Christmas in Phoenix

We just got back from our trip to Phoenix to visit Paul's family for Christmas. Thankfully no one tried to blow up their underpants on the flight there or on the return.

We had over a week to visit, so we had time to do some sightseeing. Here's some of the highlights from our hikes:

This is on the Peralta Trail. Coincidentally, this picture was taken by a family with a University of Arizona student and two Indiana University students. At least we have the same school color.

From Phoenix 2009

Here's where we turned around - Fremont Saddle. The big rock formation off in the background is called Weaver's Needle.

From Phoenix 2009

For Christmas Eve, we went to a friend of the family's house for a traditional Polish dinner. I didn't bring my camera, but believe me there was a good spread! There were at least 3 different types of homemade pickled herring (just like the Swedish kind), pierogis, stuffed crepes, borscht, and tons of other stuff. We started the dinner with the traditional Polish Christmas wafers, where each person gets a piece, then breaks off a small piece of each other person's wafer while wishing them Merry Christmas (or some other nice thing).

Back at the Simacek house, we exchanged gifts including these Christmas outfits


And, of course, Snuggies, which my grandmother informed me used to mean some kind of undergarment for old ladies:


We also went to Sedona and experienced the wackiness of the area by visiting some vortexes. Apparently some people believe each "vortex" has some magic energy that is either male and female or some sort of yin-yang balance of something or other. Paul seemed to have a good grasp of why these were special places - they are all really nice places to take in the view. Paul's dad had been there before and brought us to some of the highlights of the area.

Here we are on an apparent vortex near the airport


Here's another vortex, in Boynton Canton, with something called Enchantment Resort in the background. They had some drum session going on while we were hiking past it. So now we know where to go if we need a good Native American drum session followed by some vortex action.


This was my favorite rock formation of the hike - it looks like a face in the rock, kind of like the old man of the mountain of New Hampshire (RIP)

Backseat Driver

In the garage, Binsey tells her chauffeur to hurry it up, please!


We've since bought a hard plastic kennel for Binsey to stay in for her car rides (much safer for her), but on this day she stayed on my lap in the back seat and fell asleep as usual. Something tells me she's not going to be a big fan of riding in the kennel versus on my lap!

Finals!

Today I just had my last class of my second first semester in graduate school - or is that my last class of my last first semester in grad school? Either way, I've got winter break coming up and after this program I'll certainly have enough letters after my name!

For those who may be interested in the work I'm doing, here's the topics I'm working on for my final papers:

1. A research proposal called "From the Terrible Twos to Psychiatric Patient: How Preschool Teachers Identify Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Navigate Pathways to Treatment" That one wound up at around 20 pages and I turned it in today!

2. A 2-page single spaced final memo for Sociological Theory. I'm writing about the politics behind a question that was on the Massachusetts ballot in 2008 about decriminalization of marijuana, as explained by a Marxist theory of class conflict versus Durkheim's theory on social solidarity as it relates to law. I have no idea how I'll fit it all on 2 pages!

3. For my Health Policy class, a look at how off-label marketing of prescription drugs might be viewed from three perspectives: physician autonomy, patient empowerment and corporate responsibility.

So it looks like I'm all over the place topically! But that's fine since I've got at least 3 more semesters of classes before I have to come up with a dissertation topic.

Woodland Adventure

This weekend we took a trip out to the Beanblossom Bottom Trail a couple miles from our house. We found it by accident last week when there was nice weather and we'd gone for a countryside drive. It's a really neat spot with something like 2.5 miles of wooden walkways through marshy land. Here's Paul and Binsey on the elevated walkway



Binsey wasn't afraid of the ice - in fact, she ran all around on it and tried to dig out some frozen sticks. Good thing she only weighs 30 pounds so she didn't crack the ice and fall in!


Here we are on a lookout platform. I got a chance to wear my new rain boots for the hike since there were semi-frozen puddles in some places

The Best Rowing Movie Ever Made...

Today Paul and I watched a movie we got from the Bloomington Public Library called Miracle at Oxford. The review on the back said it was "the best rowing movie ever made". I'm not about to doubt that claim, but it was pretty good. Since both Paul and I have rowed (and Paul at Oxford), we were probably a little more interested than most other people would be in the film. But it was still really neat to say "ooh, I know that street!" or "Hey, isn't that the butcher shop we liked?" It also had some interesting commentary on how Americans are perceived in the UK.

What was a really bizarre coincidence is that one of the main actors, Dominic West, also starred in Mona Lisa Smile, which was filmed at Wellesley College while I was a student there.

So now I'm thinking it might be a good time to watch Breaking Away again - that's the movie about bike racing in the Little 500 in Bloomington, Indiana. It's always fun to watch a movie about a place you've lived, and now that I've been in Bloomington for over half a year I should be able to recognize some places!

Thanksgiving in Indiana

This year it was just us, but we still went all out with the turkey and all the fixins. Even Binsey got to eat the innards.


Post thanksgiving, we had turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and turkey stir-fry. 13 pounds of turkey goes a long way between 2 people!

Right now I'm in the middle of final exams, which is all long papers I have to write. I just turned in my long theory paper today (I've got a short theory paper due later), so that feels good. What doesn't feel so good is that we're both coming down with a cold. I guess spending time around 40,000 or more students tends to spread germs no matter how careful you are. I'm just happy that libraries are now all online so I can be at home to study.

A note on Rhode Island from James Morone

For my Health Policy class, I've been asked to read Hellfire Nation by James A. Morone. So far, I've read the introduction, where he laid down this nugget:

"The Puritans...sent heritics packing to Rhode Island ('the latrina of New England,' even then)." (p 9)

Excuse me, Mr Morone? And you happen to be a professor at Brown University in none other than Rhode Island? What kind of comment is that? Calling your home state a toilet? And what does that make you?

Needless to say, I'm not too eager to read the rest of the book after that comment.