Wow. I know famous people …. Better than the time I sat next to Robert Downey Jr. in a New York eatery (and yes he appeared completely sober).

Congrats to Paul. It is well deserved. Sometimes he seems like the only sane voice on the planet.

Paul – I hadn’t thought about the Zamboni; I’d been more worried about our esteemed Division Chair :-). Now that you’ve raised it, however, the Zamboni is indeed a serious concern. I’ll have to settle for being down the hall. And a note from Dawkins! That does most seriously rock! More prestigious, and much less stressful than an interview…

Brent – Yeah, that whole not eating for 4 months in supremely awful weather is a little more sacrifice than changing diapers for a few years. The big question, though, is how it relates to getting one’s PhD or tenure…

Great quotes from Barbara and Thomas!

Courtney and I saw March of the Penguins last weekend. Can you imagine not eating for 4 months while holding an egg on top of your feet while revolving slowly around a massive huddle in a sub-zero blizzard? Yeah, I can’t either. Then again, I’m fairly happy with my evolutionary path!

Thanks, but I suspect the custodians would object, and you risk getting run over by the division Zamboni.

And actually, Newsweek and the BBC are small potatoes. The real thrill this week was that I got a personal note from Richard Dawkins, telling me he loved the site.