Philosophy Weekend Away

The Philosophy Reading Weekend is a student event which is supposed to inspire great philsophical discussion while also presenting the students with the opportunity to bond with their peers. In reality, it's a great excuse to hang out and get excessively pissed in a really pretty place. While I was intrigued with the student presentations (there were 6 over the weekend), I really only wanted to go to hang out with my students and see what they were like outside of my cocoon which is the office.

Friday, I put in a fairly good performance - lots of booze and to bed at 2:30am (early by student standards) but Saturday I didn't fair as well. Woke up too early, hungover and hungry but rallied in order not to miss such a beautiful day. I went with Sonia (RCUK Fellow) and Mike (student) for a two hour walk, had lunch, then had a lovely horseback walk through the meadows. Lovely day but then had to go back to the hotel for 3 presentation (at an hour each) and by 10:30, after a coke and 2 redbulls, I still passed out because of the sleep deprevation. One thing about my students (other than they're absolutely lovely) is that they have got stamina for drinking and whooping it up like you wouldn't believe. i'd had to be on crack to keep up with them!

Anyway, this was my first solo drive in the UK and I managed neither to crash or get lost - a gret success!

My "philosophising" look.

Horseback riding near Aviemore. I was on Wizard.

Sonia and Mike

Me and Matt Linaker

Me and Chris Keane

Me and Ed Gregson

Me and Lottie Hanson (PostGrad student)

The Philosophy students.

April Showers

Video of what I woke up to last weekend! Makes yard work a bit more difficult...frozen fingers and all but the day actually ended fairly warm. The weird thing about Scottish weather id that it changes at the drop of of a hat but I suppose that's what I love about it.

Long Weekend in London

So David and I went down to London for the long Easter weekend so see Sophie and go to show. I love going down to London. Even though I love living in Stirling, I do sometimes miss the city...the hordes of people, the great shops and the fantastic food available on every corner - you'd be surprised how hard it is to find a great salad in Stirling! We were able to stay with Alison, David's sister, and her husband Nicky which is always a treat as they are absolutely lovely (like all of David's family) and their house is located in South Kensington which is not only perfectly located but is quite a posh neighborhood.

We didn't do too much sightseeing as Sophie now has ME and couldn't quite manage alot of touring around but we nevertheless had a great time...a couple of IMAX films at the Science Museum, lots of movies and went to see Wicked! Loved it!

Belize

Here are some pics from our trip to Belize. Although it looks spectular (and it was), it was blowing a howling gale, it was raining and it was cold! Although I was able to get out the old sundress, I had to wear it with a sweathsirt and legwarmers.

David managed to get certified which was a miracle because the swells were so big. And I've never in my life seen someone throw up so much. Who would have guessed that this strong, brute of man could have such a sensitive tummy?

After lugging all my dive gear around first to SF and then onto Belize, I was only able to get in a couple of dives but they were pretty amazing. The reef here is spectactular...corals like I've never seen. And sharks! Upon descending on my first dive, I looked down and saw half a dozen nurse sharks (harmless) circling below me. So cool...

Of course the weather got so much better right before we were leaving to come home!

First Christmas in Scotland

I love Christmas and I was so excited to celebrate my first Christmas here. One thing to note is that Scotland celebrates Christmas on a more conservative note than we do in the states. No garish light displays (well, there was this one house that managed to display about twenty years worth of Christmas lights and displays all out at the same time), really charming lights through the town centre, and mostly just Christmas trees in windows.

Sophie was here so we went to Edinburgh for the Christmas festival. Edinburgh is beautiful at Christmas time and we had a blast although it was about 26 degrees outside. It was so cold that the fog was crystallizing. It's a very strange feeling to have iced fog in your eyes.

Where in the world is Ian Gillies?

The Dun Ochil Dinner Dance at Gleneagles

David and I were kindly invited to join Ian and Susie Gillies and Farquhar MacLean and his wife, Judith, at their table at the Gleneagles Dinner Dance. What fun! My first formal gig in the UK. Really cool stuff...had a lovely champagne reception upon arrival and it's at this point where everyone checks out everybody elses attire. Then the bagpiper starts playing and we all process in to the dining room where we managed to have a nice meal (with choreographed food service, I kid you not!) with lots of wine followed by a lot of dancing and yet even more wine. For those of you who know me well, you know my style of dance isn't exactly subtle which garnered many interesting glances my way. Eventually the alcohol consumption really kicked in and everyone was dancing a bit more like me, arms all over the place with a lot of bouncing!

Douglas and his wife. Diggin' the tartan trousers!

Susie Gillies and Farquhar MacLean.

Jeff and Obi (Farquhar's son and daughter-in-law)

Judith, Farquhar, me and David.

So over the entire evening I was able to get a picture of everyone except the elusive Ian Gillies who seemed to be missing every time there was a photo op.

David the Hunter

David is all smiles in his plus fours as he had been invited to go on a shoot. Who would have thought I'd end up with a big ol' huntin' man?