santa cruz to san francisco

santa cruz was awesome. mom's busy doing her thing with WILPF and busy being baba. since i quit smoking cigarettes, visits home have been much more fun and relaxing. plus: the pacific ocean.

palo alto was great. my sister nancy, brother in law jeff, and nephews aleks and ben. aleks dressed up and performed as the happy witch and kept the dress-cape on as we cruised downtown palo alto. after lunch, we saw nectarine group -- righteous office space.

san francisco was tremendous. the department is supportive, engaged, and extremely interesting. i gave a research talk, taught a journalism class (which was a blast), had a tour of campus, and met a lot of great people.