Man of Leisure

A daily update

I apologize to my occasional readers! I have been remiss in updating this site, because I have moved my daily attentions over to my Tumblelog at http://khiddy.tumblr.com. Tumblr provides a really simple interface to post interesting links, pictures, and short thoughts, and it's optimized for the iPhone. I've found myself posting 4 or 5 things a day, because it's so easy to do!

I haven't thought yet about where I would post longer ramblings like I've provided in past here, since I prefer the keywords and archive format of Typepad (the host of this present site). But at least now you know what the story is!

Te Deum Laudamus

Happy New Year!

I must say, 2007 ranks up there as one of the best years of my life. Getting married (to my beautiful and lovely wife Julie, as she would have me mention), switching from residence life to alumni relations, traveling (Italy, Austria, Los Angeles and Boise, among other delightful places!), praying with newly-ordained brothers, all the while surrounded by family and friends. A banner year, methinks.

I am finishing the last touches on my MA project. Look for a post about that in the coming weeks.

Peace to all who read this blog!

In CASE You Wondered

I'm in Baltimore at the CASE Young Alumni and Student Programs conference this week. The first day of sessions were quite enlightening, and I am looking forward to learning about new ideas for young alumni programs in three different sessions tomorrow.

Today I was honored with the "nugget of the day" award by one of the conference faculty for sharing my conviction that all alumni staff and faculty at an institution ought to have their grad year(s) listed on their nameplates and business cards as standard practice. I think this promotes trust in the value of the institution's degrees, as well as shows the legacy that grows in the scholarly community that is a university.

"Irrational Exuberance" redux

I'm not saying this just to hate on algore, but I'm afraid that the announcement that the former Veep is sharing the Nobel Peace Prize will bury an important story from yesterday: a UK judge declared An Inconvenient Truth to be a politically-motivated film, thus precluding its being shown in schools without balanced disclaimers.

Also hidden in the Peace Prize news was one other self-evident award: the Nobel Prize for Sycophancy, awarded to... the Nobel Prize Committee.

Wedding Photos: Finally!

To reward the patient, I have posted a few of the wedding photos to Flickr. There are more, but I need to get them from Julie's computer, so it will take a few days.

I was in LA over the weekend, hosting an alumni gathering prior to the UCLA/UP Women's Soccer match on Friday. The party was great: 55 people showed up to enjoy snacks, beverages, and free UP swag. Unfortunately, the exciting game ended in a loss for the Pilot women, 2-1. I did get to see several former champion players, including Lindsey Huie '06 and Erin Misaki '03, as well as have lunch with Allison McGillivray '07, who also gave me a tour of the LA Catholic Worker facility where she is a volunteer. Good times.

A First iPost

After much discussion and wearing-down, I got an iPhone this week. There are a host of reasons why I wasn't going to get one when they came out, but the biggest reason evaporated when the price dropped to $299 for the 4GB phone.

So far, I am stunned by how beautiful it is. The scrolling is quick and intoxicating. When on wi-fi, youtube videos look crisp and almost better than watching them on a hi-def TV. (They're much grainier when downloaded on the at&t EDGE network.)

Sent from my iPhone

A Neologism to Remember

flavor hedonics - the study of gustatory pleasure (discovered in a delightful article on wine-tasting in Slate Magazine)