Taking over England (or wherever): The Weekend and London Edition

So we made our first official venture down to the big L today.  I have a few notes and a plethora of pictures.  The title of the post is a bit misleading…as my first note will be about Saturday in Cambridge…

The Humanitarian Centre Event: Global Poverty and ICTs (October 26th at Churchill College)

As hinted at previously, Michelle and I attended the Global Povery and ICTs event hosted by The Humanitarian Centre at beautiful Churchill College earlier this week.  Importantly, this continued my streak of attending only technology-related seminars (well…almost).

Odds and Ends (or Bangers and Mash, if you prefer)

Overall, not too much excitement this week so far...but a few quick notes...

-  Michelle and I did attend an ICT for Development event hosted by the Humanitarian Centre last night.  Pretty solid event overall.  I may or may not post a briefing later on depending on how motivated I feel.  There were 6 quickfire presentations (4 minutes each) from Cambridge NGO's that utilize connective technologies in their work.  Can't really learn too much in 4 minutes, but most of them were pretty well done.  However, my theory on presentations holds...if you have at least 5 presenters at an event...you will have at least one complete train wreck.  We definitely had our train wreck...but no fears, I'm sure it was hailed as brilliant!

-  Somewhat alarmingly, at least 2 of my program classmates have had significant bike accidents so far.  Not sure how many bike riders there are in the group, but that's an absolute minimum of 2 accidents out of 70 people in a 3 week span.  Not crazy about those odds.

-  You know what's almost as awesome as texting while biking...smoking while biking.

Taking over England (or wherever): The Canterbury and Cambridge-American Cemetery Edition

So the weekend is coming to an end in beautiful and sunny England, but we certainly kicked things up a few notches and really got some stuff done.  Saturday Michelle and I made our first foray onto the UK trains and made our way all the way down to Canterbury.  Not wanting to rest on our laurels, today we biked out to the American Cemetery, which is a few miles down the road from our place heading out of Cambridge.  I'm sure you are anxiously anticipating the photographic evidence and I will provide plenty after the jump...and of course the full album can be found on Picassa.

CRASSH: Cyberdissidence in the Middle East

Had the pleasure of attending another CRASSH (Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) event this evening.  After last week’s conference stoked my interest in the value (or not) of new media in activism, I was pretty psyched for another dose of ‘brilliant’ presentations and meandering audience questions and comments.  I was not disappointed.

Taking over England (or wherever): The Churchill Matriculation Dinner Edition

So, our big night finally came...the much anticipated matriculation dinner for MCR students (MCR = Middle Common Room = the room(s) where grad students can hang out = the term they generally use in lieu of 'graduate').  Some quick highlights (please keep in mind that I'm blogging this without a safety net, i.e., I'm not typing into Word first...and I'm pretty much sloshed...more on that later...so I apologize in advance for any mistakes)...

Odds and Ends (or Fish and Chips, if you prefer)

-  Had my first discussion class today for Development Economics with the venerable Professor Ha-Joon Chang (author of Kicking Away the Ladder and Bad Samaritans…among other books).  It was a good time.  

-  Michelle was doing some online grocery shopping today and noticed that “English muffins” are called (simply) “muffins” over here.  It was a bit alarming how much this pleased both of us.

-  Went to a society kickoff event for the Cambridge University International Development Club last night.  I was expecting a complete train wreck once I noticed that the organizers were mostly 19-year-olds wearing matching sweatshirts.  That the event started about 25 minutes late was another good omen.  Sadly, everything went boringly well.  The guest speaker was a bit of a drag, but even the promotional video that the undergrad team put together wasn’t as corny as I had hoped.  Oh well...I guess that’s what you get sometimes at a good university…competence.  The after party did have live music though, which was…interesting.  The band played an acoustic version of Poker Face…which obviously made up for all my pent-up disappointment and turned my evening around in a big way.

-  Matriculation dinner at the college tomorrow…so we get to dust off the old formal wear.  I’ve heard these are generally quite good, but I’m a little bummed that ours falls on the same night as Ha-Joon Chang’s book signing event at Heffers (yep…one of the bookstore chains here is called Heffers).  Needless to say, it was a very difficult choice on which to attend.

-  Found out today that one of my classmates is co-starring in a university presentation of the hit musical Rent at the local theatre in November.  My first reaction…I am such a lay about. 

The Weekend Wrap-Up Edition

I’ve been battling a cold all weekend, which has really limited my productivity and sadly prevented our semi-planned trip to London today, but that doesn’t mean the weekend didn’t have any highlights.

-  Even though I wasn’t feeling so great Saturday morning…I managed to get up early and head down to the end of the CRASSH conference.  I’m sure you’ve all read my stirring review by now.  After that, I made my way over to the university tennis club because there was an introductory “social tennis” event.  The journey over was interesting as the weather alternated from sunny to downpour. I almost turned back, because I figured the courts would be too wet if nothing else.  How wrong I was.  Turns out that they don’t stop playing for rain over here…which I guess makes sense when you think about it.  The court surface is rather bizarre.  It’s called an “artificial grass court,” but is basically a very porous hard court.  Hence, the surface is rather soft, doesn’t puddle, but seems to always be rather slick (so, I guess the artificial grass description is pretty apt after all). 

Anyway, you can probably guess what my general attitude toward “social tennis” (or “social” sports in general) might be…in short, I think it’s an oxymoron.  I avoided such events like the plague back home.  However, I figured this was my only possible avenue into the tennis scene over here.  Turns out I was pleasantly surprised by the level of play.  Some of the girls there were quite good (better than most of the guys) and I could at least have some good rallies.  I was the best player there, obviously, but it wasn’t a waste of time.  We played for the better part of a couple hours (including a fun period when a squall came through with cold rain blowing sideways). 

Also had the pleasure of playing with some highly misogynistic guy against two young ladies in a doubles match.  He punctuated nearly every point with some variation of, “if you were a man…I would have done (x, y, or z).”  Just to clarify, these comments were directed at our opponents not me, I think.  I could only sit back and think what would happen to him if he made such comments to my mixed doubles partners back home…would not have been pretty.  However, he wasn’t afraid to slam easy sitters directly at the girls’ chests…so all in all he was a real contradiction.  Another interesting note, while we were taking a brief break from the Nor’easter that was sweeping through, I tried to ask this guy when they used the grass courts (which were located right next to the faux-grass courts…but didn’t have nets up or lines drawn).  I asked twice actually…but he never seemed to understand what I was asking...think he might have said something about how he hoped women weren't allowed to play on them...not sure.  Interesting fellow.

When we finished, the guy that organizes the social tennis club said I needed to stick around and have a hit with the “Thirds” (i.e. the University Third Level Men’s Team) to see about joining them…because I was so awesome, I guess.  To make a medium length story a little bit shorter, I dismantled one of the members of the Thirds in an impromptu try-out…embarrassing him 5 points to zero in a mini-tiebreaker that included two aces and culminated with a big-time knockdown on the last point.  The captain welcomed me aboard without hesitation.  Now, I have no idea what this means…but I figure I can put University Tennis on my resume as an extracurricular activity whether I ever play with them again or not.

-  Weird day in college football yesterday, I noticed.  Annoyed that UCF lost the two games they should have won as they very well could be undefeated and surging towards the BCS mix.  Yes, I realize this is UCiF at its finest…but I don’t care.

- I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.

CRASSH Conference: New Media and Alternative Politics in the Middle East and Africa

As I mentioned previously, I had the opportunity to attend the conference hosted by CRASSH at Cambridge this week, which explored the growing role of new media and its uses in alternative politics.  Just a note, CRASSH is but one organization that makes up the alphabet soup of organizations at Cambridge and this particular acronym stands for Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (just noticed that they don’t use the serial comma in their organization name…which, while apparently a strong trend in written English language, never ceases to anger me…also, I’m thinking of giving the old blog an acronym to fit in better with my new surroundings…I’m thinking of KJAB or EOA or KJAB:EOA…yes, I know, I crammed a lot of stuff inside these parentheses). 

Odds and Ends (or Tea and Crumpets, if you prefer)

-  I’ve been kind of busy the last few days and will be through Saturday…hence the dearth of posts.  It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what I’ve been busy doing…but I really do feel as if I’ve been busy.

-  On that note, I’m attending a conference on “New Media/Alternative Politics: Communication technologies and political change in the Middle East and Africa” that started tonight and runs through Saturday morning.  It’s being held right next door to my departmental building, so it’s not as glamorous as it sounds.  Scratch that…I just realized it didn’t sound very glamorous in the first place.  I plan on putting together a post about some of the issues raised at the conference…I know you will all be anxiously awaiting that.

-  Got an email today with an intriguing part-time employment opportunity for me and/or Michelle.  The Churchill Head Porter sent a mass email saying that they were in need of some invigilators for weekend shifts at the Science and Technology exhibit at Churchill.  The pay is only 6 pounds per hour, but on the plus side you get to tell everyone that you’re an invigilator!  How awesome is that?  Sounds like some kick-arse job straight out of the Middle Ages.  Because I had no idea what an invigilator was…I had to turn to Google.  Disappointingly, an invigilator is one that supervises examinations to prevent cheating.  This is not only disappointing, but highly confusing.  This is like a museum exhibit we’re talking about…so my thought was that they meant curator.  Maybe they just pulled invigilator out of the air to add some pizzazz and draw attention.  If so, it apparently was good marketing strategy…

-  Congrats to UCF for another dominating win last night!!  It's really weird not watching games...and even more weird how quickly I've gotten used to not watching games.  A little bit sad as well...is nothing sacred anymore?

Taking over England (or wherever): Photo Blog 6 – The Chartwell Edition

On Sunday, we finally managed to venture outside our township and check out one of the British sights, with the help of my college.  In fact, our greeter at Chartwell (Sir Winston Churchill's home) informed us that Chartwell was the best historical sight operated by the National Trusts.  So, there you go.

The This is Really Easy Edition

So, remember how a few days ago I had some trepidations about cycling around town and what not.  Well, after a mere few days…it turns out that I’m quite good at biking.  In fact, some might be tempted to compare me to a cross between Lance Armstrong in his prime and Alberto Contador, minus the performance enhancing drugs, of course.  I might not go that far myself, but I’m beginning to zip around with mediocre of them.  The fact that I get passed up by girls is beside the point…I routinely dominate those in the 65+ age bracket.

I think the light bulb moment for me was the realization that when you’re on a bike, you have to pretend that you’re driving a car.  In other words, you have to put yourself in the same positions that you would if you were driving and trust the vehicular operators to respect your space.  This does require a great deal of trust, but so does driving when you really think about it.  Second, when all else fails…it’s important to remember that when it comes to biking (at least in Cambridge) there are no rules.  While you are ostensibly supposed to stick to roads (not sidewalks) and obey traffic signals…people’s adherence to these norms is quite ephemeral.   When push comes to shove…bikers pretty much go wherever they like, whenever they like.  I did hear one old school codger shout down a fellow biker today for running a traffic light…but I think he was an exception (and mainly just annoying since he was getting up in other people’s business…one of my pet peeves).  For the most part though, it is pretty much a kill or be killed culture, in a metaphorical sense.

The biking culture is certainly an interesting aspect of Cambridge that one must adjust to.  Another is the required student parlance.  For example, most interactions with fellow students…especially directly after classes…invariably involve the question, “how did you find the lecture?”  First off, it’s important to note that he or she is not asking you by which route you managed to arrive at the lecture, but what you thought about the content.  Second, I’ve found from careful observation that the proper response takes two general manifestations.  If you liked the lecture, then you should give a slight sniff, tilt your head slightly askew with the chin up, let your eyes glance up into the great beyond, and say something like, “I found it…quite enlightening.  It really made me question…the very essence of my humanity.”  If you’re on the receiving end of such a pronouncement, the proper response is a slight squinting of the eyes, a purposeful nod of the head, and a simple, “Yes, I agree.”  On the other hand, if you didn’t care for the lecture, you should shake your head grimly and say something like, “It was a bit descriptive for my taste…and I didn’t feel as if there was enough room for theoretical exploration.”  The proper response for such a pronouncement, in my opinion now, is to snicker and walk away.

I’m by no means saying that people here are pretentious or anything…I think it’s just part of the unwritten code.  And as I’m sure you all know…I don’t mind taking a bit of poetic license with my renderings.  It’s actually all quite fun really.  For example, I felt quite cosmopolitan today sitting in the little café in my departmental building, sipping a café mocha (from an actual glass mug), and reading The World is Flat.  I’ve never been any place where I didn’t feel the need to stifle interest in an academic subject or intellectual pursuit to fit in.  Here it is definitely the opposite.  I’m sure that’s the way it is at any supposedly high level institution, but the British formality adds a little extra je ne sais quoi.

One last note, to go along with my bike riding, I invested in a backpack to make commuting easier.  The best part…it’s made by Konvict Clothing.  Yes, I know what you're thinking...I am that with it.  Once I saw the label, there was no doubt which backpack was coming home with me.

 Stay tuned for the photo blog of our trip to Chartwell (Winston Churchill’s home place) on Sunday coming up soon…

Taking over England (or wherever): Giant Photo Blog 5 – The Cambridge Tour Edition

So, because I can't sleep and I know this is the photo blog you've all been waiting for...I present to you the Cambridge Tour Edition.  (We took a brief, 2-hour, walking tour of the city centre and some of the colleges as part of our Freshers' week festivities today).  You can find all the pictures on Picassa.

The Oh My God This is Insane Edition...and Other Observations

-  You know what I found to be a really awesome idea?  Riding our new bikes home after dark from the bike shop.  Jolly good fun, that!

Allow me to set the stage...Michelle and I finished eating at our traditional Thai place (with the quirky Thai waitress who we still can't really understand, is pleasantly neurotic, and asks me all the questions because she knows what's up) as dusk was settling in over beautiful Cambridge.  After our waitress finished rearranging the dishes on our table, we walked several blocks back to where our new bikes were parked in the mall bike garage. 

After we got everything unchained and our lights affixed...we made our way out onto the street.  Now, the streets in the city centre are quite narrow (more like pedestrian paths) and don't have many cars, especially at night...but the few cars do tend to drive at breakneck speed.  So car wise we were pretty much ok...however, I failed to properly account for the fence on the left side of the road as I launched myself out of the parking lot in a grand display of cycling acumen.  The good news is...I drove on the correct side of the road.  The bad news is...I pretty much missed the road entirely.  Turns out that riding a bike isn't "just like riding a bike" after all.  14 years of bike-free living does create a bit of rust...especially with turning.  Fortunately there were only 6 or 8 pedestrians that saw my little adventure with the side railing.  I played it off pretty well though...pretending like I just failed to pull off a new and daring bike trick (or something)...if I ever see the onlookers again...I won't make eye contact.

As an aside, I was quite appalled that I could be so bad at such a simple athletic task.  I mean, there are a bunch of uncoordinated nerds around here...a bunch.  And they all seem to manage to zip around on their bikes like it's nothing at all.  I don't allow myself to be subpar at athletic activities...so there will be serious practice sessions this weekend.  Otherwise, the bike will stay safely locked to the rack outside.

Anyway, after the inauspicious start...things marginally improved.  We (by that I mean I...Michelle seemed to have no problem) made it home in one piece.  I still had significant trouble keeping the vehicle going dead straight when close to the curb and being passed by cars, but I managed with little incident.  The main problem is that I can't signal for turns (lose my balance) and I can't turn efficiently (I think I was over-analyzing it...I was trying to decide if I needed to shift my body weight as well as turn the wheel or just let it happen).  Other than that I'm good.  Unfortunately our route isn't a straight line.  Hence, I was terrified for the entire 8 minute ride (or hour ride...it's all a blur really) that I would either careen into a pedestrian, the curb or another fixed object.  However, as I said, we did make it home safely, where I promptly fell asleep for several hours...out of sheer terror no doubt.

-  The Cambride equivalent to texting while driving is apparently texting while biking.  I've seen it several times and it somehow seems even more dangerous.  I can just picture someone riding straight into a poll or sliding into a group of Japanese tourists (the good news is the latter would be chronicled on film).  Oh wait...that was my ride home.

-  First two days of lecture went quite well.  Pretty interesting stuff.  A lot of information, so it's hard to take everything in and the 2-hour lectures are too long as I lose my focus and start thinking about my awesomeness (or whatever) sometime during hour 2.  I also met some more classmates and got scooped up for lunch dates both days.  I've decided that this is all very nice...but I'll try to limit it somewhat in the future.  When it comes to school...I tend to revert to the high school mentality that who you hang out with is important for some reason.  Worrying about socializing with different people (which doesn't come naturally) tends to get in the way of why I'm really there...to study and learn.  My goal is to play it more cool this time, chart my own course, and let others follow me if they are so inclined.

-  This weekend we have some college matriculation activities and a field trip to Winston Churhill's home just south of London.  Should be smashing.