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Sep. 17th, 2006 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meanfreepathI'm writing this from the G1 lounge (well, what will be the G1 lounge once the offices for the postdocs currently occupying the G1 offices are ready upstairs) since my computer is still in the shop. I called them this afternoon, though, and they said that it ought to be ready tomorrow. If there is time I'll go pick it up after Colloquium, which tomorrow is being given by an AMO person, Prof. Gerald Gabrielse.
On Friday night, walking home on Oxford Street, I smelled a strong odor of natural gas outside Perkins Hall, one of the graduate student dormitories. I called the Harvard campus police; they came, followed soon after by the fire department.
This morning I sang at the Sunday service of the Memorial Church with the University Choir. The minister, Reverend Professor Peter Gomes, preached on the role of religion, and of the Memorial Church, at a major research university like Harvard. This was the first time I had ever attended a Protestant service.
The service was concluded with the singing of the Harvard Hymn, "Deus omnium creator", in Latin, accompanied by thunderous organ and brass. Here's the first verse:
Those last two lines, imploring donors to be generous, I find rather ironic. Or perhaps the hymn has simply been effective, given that it's been sung since the 1890's.
Reverend Gomes invited all students to his house after the service for a delicious (and free) lunch, a much better one than I would fed myself. Students referred to him as "His Excellency," which in the Catholic tradition is generally reserved for bishops. He seemed quite friendly when I talked to him, though, and I think I will take him up on afternoon tea at some point.
Tomorrow classes begin. I'll have stat mech at 11, followed by quantum at noon. The rest of the classes I'm planning to shop (intro solid state, Jackson E/M, and soft condensed matter) meet Tuesday-Thursday. I'll probably end up taking 3 of those five.
On Friday night, walking home on Oxford Street, I smelled a strong odor of natural gas outside Perkins Hall, one of the graduate student dormitories. I called the Harvard campus police; they came, followed soon after by the fire department.
This morning I sang at the Sunday service of the Memorial Church with the University Choir. The minister, Reverend Professor Peter Gomes, preached on the role of religion, and of the Memorial Church, at a major research university like Harvard. This was the first time I had ever attended a Protestant service.
The service was concluded with the singing of the Harvard Hymn, "Deus omnium creator", in Latin, accompanied by thunderous organ and brass. Here's the first verse:
Deus omnium creator,
Rerum mundi moderator,
Crescat cuius es fundator,
Nostra Universitas,
Integri sint curatores,
Eruditi professores,
Largiantur donatores
Bene partas copias.
Those last two lines, imploring donors to be generous, I find rather ironic. Or perhaps the hymn has simply been effective, given that it's been sung since the 1890's.
Reverend Gomes invited all students to his house after the service for a delicious (and free) lunch, a much better one than I would fed myself. Students referred to him as "His Excellency," which in the Catholic tradition is generally reserved for bishops. He seemed quite friendly when I talked to him, though, and I think I will take him up on afternoon tea at some point.
Tomorrow classes begin. I'll have stat mech at 11, followed by quantum at noon. The rest of the classes I'm planning to shop (intro solid state, Jackson E/M, and soft condensed matter) meet Tuesday-Thursday. I'll probably end up taking 3 of those five.
