Busy Week

This weekend my son and wife were sick, so there was less relaxation than maybe I would have liked to have seen.

This week, in addition to working on the dissertation (including reading Adam's thesis) and job search materials, there's the symposium. I will be chairing a session and giving a paper on Thursday. And then, that evening, I will be picking up one of the keynote speakers from the Indianapolis airport. On Friday, I have to be there by 7 am to set up a publisher's exhibit and then there is a full day of papers and a dinner following the program. On Saturday there is a whole day of papers again -- but this day I have no responsibilities -- and, hopefully, a party after the conference ends. The next day I hope to visit the Feast of the Hunter's Moon.

But before all that starts, tonight I am organizing a showing of the film Red River for my students.

Reading

Today's task -- make progress commenting on Adam's dissertation draft.

It's interesting to be reading this. I can see myself finishing my thesis up in the near future.

Also, today I revised my symposium conference paper. It's almost ready to go.

Weekend

It's nice to say that I didn't really accomplish anything (academic) this weekend. But it was the first weekend where we brought Marta to some stores.

Tomorrow: it's time to kick some a** on Adam's dissertation and get it back to him so he can try to finish it. Then it's on to getting my symposium paper ready to go.

Oh, good news this weekend. My paper was accepted, on Friday, for the world congress of applied linguistics.

Writing Text Is More Taxing Than Writing Code

Talked to Adam (yes, that's a pseudonym, folks) today, mostly about his dissertation writing. One interesting line he had toward the beginning is that he recently realized that he can't spend six hours a day writing. (By writing he included reading papers that he needs to refer to in the dissertation.) By contrast, he can spend as long as ten hours a day coding.

This all struck me as very interesting. What is there about writing text that, at least for Adam, is so much more exhausting than writing code? Both involve typing at a keyboard and putting marks on a computer screen. He uses the same machine for doing both. And he uses the same tools/programs for doing both activities. I don't think it's just the fact that he writes code more often than he writes text. I think there must be something qualitatively different in writing text. The thing I need to do is spend more time pondering this and theorize it in my dissertation as I revise the chapter that is about Adam.

The Interviews Just Keep Coming

I had a nice interview with H today. (Must ask him about a pseudonym soon!) He apparently had a very positive experience working for Sun this summer. He worked in the Mayhem group. Interesting name, don't you think. He described a rather interesting corporate culture that they have there.

Encouragement

I've been working hard to put all my stuff together for a tech writing job that I really want in California. I managed to squeeze in five minutes with Linda Bergmann to get her advice about my letter and application materials. She gave me detailed and focused answers --she also knew the person who place the ad -- and was very encouraging. It's always good to hear someone say, "I've always respected your work."

Goal for this week: chapter 2 done before Monday.

Evacuation

I might have been able to accomplish something today if it weren't for the fact that my son's preschool was evacuated. Apparently, there was a rental truck that was parked close by that was suspicious. As of now, the report is that it had stereo equipment in it and may, or may not, have been stolen.

I wrote a response to Paul's comment on the comment section, but there was an error somewhere along the line. So, here's a reconstruction:

Indeed, the Greeks of Homer's time did highly value honor and glory. At the same time, they also knew, in personal terms, what the consequences of war were. But, in the Iliad, Achilles questions whether honor and glory are really sufficient rewards for an early death. He is able to question the system, partly because his mother was a goddess and he has seen his fate and knows he will die young in battle once he starts fighting the Trojans. It is only after his close friend Patroclus is killed in his place (Patroclus even borrows Achilles armor to try and make the Trojans think Achilles, the best of the Greek warriors, has entered the war) that Achilles agrees to fight.

And this last point about Patroclus and Achilles brings up a rather contentious issue. What sort of relationship did the two have? Clearly they had a tender and personal relationship -- to the point where Patroclus sacrifices his life for his frieds. The question that has been asked is, was it a sexual relationship. As one might imagine, scholars are deeply divided on this issue. Perhaps the best book to start with if one wants to investigate the issue is Hubbard's.

Honor and Glory

All this Iliad stuff still going on. One student asked about the gods something along the following: If the gods influence actions that the humans do, then do the humans really deserve the honor and glory they get for killing in battle? Let me just say that:

1) understanding the gods and their relation to fate is less than facile.

2) this question does not have a simple straightforward answer.

Nothing

Ever have a day where nothing happened. Well that was today. At least with respect to the dissertation. Instead, today I learned a lot about the role of gods in the Iliad to prepare for class discussion, found out that Randy Roberts, the only person in the state of Indiana to write a book on John Wayne, won't be able to come to talk to my students about the actor, filled out some forms to schedule a showing of Red River and got my Quicken files to roughly resemble my bank statement.

One thing I did accomplish. I spent several hours at two different coffee shope -- is Einstein's a coffee shop?? -- while doing all these things.

As I said, nothing happened.

Back in the Saddle Again

Today, for the first time in about a year, I had a conversation with Adam (yes that's a pseudonym, in case you wondered). I enjoyed the time we spent and think that I got some good data to use in the chapter about him. He told me a good bit about his progress on his thesis and how he works.

So, yes boys and girls, I'm back. This dissertation will be defended in April.

Quote of the Day

OK. This one's not about the dissertation, at least directly, but it was a memorable line from the Iliad. I'm using the Iliad as one of the texts for my freshman comp class this fall for computer science students.

Consider the following:

There was no hint of fear in Diomedes response:

"You sissy, curly-haired pimp of a bowman!
Why don't you come down and fight me man to man
And see how far your bow and arrow get you?
Boasting because you scratched my foot!
I might as well have been hit by a woman
Or imbecile child. A weakling's weapon is blunt.
When I throw a spear it kills you on contact --
My throw makes it sharp -- and your widow's cheeks
Are torn with grief, your children are fatherless,
Your blood reddens the earth, and you rot,
With more birds than women around you."

Iliad book 11: 407-418 (Lombardo trans.)

Why not use that line next time someone pisses you off?

BTW, if you want to really make it through the Iliad, then pick up the Lombardo translation and use this study guide.