The East is Red

What to say today - ate pizza with my good friend, K. Max Grinnell, author of the noted book Hyde Park, Illinois. Since it was at Gino's I can now say that I only have four restaurants on State Street that I haven't eaten at yet. One is Subway, but I'm not gonna worry about getting to that one. Another is Potbelly's which is a chain. Himalchuli is the one with the most priority, as it is supposedly one of the best Nepali restaurants in the USA. And the final is the Orpheum, which is supposed to be pretty good as well.
I finished the body of the thesis this morning, which is a pretty important step in things - all I have yet to do is the appendix on methods, and I've a complete first draft! So that feels good. I'm sure it won't feel too good when my advisor and committee rip it apart, but progress is being made. And the defense is only three weeks away.
RD Sack spoke about the how time influences place, and it is agreed that the question of when is a place is just as important as where is a place. And I've begun reading Yi Fu Tuan's book Cosmos and Hearth. Dr. Wong has had some back problems this week, so tuesday's class was cancelled. Hopefully, she'll be better soon.
As the Thesis will likely be demanding less of my time and other things are being settled, am beginning to think more about the move to Asia, the Far Side of the World. Had a really nice chat with Dan Doeppers the other day, who is an emeritus faculty in our department and an expert on the historical geography of the Phillipine islands. He pointed out something that I had never considered before - since I'm working for a Jesuit university, and since the Karen, one of the more prominent refugee groups from Burma in Thailand, are mostly Christian (mostly baptist, but some Catholics,) I may be on to some great contacts for future research already. This is an invigorating find indeed. Progress is on the way!