Acknowledgment

Thank you to everyone who noticed that yesterday I was one day older than the day before! And a special thanks to Bora for collecting all the various links together in one place.

Now I do have to remind you all, though, that we’re all aging at exactly the same rate (unless you have access to a spaceship that travels at a significant fraction of the speed of light), and all I’ve got is a head start on many of you, and a bit of a delay relative to some of you. So don’t go getting cocky, you young whippersnappers — you’ll be here someday, too.

It’s a conspiracy!

So a guy gets a little older, and what happens? All these people try to draw attention to my age, largely with a collection of photoshopped pictures of yours truly. Don’t they know I’m funny-looking enough that no photoshop is necessary?

By the way, I got a nice present from my family: a new, ergonomic Cephalopod Throne. You’ll be reassured to know that now, when I fling thunderbolts of furious vituperation about the web, I shall be doing so with excellent posture.

More details on the Thursday debate

As promised, here are the details on my debate this week.

Debate: Are Science and Religion Compatible?
An Evening of Stimulating Intellectual Discourse
with
Loyal Rue and PZ Myers
Sponsored by
Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists
Thursday, February 7, 2008
7:00pm – 10:00pm
West Bank Auditorium- Willey Hall
225 19th Avenue S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

I must say I like the tagline — “An Evening of Stimulating Intellectual Discourse” — since I don’t think this will be the kind of ferocious bloody battle some of you might be hoping for. Rue is a religious moderate, so I don’t anticipate any opportunities to go on a rampage by either of us. Come prepared with thought provoking questions; I told Dr Rue that if we can’t initiate any gunfire between the two of us, we could always turn on the audience and get some spectacle that way.

There’s also the suggestion from Rick Schauer that this might be an excuse for Free Beer. Come to the Campus Club, on the fourth floor of the Coffman Union, around six and even if the beer isn’t free we can fortify ourselves. I think I’ll also invite Rue to join us. He’ll be drinking the hard stuff, keep his glass filled.

By the way, my answer to the question will be a solid “no,” if you were wondering.

So begins my descent into madness

It’s Tuesday, the 22nd of January, and this is the first day of classes at UMM. I’m teaching the introductory biology course again (Fundamentals of Genetics, Evolution, and Development), my big core lab course in genetics, and an upper level class in science writing, and that’s enough.

As is usual for me, I tremble in a state of dread at the start of the long season of lectures and labs, but once I charge in and get started I’ll probably be surprised when I look up and notice it’s May already.

You just don’t know how evil Skatje can be

All that noise from a pair of rather ugly pissants criticizing my daughter falls short of describing her perfidy. Today, Skatje spent the whole afternoon making lefse — and she’s really getting it down. The shape isn’t perfect yet, but the texture and the thinness is getting up there around Scandinavian-grandma-quality, which is pretty darn good…I mean, evil.

Dang. It really isn’t very evil at all, is it?

Except that she didn’t make enough.

Happy New Year!

I’m saying it a few hours early because when the clock ticks over to midnight I expect you all to be snogging or otherwise partying away, unless you’re one of those sensible types who doesn’t think having to get a new calendar is anything to celebrate, so you’re off to bed for a good night’s rest.

Here at Chez Myers, we shall be taking a middle road with a quiet evening capped with our traditional root beer floats. Whatever your happy choice of the day, have a good 2008.

What are you people doing here? It’s Christmas Eve!

You’ve got to have something better to do.

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We’re having the traditional white Christmas here in Morris: a foot of snow on the ground, temperatures around 10 to 15° below zero C, a nice stiff 10-15 mph breeze, and no one with any sanity stepping outside.

Which rules me out right there. I made the drive to St Cloud and back yesterday, in even worse weather, to pick up #1 Son; I get to make the longer drive (but in somewhat milder weather) to Minneapolis to pick up #2 Son today. You might expect nothing but gibbering madness and exhaustion from me for a while.

So go do something with family or friends right now and get off the damn computer!

FREEDO…well, not quite

My last class for the semester is over as of this minute. All that’s left is to proctor one final exam, and then…the horror of grading. Exams and more exams and term papers and lab reports, all to be done next week.

I guess I can’t quite celebrate freedom just yet. But I will soon enough. I’ll probably get wild and read a book or something.

Aaaaahhh.

Classes aren’t quite over, but I gave my last lecture for the fall 2007 semester today. I still have a discussion session, a lab, and an exam to give, but it’s still something of a landmark in the trajectory of the term. No more lecture prep! No more daily theatrical performances! What’s left is more like friendly conversation and accounting.

I have this six-pack of homebrew from Dave Puskala waiting for me in the refrigerator at home…I’m opening one tonight.