Today I had my final dentist session in the morning, taught my GRE class, took care of some administrative work, and later I'm going to do some reading.
My class went well. My lately improved sleeping and dietary habits are allowing me to be more effective in all aspects of my life, including my teaching. In fact, I finished a typically difficult and time-consuming lesson with time to spare, and everything got covered thoroughly.
I'd recommend watching the following video: http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/304/ . It's a speech by Al Gore about shifting our energy use away from carbon based fuels completely in 10 years, why it's feasible, and why it'll help many of our current economic, environmental, and national security problems. Much of it is already floating around in the pool of contemporary knowledge about such things, but I thought it was a powerful and motivating speech nonetheless. It's especially apropos Derek's admirable new consumer ethic.
Earlier today I was reminded of the joys of biking in the city, specifically in Center City Philadelphia. I'm not being sarcastic--I really enjoy it. It's such a rush to thread between rows of cars in a canyon of gleaming skyscrapers and stately old buildings, moving nimbly through dense traffic and crowds of people, and swinging widely around turns wrapping wide avenues, fountains, and monuments. It was glorious, and I look forward to my future rides.
The reason for my ride is that my GRE class is held at Temple, so if I need to stop at the Kaplan center before hand, which I needed to do today, I ride down Locust, around Rittenhouse, north on 16th, stop at the center, continue on 16th to Race, east on Race to Broad, and then north on Broad to Temple. Doing this I finally got a good look at the Divine Lorraine, which is a beautiful building.
I'm reading an essay by Frederick Law Olmstead, and I might finish it tonight.
Tomorrow I have some administrative tasks to complete, but mainly I will be working on my academic preparations for school.