The Worm Moon
Well, it's not actually visible through the clouds, but tonight is the Worm Moon - the first full moon of spring, said to usher in the warm season and signal the beginnings of worms re-fertilizing the soils in preparation for the spring growing season... It is turning out to be a good spring so far.
I'm still anxious to hear back from grad schools - I've been accepted to 3 places so far, with two still yet to tell me. But nowhere yet has given me a good financial offer. Clarkson gave me a partial, but I'm really looking for a good research assistantship - so I'm hoping!
In the meantime, I have a beautiful girlfriend, it's now warm enough to go biking regularly again, and I got a decent bonus from my job - I really can't complain too much. Orli and I started dating shortly after Winter Carnival last month, and we're doing well. I'm already signed up to ride the 100-mile century in The Prouty this summer, and am working on raising more money for cancer research from that.
I also just finished reading the original Dune trilogy by Frank Herbert. I think that trilogy makes some of my favorite books of all time! I've ended up purchasing all three of them in hardcover editions. They're just so intricate in their detail, so realistic, and they just really make you think. I've been getting progressively more interested in sociology and politics - and more broadly - just what makes people and societies act the way they do. There are so many hidden assumptions about life and what reactions we expect and what type of things that we expect others to do that we include in every decision that we make, and deconstructing those assumptions is just fascinating to me. Along those lines - partly because of Orli's interest in Israeli affairs, and partly because it's just a great example of the interaction of four major and very different cultures - I've also been reading huge amounts about Israeli history and particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You've got the Jewish culture, Palestinian culture, Arab culture, and Western Christian culture. (If you didn't know, the Palestinians are actually more closely related to the Ottoman Turks than to the rest of the Arab Middle East).
Ya know, I used to think that, while I occasionally had fun playing with politics, I could never stand to go into them to any real extent. But that opinion is gradually changing. Now, I think I'd definitely like to get involved in at least town politics once I'm going to be staying put somewhere for a little longer. Structural engineering can also take me into some of that if I work government, which I like.
In the world of fooding, any suggestions as to what I should plant in my garden this year? I'm going to be moving out sometime in late July-ish, so that puts a damper on my choices if I want to actually enjoy the results of it... Also, do you ever get the urge to just make cornbread? Fresh from the oven cornbread + just boiled fresh two days ago maple syrup = heaven in your mouth... Also - unrelated - I love mason jars.
I'm still anxious to hear back from grad schools - I've been accepted to 3 places so far, with two still yet to tell me. But nowhere yet has given me a good financial offer. Clarkson gave me a partial, but I'm really looking for a good research assistantship - so I'm hoping!
In the meantime, I have a beautiful girlfriend, it's now warm enough to go biking regularly again, and I got a decent bonus from my job - I really can't complain too much. Orli and I started dating shortly after Winter Carnival last month, and we're doing well. I'm already signed up to ride the 100-mile century in The Prouty this summer, and am working on raising more money for cancer research from that.
I also just finished reading the original Dune trilogy by Frank Herbert. I think that trilogy makes some of my favorite books of all time! I've ended up purchasing all three of them in hardcover editions. They're just so intricate in their detail, so realistic, and they just really make you think. I've been getting progressively more interested in sociology and politics - and more broadly - just what makes people and societies act the way they do. There are so many hidden assumptions about life and what reactions we expect and what type of things that we expect others to do that we include in every decision that we make, and deconstructing those assumptions is just fascinating to me. Along those lines - partly because of Orli's interest in Israeli affairs, and partly because it's just a great example of the interaction of four major and very different cultures - I've also been reading huge amounts about Israeli history and particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You've got the Jewish culture, Palestinian culture, Arab culture, and Western Christian culture. (If you didn't know, the Palestinians are actually more closely related to the Ottoman Turks than to the rest of the Arab Middle East).
Ya know, I used to think that, while I occasionally had fun playing with politics, I could never stand to go into them to any real extent. But that opinion is gradually changing. Now, I think I'd definitely like to get involved in at least town politics once I'm going to be staying put somewhere for a little longer. Structural engineering can also take me into some of that if I work government, which I like.
In the world of fooding, any suggestions as to what I should plant in my garden this year? I'm going to be moving out sometime in late July-ish, so that puts a damper on my choices if I want to actually enjoy the results of it... Also, do you ever get the urge to just make cornbread? Fresh from the oven cornbread + just boiled fresh two days ago maple syrup = heaven in your mouth... Also - unrelated - I love mason jars.