Upstate Badgerland

I was invited to a memorial day weekend party at the house of one of the English department faculty at the new College. Good time. Lots of good food, two cute dogs, several interesting small children and a lot of future colleagues whose names I can't yet keep straight. It's a little odd to be the junior colleague, but it's also good to be around these people and to be able to loosen up and be me for the first time. Both of these circumstances combined to make it an evening of jovial cracks about the new professor's age gap. "Phish are going to stop touring, I hear. James, do you need to take a moment to grieve?" That sort of thing. But it was fun, and I feel very welcome. I also feel like I'm going to be the town single 30-something guy for a while. Things could be worse, I guess.

Here's a photo I took yesterday of my apartment building. It doesn't look like much but the three windows there are huge from the inside. It'll be great come July.