Rare Productivity

So for some reason yesterday, I got up and started writing. I don't know whether it was thoughts of job insecurity, or some other inspiration. But somehow, when Carly and Sophie went out, I set up my computer and started writing. I am reasonably pleased with the ten pages or so I wrote.
I am attempting a re-write of a paper I submitted that was rejected (but I was invited to revise and resubmit). That was last summer. Things have gotten a bit hectic in my life, so it is only now that I am getting to it. I think part of it is being too busy, but it is also just a malaise. I don't really relish the prospect of sumissions. rejections, editting and re-editting.

However, despite that I think I was pretty productive. I hope to take this as a start to being more productive in general. If I can get a couple papers out there, then at least I can feel a little more secure. I've actually enjoyed this bit of writting. That is not uncommon. I usually enjoy the first draft, by the tenth I begin to loathe it, but we shall see. Maybe I can avoid that problem.



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Sleep and Other Fun

So we are trying a new technique with little Sophie. We have moved her to her room for the night. So far our experience has been mixed. We had one night of full sleep, 10-7. That was awesome. It is amazing what it is like to sleep through the night when you haven't done so in months. It is truly a wonderful thing. The other nights have been less successful, but still on whole probably better than when she was sleeping in our room. It may seem callous, but it is a lot easier to ignore a crying baby when she is on the other side of the house behind two closed doors, than when she is lying next to you.I think this will work out for us.

I had a great experience the other day. She was lying down on her play mat batting at her toys and pulled the string on a little toy elephant that then vibrates. Normally she seems mildly surprised by this, but the last time she started giggling. As I continued the giggles turned to out loud laughter. It is hard to explain the joy that such a little thing can bring. Her laughter is like a powerful drug, I would do just about anything to hear it again. She is a pretty happy baby so it is not so unusual, but the all out giggle-fits are not a regular occurance. It was the best thing ever. Who knows maybe tonight?

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Girl Gone Wild! Spring Break 2004!

I wonder what sort of traffic that headline will generate from the web crawlers... hmm.
Sophie was dressed in a shirt and pants today rather than her usual onesie. Everything was normal for most of the day, then maybe it was the excitement of having daddy home, I don't know, she started grasping the hem of her shirt and pulling it up.
I would post a picture but I haven't mastered that blurring technology to give her some modesty. I had one of the flash forwards to eighteen years from now. Will spring break still be the same sort of torrid flash fest? Can I somehow give my daughter something better to do? I am thinking of some kind of one week vacations to cover those times. Must protect her must.


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Medicine and Martians

Okay these two topics have nothing in common except that they both happened today.
Evidence of standing water on Mars! Pretty cool. The announcement from NASA was exciting for me because they had an awful lot of information. It sounds like Mars used to be quite nice.
I have such hopes for the space program. But, it is not without some ambivalence. Of course there is the old saw that the billions we spend there could be spent feeding and clothing people here. I am not super immpressed with that argument. We coudl shave a lot more off of defense and other programs and do alot better. Not to mention if corporations and rich people just paid their taxes we would see a real windfall, if we could keep them in the country.
That said, there is something vey cool about exploring worlds, about solving hard problems with few resources. I find that very impressive. I sometimes wish I were in a more colaborative field like that where people get together to solve problems. In my line of work I am alone most of time in my research. That is a pain. No one to get excited by an idea, no one to point out that missed problem. It makes it vey challenging to keep at it. I hold no grudges, I am just excited and a little jealous of the rocket scientists.

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Now for something completely different.

So, out of the blue I get this really bad case of heartburn. I can't explain it. It really hurts. I've had it for 3 days now. Amazingly I was able to get an appointment with my doctor today. I am used to longer lines and delays for such things. I am not sure that isa good sign about the competence of my doctor but I will leave that for the moment.

I am going to take some super antacids and see how that works. Meanwhile I got a bloodtest fo H Pilori to see if I have an ulcer. Hopefully that isn't the case, but even that would not be too bad. Dr. G gave me a small lists of "could also be, but probably isn't so don't worries..." including gall baldder disease, heart disease, of stomach cancer. I am doing my best not to worry. But, I have a friend who had similar symptoms and was diagnosed with Krohn's disease. That would royally suck. So lets keep those cyber fingers crossed. I know it is hard to type that way, but if you balance correctly you can use the mouse with your feet, trust me I know.




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