Random thoughts

Well, I haven't been blogging much at all since returning from my month-long trip out West.  With the start of the fall semester, and all the personal and work-related stuff going on, blogging has taken a low priority.  It's not like I get paid for this (usually not even feedback that anyone even reads this crap).  I do it mostly for myself and an outlet for an urge to write stuff that I want to write about, not stuff other people want me to write (that's why I almost never respond to occasional requests from people to write about a certain topic).

The equinox was this past weekend.  Day and night are now around 12 hours each and you can really feel the onset of Autumn here in the Hudson Valley.  Birds are starting to migrate, squirrels are busy, leaves are starting to change, and the first frost will arrive soon.  Every year, around this time, I look back and wonder where the hell all the time went this past summer (winter seems so much longer to me!).  I need to get out and hike more!

I just counted, I currently have 25 books sitting on my nightstand.  These are all books I'm planning to read (one I am actively reading).  I've fallen a bit (a lot) behind.  This doesn't include the dozen or so e-books on my Kindle.  One of the reasons I haven't been blogging is that I feel like I'm running at full speed yet not getting anywhere.  At work, I have a double teaching load and, as department chair, am involved in a major program review for our Math/Science degree.  I've just been wanting to veg out in the evenings.

Went to the gym this morning which is a good thing.  Last fall I went every MWF morning and this semester, so far, it's been more episodic.  I always feel better when I do go, but it's hard to haul ass out of bed early in the morning (later I'll be scraping ice off my car), and driving 10 miles to the gym.  Both my children have head colds right now so I'm waiting for that to derail my good intentions (can't go to the gym if I'm sick).  You catch colds a lot more when you have kids in the house (even home-schooled ones).

Last weekend I went and shot hundreds of rounds of ammo for a pistol training course (I have a 0.40 caliber Glock 22).  If you've never tried it, shooting is actually very relaxing.  I really would like to get out there more but the price of ammo is too damn high (30-50 cents a round depending).  It doesn't take long to blow through a box of 50.

Well, I'll try to post something a bit more geological next time.  Hopefully soon.  In the meantime, go and read this cute comic which provides a nice metaphor of the difference between science and religion (click to make it bigger).