tragic (un)natural disasters

Okay squid followers, updates are going to be text-only and sporadic from now on, thanks to the Great Chamomile Tea - Macbook Disaster of 2009.

I'll be making regular trips to the library here at the university to check my email, but here's hoping to a better computer situation soon.

it's your requisite end of March update.

Ahoy there, Squidblog followers!

I've been typically reticent in my updates (if any of you have followed other blogs of mine, you know I refuse to update when there's nothing going on). Classes have supposedly started in force, but I have yet to see concrete evidence of these claims. Perhaps next week things will formalize.

Technically speaking, I took a long look at my Vista form (that's my unofficial transcript for you non-UVa folks), taught myself how to use SIS, the new class signup system, and emailed my advisor. I'm signing up for classes on April 6th, and things here look like I will repatriate in June with enough credits to stay on track to graduate in May 2010 (if not enough to make the Dean of Arts and Sciences happy, but haven't I talked myself out of a tight credit spot before?).

Anyway, that news aside, here's some of my pictures from our trip a couple weekends ago to Geneva, Switzerland. Here we go.


Looking down the promenade of beautiful Lake Geneva.


It's like a duck, except completely different.


The jet d'eau or jet of water, with a gorgeous rainbow.


This is a clock in a flowerbed.


The giant chess sets in the park.


A shot across the lake at night.


Requisite artsy shot of curving traffic light / onion dome building.


Inside the Protestant cathedral -- I don't know the name for these delicately carved pulpits, but I think they're gorgeous.

Days until Lynch Fam Unit arrives: 6
Days until B. arrives: 15

[this is something I do on my other blog that I kind of enjoy]
reading: The Two Towers // J.R.R. Tolkien
listening to: Glamorous // Fergie (today I am thankful for Youtube.)

Don't let the sun be the one to change you baby

It suddenly occurred to me that I haven't actually posted the Switzerland pictures from last weekend yet. I can't say I've been busy, but the days have a way of slipping by here. I'll try to get those up today.

For now, content yourself with a lovely view.


Days until Lynch Fam Unit arrives: 14
Days until B. arrives: 24

Week six of no classes, I think?

BREAKING NEWS:

A squid has class today! Three hours straight of it, to be precise.

Not sure if this is going to be really great or really torturous. I have all day to prepare myself mentally, at least.

This post was coming a long time ago, but sadly, life interrupted.

At the beginning of this week Mary, Mary and I returned from Italy, land of cheese and lots and lots of tourists. The vacation there was great, the traveling there was incredibly stressful, and all in all I think I've recovered enough to share some cool pictures.

Here's what we did:
Wednesday 18/02:
-Uffizi Museum, the highlights of which included Botteceli's Birth of Venus and the beautiful view of the Arno River from the building, which once housed the Medici offices.



-Boboli Gardens at the Palazzo Pitti, which were beautiful. We had very good weather for the entire trip.


-Trips into the open-air market and past the Duomo, stopping to view the Paradise Doors on the Baptistry.


Thursday 19/02:
-Accademia Museum to see Michaelangelo's David (enormous!) and similarly famous art.
-San Lorenzo cathedral
-Santa Maria Novella cathedral
-Climb of the Duomo (up to the top of the dome for a lovely panorama of Florence), and views of the Duomo interior at various heights.



Oh look there I am! Thanks to Doc for taking this photo.

Friday 20/02:
-Day trip to Siena, where we climbed the Torre del Mangia for amazing views of the Tuscan countryside




-Visited the Civic Museum, where I got excessively excited about the Allegory of Good and Bad Government
-Went to the beautiful, striped marble Duomo, possibly my favorite church of all.



Saturday 21/02:
-Visit to the Museo de San Marco, which was pretty cool, and then a return trip to the Palazzo Pitti to see the Argenti and the Costume museums, which were actually not that exciting.

This is for you, snail pony!

-Last minute church visits: Santa Croce and San Spirito. We were pretty churched out by the end of this trip.




Sunday 22/02:
-Part one of our homecoming adventure, mostly just traveling but we spent some of the afternoon in Pisa. Hooray for leaning towers!


And finally, I love this picture, but after so long I have to admit I have absolutely no idea what it actually is.