The Win Column

I've had a pretty nice time in Virginia with my family. My son and I are a little under the weather but seem to be on the mend. It's been great seeing my nephew and niece (so cute). Also - especially in the midst of all of the drama and turmoil of the past year - it's nice to be able to land and feel like I have a sense of family. Not that I ever been particularly close to any of these people (ironically)...just that I feel a sense of place and support that I haven't before and I am pretty thankful.

After I get back to Bozeman I will have a mad, mad dash to get samples ready for South Africa. I have plans to make, still don't know what I'm doing for Christmas, etc.

All in all, though, right now I am feeling quite positive about the future.

Musical selection: "First Breath After a Coma" (Explosions in the Sky)

The Lose Column

Still snowing in Bozeman.
Haven't a clue what I am going to do in SA next month.
Got stalked by a cougar this morning.

It's Tired

Giving a talk at Montana Tech (in Butte) tomorrow. This will be an amalgamation of my dissertation work and the stuff I planned on doing here that doesn't appear to be working that well.

I usually spend about 10-20 times as long preparing a talk as it takes to present it. Seriously.

Post this one in the "Lose" column...

Walking in a Winter WTF

So I don't live in California anymore. Let me be more specific: I don't live on the Central Coast of California anymore where "winter" means that you have to start wearing socks and the surf is going to get better. And it will rain.

I live in Montana where people have told me - and I'm not making this up - that they start to feel happy when it FINALLY gets below freezing. I had a colleague tell me that she LOVES the feel of -20 degrees. Freak.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a (deserved but unwanted) bitchin hangover and the realization that the weather wasn't going to make me feel better. Easterly wind (strong) and already snowing.

So I contemplated a day of sitting on the couch and hiding from the weather. A friend called and asked if I wanted to go grouse hunting. So I did.
The irony here is that I was prepared to complain about the weather all day but, instead, went out and walked several miles in the mountains IN the weather. Only flushed one bird but had a great time. The sweat and cold air was the perfect remedy for my hangover and I totally punched the oncoming Winter in the face.

Put that one down in the "win" column.

7 month followup

So...

It seems that all my good intentions to post seem to get bogged in the mire of "wouldn't it be great to write about (blah, blah, blah) and, HEY! maybe I should go for a bike ride!!!!".

Anyone who follows this (Sean) please give some tips (Sean) about how to get some consistency (Sean) with posting.

Topics that I COULD share about:

1) How to lose 60 pounds in a year
2) Science...and many tangential issues pertaining to it (social, ethical, etc.)
3) Divorce...Note: I know almost nothing about the actual act of completion (so far)...but I can speak of many of the darker points and some of the brighter as well (see topic #1)
4) Switching from PC to Mac

So (Sean)...what do you want to read about??