Spring Break - a glorious day at Carmel home

A week-long Spring Break. First two days I decided to go to work to finish two major projects: overhaul of the ITCD website, we decided to use a sophisticated content management system: Joomla. It is part of the Open System Lab’s mission to promote open system software. Moodle and Joomla are two major systems that are on our list. The other project is the fundraising for the new ITCD building. The state promised 36 millions dollars with 2.5 already received by CSUMB. We plan to raise anther 10 million or so to make the building a great place for learning, teaching, research, development and services. Several dedicated faculty members showed up on campus also. I am very impressed by the group of young professors that joined the team in the last couple of years. They are intelligent, dedicated. Each one has a distinct charisma. CSUMB and I are lucky to have them. When they came in to my office and chat, they were surprised that as a tenured, full professor, I am working so hard. Especially no faculty gets paid in spring break. I joked about that often times when someone is abused for so long, he just got used to it and felt uncomfortable not receive the ill treatment.

Today is the first day I enjoyed the spring break. I got my car to the garage for maintenance, came home and played a full hour of cello. I am preparing for a recital June 1 in which I will play Dvorak’s Humoresque, a piece that attracted to cello in the first place. I will also play a cello quartet with Wendy Geiger, the cello teacher, and one other student. It is both exciting and frustrating: this will be my first solo recital but the piece is rather difficult. After the practice session, I walked to Carmel downtown to have lunch, Katy’s place is always pleasant. I had the blackened chicken sandwich with country fries. It is pretty good, the price, $14.95, however, is a bit steep for a no-frill lunch in a casual restaurant. I enjoyed the walk and the meal a lot, even the seasonal allergy bothers me more than last years.

I stayed in my study in the afternoon without anyone bothering me. It is a peaceful and beautiful Camel afternoon. I always believe the California coast is probably the best place in the world. And Carmel is probably one of the best coastal towns. Toward the end of the afternoon, as I prepare to go to my cello class, I start to worry again about all the tasks that yet to be finished, the stock market, the election, the global warming, the clashes of civilizations… Need to work hard.

I am glad I got at least one day for my Spring Break, 2008