My job part the umpteenth

For those of you who have followed or listened to me bemoan the Middle East Center and its politics here at the University of Utah. Or for those of you who can imagine the administrative fall out pending something of this magnitude, check out the latest:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51222181-76/baktiari-piece-tribune-region.html.csp

Cuz I know you all love them

Another email from my colleague with a stellar example of undergraduate writing:

"Westernizers were very pro west people. They considered Russian to be backward and wanted Russian to be Europeanalized. That the only way Russia will ever united was through the imitations and ideals."

And yes, he is a native speaker of English.

trying to get caught up

Lots has been happening. I spent two full days in Portland reviewing a department at Portland State. My first trip there and I was so impressed. The city is a real city and it is gorgeous. And the food.... Every meal I had there was beyond delicious. Here was my first working lunch. The salad was perfectly dressed, and the quiche...simply perfect pastry. Yum.

Catherine flew in on Tuesday evening and we flew on up to Vancouver for our college tour. The plane was late and we were exhausted. The car rental guys talked us into "upgrading" - how could we resist. Boy how I wish we had. The car is a behemoth. For those of you who know your cars... it is a Lincoln Navigator. Totally enormous, but what pushes it over the edge is the ski rack on top. Checked into the hotel and realized part way into the underground garage that we were "oversize"... Managed to park and then saw that I had ripped part of the ski rack off... Today when we got to UBC for our tour, I headed towards the recommended garage and then, YIKES - we won't fit here either. So I had to back out which of course was mortifying for Catherine. I have used super glue and duct tape on the ski rack and am hoping I can slip it back to the rental people without them noticing.

Here is the beast - up at a local ski report which we had to nip up to and check out.

A really sweet local resort that I can picture Catherine boarding at.

More importantly though. We both loved UBC. Here are a couple of pictures from the campus.

This is what they call the "million dollar view".

One of the first year dorms:

One of the many libraries: