Robot Claw

We went to NYC for a few days to celebrate Kristins birthday. Once again we splurged for a room high above Bryant Park with a balcony.

It was cooler than we expected in the city and I probably wasn’t dressed for it, but we filled the first day with shopping at all our favourite spots.

We had fun, bought some interesting things and ate richly, as usual. Also as usual, we mostly ate at different times since we both prefer different things (and I eat freakishly early these days).

Here’s the view from the balcony at night:

On the second day we went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which we’d never visited before. It was very popular and bustling with people at the entrance, but it’s a large museum and didn’t seem packed inside.

That was the highlight. It’s (of course) Starry Night by Van Gogh, and neither of us knew it was there. In fact we were both so surprised to see it just hanging on a wall in the open we assumed it was a copy or something, but it is the actual painting which has been in the MoMA collection for over 80 years. It was genuinely moving to see, given the story behind it and how famous it is. Some believe it’s the most valuable painting in the world!

Of course MoMA has many other works, and we did our best to view all of them. I’ve been to modern art exhibits before and all I’ll say about much of what we saw is that the question of whether it was ‘art’ or not is perhaps more interesting (to me) than the pieces themselves.

Afterwards we did more shopping and eating and just soaking in the sights and character of the city. There was a parade as well, to celebrate Italian-Americans, and we watched the floats a bit as they went down 5th Avenue.

Although summer has passed and winter’s chill is starting to arrive, the city was still full of tourists. Times Square was busy as it always is and yesterday in particular shops and eateries were very full probably because it was a holiday (Columbus Day)?

Inside an empty shop we saw taller-than-man-sized reproductions of Star Wars PEZ dispensers being carved from styrofoam. Why and for what reason? We’ll probably never know…

Oh and it’s beginning to feel a bit like Christmas…

It was a very relaxing and fun few days, and while we exhausted ourselves filling each day with activities.

To cap things off we sprung for a large sized roomette on the train on the way home. It seated four and had its own shower (in a separate room to the left in the photo). It was more than twice the size (and cost!) of the roomette we usually use and was very comfy:

I asked Kristin if she had fun on her birthday trip and she said: “Yes, I ate bought and saw many wonderful things!” 🙂

It was the first day of classes today. This is now my 21st year of teaching. The cycle continues as it always has.

Dramatic weather this morning, although it warmed in the afternoon. I hated wearing jeans, but I’ve never taught in shorts. For years now I always wear the same ‘outfit’: black jeans, t-shirt and shoes.

Here’s the room in which I teach my morning class, which has about 70 students. They looked young, and were very quiet (as the current generation often is). Many sat half way or further back until I chided them, at which point half moved to the front. I expect next lecture many will have moved closer to the front.

Some things never change, such as people selling posters at the start of semester. I remember this being an occurrence even 33 years ago when I first started University. I flipped through the selection and saw many eternal topics (Bob Marley, Star Wars, Superheroes) as well as some much more recent ones (Harry Styles, Fortnite, Stranger Things). There were also many people I didn’t recognize. Streamers maybe?

Coincidentally enough, one of the posters was Australian and over 30 years old! Do kids these days buy posters of bands their parents were into?

My afternoon lecture is taught in a bigger lecture center, and has 175+ students. They were much rowdier than the morning class, probably because it wasn’t so early in the morning 🙂

Here’s my office. I spend many hours in here each week, mostly accompanied by students looking for help. It’s fun, but tiring, and makes the time – and days – speed by.

21 years! How much longer will I be doing this?