Post-Thanksgiving Lull

We didn't do much for Thanksgiving this year, which is frankly cause for a certain amount of giving thanks right there. Don't get me wrong, Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday of the year. It celebrates something I can really support wholeheartedly. I just was not ready to face leaving the house this year, that's all.

Anita and I stayed in and had a fairly pleasant day. We played some board games, sat around on the couch, and confused the cats. I made seafood bisque, garlic bread, and pumpkin pie, so the Thanksgiving food essentials were struck. All in all, a nice relaxing day.

The lab is more or less deserted today, which is how I like it. I can have my music on without bothering anyone, and there isn't anyone to bother me while I work. Or, um, blog. Regardless, life is as good as it's been in a while, and I can't really complain. I mean, heck, some poor saps are trying to shop today.

Making My Mark

And people say I'm not accomplishing much with my life. Hah! I just got my contributing author's complimentary copy of the new Food Biotechnology textbook, and right there on page 1293 is a little thing I penned with the snappy title of "Genetics and Physiology of Pathogenesis in Food Borne Bacterial Pathogens".

The book is unexpectedly huge. You could choke a moose with it. Or equip an outhouse for months. I think I'll put it on the shelf above my desk, in case I ever need to fend off an angry mob or need a really solid doorstop. I guess I could even look up food biotechnology stuff in it, if it came to that.

Next, the world!

A High Point

So, the weekend was not a total bust. We went over to the High Noon Saloon last night for the Asylum Street Spankers show. Rollicking good fun, and a pretty good crowd for a Sunday night. Highly recommended, if they're coming through your town.

Man, I'm happy about the smoking ban. I can actually sit through an entire show at a bar now.

P.S. Well, what do you know? "Rollicking" is spelled with two "l"s. Huh. Of course, the spell-checker's second suggestion was "or licking", so maybe I shouldn't trust it too much. Either way, it did look funny before.

Something to look forward to

So, Nicole just had her thesis defence yesterday, and it turns out that the lab tradition for such an occasion involves champagne and a pinata. I knew I liked these people for some reason.

Only 3 or 4 years to go...

Downright unsettlin'

It's cold in the lab today. The morning cup of tea is brewing, but I'm not focusing well on science right at the moment. Allow me a moment or two to rant.

We finally went to see Serenity last night.

(For those who aren't enormous nerds, the rest of this won't make any sense. Just letting you know.)

We didn't like it.

We had just finished watching the series on DVD, and saw that the movie had come around to the second-run theater. We were very excited. Reviews were good, we loved the series, revelations were promised, mysteries would be solved and questions would be answered. The characters we loved would make a triumphant return.

Except that the movie didn't have any of the things that made the show actually good. Firefly was remarkable for humor and character development, for the intricate blending of sci-fi and the Western, for comfortable intimacy and roughness around the edges. The movie was nothing more than a mediocre science-fiction shoot-'em-up action film with shiny special effects and lots of blood, which would be fine if it didn't have characters we cared about caught up in it. No one smiled for the whole damn film. There was none of the humor, the revelations didn't make any sense, and River's "powers" turned out in the end to be the same old Buffy choreography.

I think, with 9 main characters and a story designed to be told over 5 years of TV episodes, the problem was simply one of time. Joss Whedon had to jam 4 seasons of events into an hour and a half. Of course there wouldn't be time for anything but cursory interactions and gunplay. It's a real shame, and it just didn't turn out well. I think he knows it, too. Movies aren't suited to the kinds of stories he wants to tell. The, um, finality of a certain event towards the end suggests to me that Mr. Whedon doesn't want to make any more movies. Firefly is done.

I understand why the movie got made, and I had hoped that it would be the capstone to a great series that should have been. Instead, it's a headstone, only showing what Firefly would have been if they had caved into the bland commercialism the studios wanted in the first place. I liked the way it ended better before. It was sad and incomplete, but it wasn't dead.

Stylish new look

Well, you all asked for it, so here's a picture of me with my super-fashionable new facial hair. :-) I started it for Halloween, but I think I like it well enough to keep. Reactions have been mostly positive, although some people seem dead set against beards. They're mostly married to other, hairless guys, so I pay no attention. Anita seems to approve, although she says I'm still kind of prickly.

The cat's opinion was not obtained, although shortly after this picture was taken he bit me on the arm. Which is more or less how he reacts to everything, actually.

Strange compulsions

I don't know if it's the weather, or the stupid technical failures at the bench, or the phase of the moon, or what, but I've been feeling a little depressed of late. No reason to be, really, just settled into some of the old gloom. Terrible place to be, really. Life's too short.

So I'm making a pie.

Apple, of course. I keep experimenting with other kinds, but inevitably I decide that I like plain apple pie better. I made pumpkin pie last week, which was good, but astonishingly labor-intensive. Dinosaur icebox or sweet potato pecan are excellent as well, but somehow, 2.5 lbs of fresh apples, 2.5 cups of flour, a stick of butter, and half a cup of Crisco comes together better. Something to be said for simplicity, I suppose.

Anyhow, 2 Gala apples, 2 Fuji, and 2 Jonagold. We'll see how it turns out. The Gala may have been a mistake, they seemed a little mushy when I peeled them, but hopefully it'll all even out. Should go nicely with dinner, which is butternut squash soup and fresh apple cider cranberry bread from Francois'. Fall food.

Am I the only one who combats depression with cooking? I bought a 1 quart measuring cup and a kitchen scale today, too. At least I can buy kitchen toys without getting glared at. Probably because I let her share the pie.

Quick Halloween Report

Loads of Science to do, but I should note that this was an awesome weekend before manacling myself to the bench once again.

Dan and Amanda came to visit us from North Carolina for the weekend, and a great deal of fun and excitement was had. Dan's new hobby is photography, so he has lots of extremely high-quality photos of the festivities, which I'll pass on a few of once I get hold of them. We spent most of the time going to good restuarants - the Great Dane, Francois' Cafe, Restaurant Muramoto, to name a few - and soaking in the last few nice days of the Fall. We stayed well clear of the State Street riots on Saturday night, but did go to a costume party on Sunday night at John and Autumn's place, at which we established that physics graduate students are even dorkier (on average) than microbiology graduate students. It was a good time.

Anyway, I must get back to work, but hey, if anyone else wants to come visit us, we've got a very comfy futon!