A Palo Alto Wedding

I took our 12 year old son to Palo Alto for a cousin’s wedding on March 15.  We arrived in Palo Alto late Friday night (which was made even later with a request for a late-night snack of black truffle French fries).  Once we finally got up on Saturday, we made the obligatory brain-washing visit to Stanford and walked through the Engineering Quad.  It was one of those gloriously sunny 80 degree days that Palo Alto specializes in (what a woman I talked to briefly called “stupid nice”).

the Stanford Quad

the Stanford Quad

an aspiring Nerd Nation member

an aspiring Nerd Nation member

The wedding itself was one of the loveliest ceremonies we’ve been to.  I was only sorry that Jim and our daughter couldn’t be there, too.  And it was wonderful to see my parents and all my relatives and catch up on what they’ve been doing.  (Although our son, after being presented with a plethora of cousins he never knew existed, decided we had too big of a family.  He wasn’t reassured on being told that this was the less populated side of my family.)

the kayak wedding cake

the kayak wedding cake

IMG_2358

note the Chinese Coke cans

note the Chinese Coke cans

Naturally, after a weekend of glorious weather, we came back to DC and had 10 inches of snow overnight.  School was cancelled on Monday, and I suspect it will be July before school finally lets out!

Teaching at Stanford Law School

For the months of April and May, I have been teaching a class at Stanford Law School called “Internet Torts and Crimes.”  This means I’ve been flying out once a week to Palo Alto to teach the class.

Teaching the class has been a blast!  The students have all been great, and I have learned something every week from them.  (One of the reasons I like teaching so much is that you can always learn something from your students.)  However, teaching did make our already logistically difficult lives even more challenging.  There have been a few days where both parents were in the air or in different geographical locations while the kids have been here.  Not ideal, but for nine weeks, manageable.

I love teaching the class, not least because I promise my students that every fact situation we discuss in class comes from real life.  This is not as difficult as one might think.  Let’s just say that between AOL and Ruckus (the digital music company I used to work for), it wasn’t difficult to find examples about Internet-based torts and crimes.  And let’s just say that one of the most animated classes was the discussion on pornography.  🙂

But as much as I loved teaching the class, I am glad that the class is over.  The travel was a bit of a grind, although I really have no cause for complaint, since I was upgraded on every single segment.  (And the new Continental planes are much nicer than the old United planes.)  But it’s nice to be home for an extended period and hanging out with Jim and the kids, rather than rushing off various places and being at the mercy of United, the weather, and the FAA.

Of course, it’s time for paper grading as well.  🙂