points of ROC interest

The Erie Canal.Not only an important part of history, and one entry in the "man" column of "man v. nature" tallies, but also the subject of some fun songs. The one I remember went (partly) "the EAR-EYE-EE canal." we sang it in music class at my grade school, mrs. jesus. i mean st. mary magdalene. anyway, we went running in a place called ellison park the other day with lola the doggie, and followed a path along the EAR-EYE-EE canal. lola the doggy swam in it quite a bit, though i think the water is about as filthy as it gets.

at any one moment, there are at least two mail trucks in our neighborhood. this is quite different than new orleans, where at any once moment you could expect to get mail within about two weeks. they must really love mail here.

conversely, they must really hate the internet. Nowhere is there wireless access. Well, it's somewhere I guess. But nowhere obvious, convenient or free.

the local news recently repeatedly used this teaser: "coming up, Rochester might get mentioned in a Hollywood movie!!" maybe there is overall low self-esteem here, such that it's really special and impressive to be acknowledged as existing--?

i had my first meeting on campus yesterday. i forgot how super cool the campus is: it's designed in the style called Brutalism. a gigantic metal abstract sculpture greets visitors. this is the opposite of whence i came, where the main campus structure is of the school mascot, for crying out loud. (and people think it is fun and/or interesting to pose on it as though they are riding it or experiencing an erotic event on it or something.) also, when i ran into some of my colleagues i was struck (again) at how thin and well-dressed they mostly seem. seems like my school year will at least be filled with aesthetic pleasure, which is very good news.