Involuntary Loss of Consciousness

This is me right now:

(I'm currently between frames 3 and 4... procrastinating via blogging.)

Later on, once I wake up from frame 4, this will be my thought process (I seriously do this all the time):

Doesn't everyone?

Tomorrow: Typhoons? Sandstorms?

Yesterday: A high of 68 degress... people walking around in shorts and flip-flops...

Today: A high of 24 degrees, and 8 inches of fresh snow on the ground.

Gotta love Colorado weather. I do, anyway.

Making the Grade

This is me tonight. (And last night, and the night before....)

IVGCF Winter Retreat

Good friends, good talks, good games... good times.

PS - For everyone back home, IVGCF = InterVarsity Graduate

Christian Fellowship. :)

To anyone who's interested... you can download the full-size originals of all these photos (and several more) here.

Three "Firsts"

Three all-time, personal firsts:

1) I pulled three all-nighters this week... Sunday night, Tuesday night, Thursday night. I don't remember ever pulling that many in a week before, even at Fox. It was a busy week. And good time management isn't exactly one of my strengths. Pulling off good projects at the last second might become one of my strengths, at this rate...

2) One of the all-nighters was on campus at CU, in my research lab... before that, they had always been in the comfort of my own apartment, with food and shower readily available. Instead, I was physically in the chemistry building for two solid days, Thursday morning to Friday night... and boy, it's no Hilton. There's not a single couch or carpeted surface in the whole place. I know, I looked.

3) Three blog posts in three days? Unheard of!!! I'm more of a once-every-ten-days sort of a blogger.

Come to think of it, pulling off three records in a week is something of a record in itself... does that make four?

What dogs are really thinking

(click to make it a little bigger...)

Science Marches On

I think most everyone would agree that we've come pretty far in the last several hundred years. We geniuses of the 21st century are aware that the earth's not flat. We realize that diseases are caused by invisible little creatures that live pretty much everywhere. I'm especially glad that we don't have to visit the local barber to get our infected tooth brutally ripped from our jaw without anesthetic. It even seems that we're finally getting around to developing a working jetpack... or, the German miltary is, at least:

But every so often we are reminded that we aren't totally on top of things yet. For example, it turns out that migrating birds seem to have the equivalent of a GPS unit in their brain... and we don't really have a clue how it works. Go us.

Speaking of brains, researchers recently were poking around in an obese man's head with electrodes, hoping to find the part of the brain that would suppress his appetite. (Is brain surgery really that trivial now, that we're using it to treat overeating?) When they zapped a particular spot in his brain, he found himself remembering a scene from thirty years prior. If they ramped up the juice, he would recall more intricate details, right down to what people were wearing. Turn off the power, though, and the memories would fade. They're hoping to use the technique to treat Alzheimer's patients. I predict that one day, grateful husbands everywhere will be using it to remember anniversaries, and their wives' birthdays....

Oh, by the way, we can talk to apes. It turns out they like candy as much as obese-brain-surgery-guy.

March, science, march...