Earl Babbie PhotoJournal

                                        August 2009

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
						01
02	03	04	05	06 Flyin' West	07 ASA/SanFran	08 ASA/SanFran
09 ASA/SanFran	10 ASA/SanFran	11 ASA/SanFran	12 Marin County	13 Wine Country	14 Marin County	15 Flyin' Home
16	17	18	19	20 Murphy	21	22
23	24	25 New neighbor	26	27	28	29
30	31

August 06


    Today was travel day. We drove to Little Rock, parked in 2 East, and shuttled to  the
terminal.

    The flights from Little Rock to DFW and then on to San Francisco were flawless (we
didn't crash and burn).





    After taxiing into Baghdad by the Bay, we settled into the Hilton on O'Farrell.

    There was a Walgreen's just around the corner, and we stocked up with essentials.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw a small, friendly looking Thai restaurant. The
Dancing Prawn were friendly, but the other dish, translated as "Burn your mouth out
Round-eye Dog" or something like that . . . well, you get the picture.

    Went back to the hotel and nursed our tummies as best we could.


August 07

    Today, the ASA activities began. Actually, the convention really gets underway
tomorrow, but I had been asked to make a couple of presentations with a friend
and colleague, Tom Van Valey, on teaching ethics throughout the curriculum. All
told, we would make four such presentations, and today's were for a special workshop
for department chairs. Tom and I have been creating a website on this topic over
the past two and a half years, and we are just about done with it. You can visit it
here.

    Here's what the first round-table looked like.

       

That's Tom on my left.

    

And my other co-presenter on my right.

    We completed a successful first day with dinner at John's Grill with Tom.
(Didn't have to rest our tummies after.)



August 08

    I didn't have any ASA commitments today, so we decided to use the day for exploration.
We began with some thrift shopping. Then we visited Ghirardelli Square.





    We had a nice view of Alcatraz Island.



    Now the dilemma was: how to get back to the hotel? We found a solution just
around the corner.



    It was only about a half-hour wait for a ride on the fabled SF cable car.





    Okay, get a room. Wait, we have one.

    Before completing the day, we checked in at the Wadsworth (aka, Cengage)
booth.



    The young man on my right is Dan Moneypenny, with whom I been working
regularly on the fifth edition of The Basics of Social Research. It was great for us
to get together face-to-face instead of virtually.

    The new edition of Basics will surely be the best ever, and it will have a
surprise feature that I'll reveal next Spring when the book comes out.





August 09

    Today began with an email containing a San Francisco poem by my favorite
poet.


    The sad news of 2009, if you can discount the Birther wing-nuts and the
health-reform disruptors, is that Chris Caldeira, my acquisitions editor at
Wadsworth has resigned to return to pursuing her doctorate. Well, the last
part of that isn't bad news, but I will miss Chris.

    As it turns out, Chris was scheduled to make a presentation at 8:30 this
(Sunday) morning, with another friend, Joan Ferrante. Suze and I decided to
attend the session, joking that we might be the only audience at that day and
hour. No joking, as it turned out. Fortunately, both Joan and Chris have been
doing very interesting research, and we enjoyed their papers.

    A little later, we took Chris and her partner, Enily, to lunch. This was the
first time we had met Emily, and we fell in love with her right away.



                                    Emily                            Chris



                        me                                the poet

    I worked in the room during the afternoon, and Suze explored the neighborhood
a bit. We had dinner at an Irish pub, enjoying bangers and mash (Suze) and
cottage pie (me).


August 10

    Today was a very busy day. We began by having an early breakfast with Dean Dorn,
Executive Officer of the Pacific Sociological Association and a long-time friend.

    Soon after breakfast, we met with my former textbook assistant, Sandrine Zerbib,
now all growed up as a professor . . . with a husband . . . and a daughter.



                Tim                        me                    Sandrine



                                        Rivka

    Next, Tom and I did our third presentation on teaching ethics--this time to the
Honors Students. We were delighted by the enthusiasm and insights from these
bright young sociologists.

    Dinner took us to Green's restaurant at Fort Mason with Steve Rutter and Sherith
Pankratz. We spent much of the evening comparing life in Arkansas with the woods
of Maine. Both couples have found solitude in our "Golden Years." Well, Steve and
Sherith are maybe in their "Silver Years."



August 11

    We got an early start this morning, with an 8:30 a.m. presentation on, you guessed
it, teaching ethics throughout the curriculum. It was our fourth and final presentation.

    We had a great lunch with Jerry Westby, my editor at Pine Forge. Sure, we talked
about publishing, but politics came up, too. Remarkably different conversation from
when we had lunch a year ago.

    After lunch, we attended an international panel discussion on homelessness, chaired
by our friend, Dave Snow, who is also the incoming Vice President of ASA. Suze enjoyed
comparing notes with the researcher from Brazil--and Suze's experience at Jackson
House in Hot Springs.






    We observed the conclusion of the ASA convention with a secluded dinner at
Shanghai 1930 in the renewed Mission District.



(I didn't want to upset the ambience with a flash, which would have taken the picture in focus.)



August 12

    Cosmopolitan traveler that I am, I decided not to reserve a rental car before
arriving in San Francisco. Better to wait until we are on scene and clearer of our
schedule, I reasoned. Turns out there are virtually no rental cars in the Bay Area.
Been that way for five weeks, we were told. The concierge said she was able to
get someone a $50/day car for $180/day once.

    I felt lucky to get an Enterprise economy car for $120/day. There would be a
$125 drop-off fee if we returned it to the airport, but for only $45, we could drop
it with a hotel doorman (before Enterprise opened Saturday morning). From that
point on, everthing went perfectly.

    We picked up the car at 8:00 and headed north, stopping first at Sausalito,
where we grabbed some breakfast at a cafe that opened onto Bridgeway.



    As Suze said, it so relaxing and picturesque that we could have been in the
Greek Islands, Lake Cuomo, or somewhere exotic like that.

    From Sausalito, we headed up the road to Mount Tamalpais, in search of
Muir Woods. I'm sure I've visited there in the past--Suze never had--but it was
like being there for the first time all over again. My photos can't begin to do
justice to the majesty of the giant Redwoods, and I was struck by how quiet and
almost reverential all the visitors were.











    After leaving Muir Woods, we did a cook's tour of Mill Valley, including a
pass-by of my old digs at 91 LaVerne. Then we detoured across the 101 to
Tiburon, and I showed Suze where Mom and Morris lived for a time.

    Finally, we arrived at Embassy Suites in Terra Linda (technically, San Rafael)
to unpack, relax, and enjoy the manager's Happy Hour and a leisurely dinner.





August 13

    For the past couple of decades or so, my textbook revisions have been made
possible through a great partnership with Greg Hubit and his production company,
Bookworks, and copy-editor supreme, Molly Roth. In all that time, I had never met
either of them face-to-face, until today that is.

    We began with breakfast in Novato with Molly, at the Golden Egg, a local institution,
featuring too many omelets to count. We had three of them, as we got to know each
other better.



    From Novato, we began our trip through Wine Country. I had planned to start
us in Sonoma Valley, which is less hectic than Napa. Our first stop of the day was
at Chateau St. Jean.





    While touring the Sonoma Valley vineyards and wineries, we were also
timing our trip to bring us to Healdsburg at noon, for lunch with Greg Hubit,
who had driven up from his home in Petaluma. As with our breakfast earlier,
we enjoyed good food and good conversation.



    From now on, my emails with Greg and Molly will have an even richer feel.

    I had suggested Healdsburg, because that was the gateway to what I regard
as the Holy Land of wine: the Alexander Valley. Our first stop was Sausal, noted
for superb Zinfandel. Legend has it that when Baron von Rothschild first tasted
Zin, he exclaimed, "Zut alors! [I added that part] This will be the end of us!" As it
turned out Bordeau has survived, but so has it's rich and tasty cousin.

    At Sausal, I got directions to the Johnson Family Winery, which I remembered
fondly from earlier years when I lived in Marin. Sure enough, they are still hard
at work growing wonderful grapes and making great wines. I especially like them,
because they maintain what I imagine the early wineries were like.







    We let ourselves into the Tasting Room and were eventually joined by the
family matriarch (I think) who had been working on her books in the house
when we arrived. We sampled some great wines and talked about ways of
getting them into Arkansas.

    The Alexander Valley Winery was next, home of some more favorite Zins,
especially Sin Zin and Redemption, both of which are regularly available in
Arkansas wine shops.

    We completed our tour of the Holy Land with a stop at Fieldstone, which has
one of the more interesting tasting rooms.



    Entering the small door with the circular window, you wind your way in among
casks of wine piled high, and eventually find delightful, liquid refreshment.

    While I had originally planned to come back through Napa Valley, we were
both feeling complete. Moreover, I felt the commercialism of Napa would be a
hectic letdown for a magical day.

   

August 14

    Today was a day of rest. We did a little thrift shopping in San Rafael and
packed for our early departure tomorrow.


August 15

    Everything went flawlessly. We returned the car in San Francisco. The taxi
driver was from Ethiopia, and he was pleased to learn I had spent a week in
Addis in 2002.

    Both flights were on-time, comfortable, and only touched the ground when
they were supposed to (which I always regard as a plus in air travel).

    The Prius was just where we left it, and the drive home was uneventful.
Our house was where we had left it and seemed to wrap its arms around us
when we entered.



August 20

    Had lunch today with Debbie Murphy, who is running for a seat in the state
House of Representatives. Although we are not in her district, Suze provided her
with an opportunity to speak to the July Quarterly meeting of the Democratic
Club, since several of our members are in her district.

    Based on that first encounter, she asked us to join a small group at lunch to
talk campaign issues and strategy. You can learn more about her here.


August 25


    A few months ago, the house across the street and down on the corner became
occupied, but we had still not met our new neighbor. That changed tonight, while
we were watching TV in the early evening. I answered the doorbell to find an older
lady standing on our doorstep. She explained that she had locked herself out of her
house and that her oxygen tank was inside.

    We brought her into the house and began calling people who might be able to
help out. The two neighbors with keys to her house were both out. Her son, who
lives elsewhere in the Village, didn't answer, either. We finally reached another
Village friend, who said he would be right over. Even though he didn't have a key,
he said he would help get her into the house.

    With a couple of folding chairs in hand, we walked our new friend back to her
house and waited for her friend to come. I tried to pick the lock, to no avail.

    Her friend was more aggressive, saying he would break a window in the back
and get it fixed later. However, it turned out to be plexiglass and the rock kept
bouncing off with no effect.

    Eventually, we called a Village locksmith whose ad included the term, "lockouts."
He left right away. A few minutes later, however, we heard the phone ring inside
the house and, straining to hear the message being left, we concluded it was our
neighbor's son, returning her call. So I called him on my cell, and he arrived with a
key just minutes before the locksmith. (They had the locksmith disable the lock on
the storm door, so his trip wasn't a waste.)

    A few days later, Suze and I spent an afternoon with our new neighbor, and
we feel we defintely have a new friend. She is an artist and retired art teacher
whose home was ripped apart when a tornado hit the town of Meena, north of
us. She decided to move into the Village to be near her son. Suze may get some
mentoring in art, and I have already begun helping with our friend's new iMac.