star wars and dog ears

What a sensational day-- gorgeous by all accounts. We massed at the west end of Columbus park and the six of us road through the wilds of west Chicago into the rising sun. Traffic at 6:30 is easy to negotiate and we made good time. The guys have been interested in getting a tour of the lab, so all six of us came into the College of Medicine on our bikes and came to my lab for a visit. Most of my friends assume that since I am a professor I teach. Well, that's true, but what I do is research and this is a very abstract concept to the lay public. Today they got a glimpse on the inside. There sure are a lot of bottles! What are all these pipes for? Oh, gas, vacuum, distilled water.... Then I showed them the posters in the hall of our recent presentations and gave them a 1 minute spiel about ovarian cancer, chickens, early detection, the virtue of flax seed etc and they were off. No doubt a bit of breakfast conversation was provided by this excursion.

As I prepared for work early this morning I heard W ranting about his missile defense program he wants to plunk down in Prague. Star Wars, can you believe it? Ronnie's big dream and Bush the Seniors plan. And W had this great idea before 9-11 happened, as if the shield would protect us against that sort of attack. Typical of this moron, he does not have an original idea in his head, or for that matter a brain in there either. Star Wars 2007-- another doomed multibillion dollar fiasco. I thought Rumsfeld put him up to this-- must be Cheney after all. Or Rove. What possible rationale could justify such a ludicrous expense. Not rational at all, that's for sure. He is going to do all that he can to completely destroy America's credibility, no wait, he's already done that-- to destroy America. No child left behind because there will be no children left at all. Just discarded embryos....

Mirabel is the most amazing dog. She is all business. She is so fast, and absolutely dedicated to getting that ball, or making you throw it again. When I give it a mighty fling she takes off like a rocket after it. She runs with her ears back, pulled tight against her head. No stopping her, you can see the intensity in her gait and her body position. Then she snags the ball and her whole countenance changes. Her ears relax and flop a bit as she canters back. When she is winded she will circle me with ball in mouth, and not drop it until she catches her breath. And then she is off, bark bark and away she goes. A pure wonderful entity she is, German Shorthaired Pointer supreme, and the sweetest, friendliest, dog you could ever want. And a great watch dog too. Perfect. She has learned well from Cooper, and taught him a few things too. Joy to the world, dogs place in our lives.