a new expression to describe someone with lots and lots of friends. "He can really pack the boat, that one." AG confirmed later in the evening that PB is a legend. "Yeah, he packs the boat."

But anyways, getting back to my own less exciting life . . . .

Wednesday: lunch with SW ("the theologian") at Massey, failed attempt to hunt down and chat with one of my supervisors, coffee with PC in the afternoon, session in the department on moving from research to writing. Good day, though the lunch crowd left something to be desired. The usual entertaining suspects weren't around, though SW is always fun to spend time with. The departmental session was definitely the highlight of the day. Very little was said that was directly helpful in a practical way, but the sense among the profs presenting and the other (more advanced) grad students in attendance was that writing a dissertation is damn hard. "I am so glad that I'm not you," said awesome professor LV. "It was the hardest thing I ever did." This makes me feel better, since I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the potential enormousness of my project.

I stayed home most of Thursday to continue .pdf'ing images of archival documents and catch up on other work. After dinner I headed over the Massey to learn about concrete recycling and its environmental impact. This isn't something I'd necessarily be interested in, but it was good to support a fellow junior jellow (that's awkward phrasing, right there), especially since I am going to give my own lecture next Tuesday. After the lecture I went and visited LG for a few minutes, before dashing off to the pub. Yes, another history pub night! It was much fun. Let's see . . . DR was his usual laugh-riot self, and talking and laughing with AT, PM, MS, and HD took up most of the rest of my time. Historians. They are an entertaining bunch. I love them.

Yesterday I went to school bright and early to take in the job talk of the second candidate for the search that I'm participating in. The talk was awesome. I don't know anything about the topic, but the candidate was very impressive and got me excited about her research. The room was buzzing during the questions. The profs in the room were totally into the research and couldn't get enough of talking about it. After the formal session was over, people were milling about in little groups to continue the conversation. In the afternoon JT and had our interview with her, and she continued to impress. Did I mention that historians are cool? Actually, at lunch at Massey yesterday, I went on another tirade about the inherent awesomeness of historians. Turned out that one of the guys with whom I was talking is a physics prof---and a very handsome one too. Ah well. I can sometimes be a charicature of myself, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

FN, EC and I had dinner at home last night, and then EC and I went to Massey for X-mas festivities. This was mostly entertaining, and I introduced her to some of my friends and acquaintances there. Here is EC decorating a gingerbread cookie in the Junior Common Room! Some of the junior fellow are so odd, though. What I mean is the ones who seem to have no interest in knowing who I am. Well, maybe they are just shy. But still, it's odd. I am very friendly and generally nice, right? Whatever. I'm sure some people there must find me tiresome and offensive, but if so, well, it's their loss! The evening's activities ended with wine at AG and CB's house. Good day, but clearly unproductive. Today I must do laundry and hopefully finish some school-related work. Bah.