Ready, Set...

This is the peaceful part. The easy, end of summer, laissez faire bit where you get to cruise. Blue skies, puffy clouds, easy living, getting acquainted with the neighborhood, whatnot. But only just for a spell. Pretty soon all hell breaks loose, as usual. In my case, it'll be lectures and deliverables. The lectures, not so bad. These deliverables are serious socks. First up is a comparative review of Network Analysis from two points of view, that of computer science and that of sociology. I'm tearing in right now -- wish me luck.

First Steps

The summer of 2008 in southern England this year has been, by all accounts, a washout. Endless miserable rainy, gray, windswept days and nights with scarce silver linings. Now in mid-autumn the cycle appears to have broken. Since arriving in England I have not witnessed rainy or windy conditions, nor anything more intemperate than one or two cloudy skies. Mornings have been generally bright, cool, and crisp; afternoons warm, sunny, and pleasant. It's really been a treat, as I'm unaccustomed to any stretch of continuous cheerful weather in these climes.

I've taken a small room with a tiny office in a shared house on the waterfront in Soton, so I'm situated in that respect. Had a brief meeting with my sponsor, Wendy, the same afternoon, wherein we discussed supervisors, advisors, communication, and first steps. I allowed an interest in Manuel Castells writings and apprised her of a lecture Dr. Castells is due to deliver at OII in Oxford in late October. After some consideration, we agreed I'll read his "Internet Galaxy" and write a review for our next meeting on 29/9.

So here we are on 21/9 and of course that means it's EVAN'S BIRTHDAY!!! And now he's a TEEN!!! Yikes! Happy birthday to you, my beautiful boy!!

Fast Forward

Right. So it's been quite a spell since I've written and this here's my update.

Summer has come and gone, the way it will, and our collective wheel has turned. We made the brutal move off the island I love so well, and have created our temporal separate paths. Jena and Evan have taken residence at our Tukwila condo, proximate to Evan's new school, Seattle Christian Schools. I have made my way across the pond to Southampton, where I'm to take lodging tomorrow in Priory Road, St. Denys, Southampton, Hants, UK.

All good so far.

I've lately spent a day and a half getting acquainted with some of the putative practitioners or perhaps just teachers of web science at a curriculum-setting meeting at Uni Soton. It was a good session, good to make some new acquaintances, and good to hear the discussions of what taught elements might necessarily fit the rubric of web science.

Now it's a lovely day here and I'm guessing I'd best leave this writing for a bit later and go enjoy before it fades away.