Nothing too special happening right now. Unless you count the fact that the car's fuel pressure regulator is spraying gas into the engine compartment at an "excessive rate" (so said the mechanic). A fireball, now that would be special.

I've been bored recently with my workout routine, and for killing a good routine, there's nothing better than boredom. So, I've recently been experimenting with yoga. And as it turns out: (a) no, I'm not talking about the tasty treat you keep in your fridge; (b) yes, it does make me look goofy; (c) yes, I do feel like less of a man; and (d) no, it's not easy. In fact, it's WAY more strenuous than you think.

Here in Michigan, it's been freezing. Yesterday, the actual temperature (not wind chill) got down to -19 F in Flint (that's -28 C for my international friends). As a result, I've been hearing some chatter that goes something along the lines of, "Aren't those people who believe in global warming stupid! I can't believe how dumb they are! They only want us to believe in global warming because they're going to make money from it! Let's all keep buying big cars and destroying the environment!"

Rebuttal:

1) Global climate change is theorized to cause extreme swings in temperature and oddities in weather patterns. In other words, this cold snap fits the model perfectly.

2) Just because you aren't noticing climate change doesn't make it non-existent. Consider the fact that the scientists who are talking about whether or not climate change exists have devoted their lives to studying it. So, if the consensus says that climate change exists, we'd better have a darn good reason for disagreeing--and the fact that we don't want it to exist because it's too expensive or too scary is not a good reason.

3) Even if climate change isn't happening, it doesn't give us license to ravage the environment. Let's care for it instead.

I am annoyed.

This weekend Dad and I were eating some gourmet malted milk balls. At one point, he wondered about the nutrition information, and we realized that 7 of the little balls of chocolate contained 510 calories. Perverse. Anyway, I was riding an exercise bike at the gym yesterday, and I got to thinking about those calories.

In a half hour in "cross country" mode, I rode 8 miles and burned 500 calories. My first thought was that it's amazing how much work you have to do to burn off some candy. Totally not worth it. My second thought was that the human body is absolutely amazing. To power it to go 8 miles, all you need is 7 little balls of chocolate. Some cars can't even go 8 miles on a gallon of gasoline. That's what we need: cars powered by malted milk balls. Make it so.

Yesterday I was running a little late, but it wasn't going to be a huge problem. Then the cat threw up. On my backpack. She went on to barf four more times. Here's a tip for all you cats out there: stop eating plastic!

For Sale: one cat

As I was leaving a building on campus yesterday, I passed two students. I knew neither of them, and I hadn't heard any of their previous conversation. A brief interaction followed.

Student (to me): Is it up there?
Me: (stunned silence)
Student: (blank look)
Me: Is what up there?
Student: (looking at me like I'm the stupid one) The pharmacy. (duh)
Me: Yes. (and hopefully you're getting birth control; I'd hate for your genes to taint the pool)

Not everyone should go to a college campus.

Okay, so reality is back, but it always takes me awhile to adjust to the new schedule of a new semester. Things aren't that much different this time around, but I do have new students, new classes, and different responsibilities. The changes are good, but I'm pretty sure that I'm ready for the bigger change that graduation will bring...

We have one more day in Europe, and then it's back to reality. Reality is annoying.