Sunday, January 21, 2007

diszpatch from palo alto

Unique Hazards
(Eszter and me smiling in the face of unique danger!)

Working with Eszter in her research cabana at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences near the Stanford campus. We're rocking out to the Tiffany cover of "I Think We're Alone Now," just after rocking out to the second-greatest-karaoke song ever, Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer."

While I've been here, I've been staying at the Stanford Guest House, which is located on the grounds of the Stanford Linear Acceleration Center, home of the world's first cyclotron and who-knows-what-physics-and-possibly-weapons-of-mass-destruction magic nowadays. When you enter, you have to show identification to a security guard, and immediately after there is a sign warning that: "Unique Hazards May Exist." I love the idea of staying at a site where they get to simultaneously warn you and let you know you are on grounds so special you could be subjected to special dangers unavailable anywhere else on the planet.

I'm taking the red eye back to Cambridge tonight, where I've got two full days of writing crunch time in front of me. I have a feeling the quality of those days will rest much on how well I sleep on the plane. Wish me slumberluck.

Update: Fabio correctly points out in the comments that SLAC is not the home of the world's first cyclotron. It is, however, home of the world's first web server, which has certainly proven a unique hazard in my own life.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Slumberluck.

jeremy said...

JR: Thanks. I slept all right, due perhaps to your well wishes.

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't caption read "Ezster and me..."? Not sure...

Anonymous said...

you are an alumnus

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:16am, it certainly should not read "Ezster" as that's not my name.

Anon 1:12pm, I think "alum" works as well, that's gender neutral. But you're right that "alumni" is not singular no matter.

As for the picture, for the record, it was not taken at CASBS. I realize that's clear if you read the post, but I just wanted to clarify. Keep checking JFW for some CASBS goodness.

Oh, and note Jeremy's T-shirt for some additional SLAC material.

jeremy said...

Fabio: Right you are! Thanks for the correction.

Yes, it should be "me" not "I". I've corrected that as well.

Anonymous said...

sorry -- i meant "Eszter and me..."

--anon 11:16

Anonymous said...

actually, SLAC is in Menlo Park.