Palo Alto's weird public art

San Francisco: day 16
Transit's freakin awesome in the Bay Area. The Judah tram that rumbles past my door took me right to the Caltrain Station this morning.

A sidetrip to Stanford to visit my supervisor and her husband, both superstars of McGill's Communication Studies Department. C picked me up at Palo Alto station, promptly got me a latte (must have been the "caffeinate me" look in my eyes) and drove us up the hill to the research center where they've been spending their Sabbatical.

Stellar, the only sunshiney day all week. Highlights included:

> a weird and interesting lunch with some behavioural scientists. Conversations ranged over obesity, National Public Radio funding, and American politics.

> several productive hours in C's sunny office discussing my dissertation drafts. We laughed a lot. I'll take that as a good sign.

> a walkabout in Palo Alto in search of a nice spot for cocktails. On the way, we discovered a Turkish importer selling ornately embroidered boots that screamed to be tried on.

> a curious 7-foot egg sculpture, clad entirely in circuit boards bearing titles like Globalizing Circuits, circuitos imaginarios, and circuits of power. The fact that it stood in front of "Pizza My Heart" pizzeria made it all the more surreal.

> more awesome conversation with C over high caliber Margaritas containing elderflower liqueur and fresh grapefruit juice.

> hanging out in C&J's kitchen talking about Montreal and playing with their hilarious cats while J cooked up the most savoury dinner I've eaten in a long time. Must have been the company. And the saffron. And the freshly-picked lemons from the backyard. Dessert was a chocolate ganache tarte I'd picked up from the French patisserie in Cole Valley and we ended the meal with organic mint tea.

I returned to my dump of a rooming house with a bag of backyard lemons and a pile of chapter drafts, happy as all get out. And to think I'd already embraced my academic future in the darkest hours of Black January.


One year ago >
Far freakin out. The only other day I've ever spent at Stanford.