Hear ye oh hear ye

Calling all home cooks.  Cookstr.com has been launched.  Think awesome chefs, not food network hacks (who are all still a bajillion times more talented than me) posting their recipes.  I am too giddy for words right now.

An olive branch

America, I am proud of us.  

Right of Passage

Today, in a meeting with my boss, we were discussing something we had both heard on NPR when it occured that, holly crap, I listen to what the boss listens to in the morning.  And, I'm pretty sure that none of my younger coworkers listen to NPR in the morning because during Friday morning group meetings, my boss, another faculty, and one other fellow will talk about what we had heard and no one else ever weighs in.  A major life event without my notice.  I think that when you begin listening to NPR morning eddition over those ridiculous DJs on most pop radio stations, you are offically an adult.  I remember that when I started grad school, I used to listen to some stupid pair of DJs in Raleigh, and somewhere along the way I just switched over to NPR.  Funny how that happens.

What COULD have happened and what did happen

COULD'VE.........

After work, we decided to saunter over to the Belmont area, a mere 1.5 miles from work to soak up some of the debate excitement.  We hit our favorite moderately-priced restaurant in town, PM, which is about half a block away from the debate.  Miraculously, B and I were the ONLY people in the restaurant when who walks in?  The man Obama himself.  We get to talking about politics and being young scientists (and of course about what's good on the menu) and over fried pickles and some Belgian beer, Barack invites us to the debate V.I.P. style.  We sit through the debate, and afterwards Obama invites us to the after party (the fund raiser) at Al Gore's pad in Belle Meade.  We graciously accept and head over to the palace of solar energy.  Al, Barack, and Michelle are all impressed with our scientific knowledge and offer to call Tony Fauchi on our behalf immediately, where we are offered fellowships for the duration of our postdocs, guaranteed faculty positions at the institution of our choice, and funding for the duration of our careers.  He also offers us positions as Jr. scientific advisors, and of course we accept.  But alas, the night was getting late and Barack is a busy man so we say good-bye with a friendly fist bump and head home.

WHAT ACTUALLY DID HAPPEN.....

We went home, I made dinner, we cleaned up, and watched the debate on tv.  I also swiffered the dog hair off of the floor.  Exciting, huh?

Another one of those, "Holly crap, where do I live?" moments

Please read this awesome story about "Fox" and a fox.

New house project #3,945

Hey everybody, check our our new low E windows.  What's that?  They don't look all that special on the internets, you say.  Well just hold your face up to the screen.  They block cold and heat conduction, so the computer screen should feel cool.

Go henceforth

I find myself getting totally wrapped up in our election, especially considering the state of our nation today.  To be completely honest, the future frightens me, so much so that I waiver about having children.  I really want children, but I am affraid for them.  I'm affraid of what kind of world and country we might leave them.  I do not want to have children if their world is crumbling.  I feel like we are living dangerously similar to the Roman empire in a manner that we simpley cannot maintain.  I really believe that our society is on the verge of collapse...perhaps not in my lifetime but definitely within the lifetime of our children.  

If you haven't seen it yet, Bernardo has written a very eloquent blog post that encompasses how we both feel about the state of our nation today.