Well now that it's finally warming up some (15 degrees out as opposed to the -25 degree weather yesterday) I can actually get out of my apartment again. I presented my research (started last June) on Thursday at a student forum. Didn't really expect much, I actually did it more for the experience and the extra line on my resume. I have to present my work at a regional conference in April so I wanted to at least get used to discussing what I've done with other scientists. Well it turns out they had a panel from each field of work come and review the different presentations and rank them using a list of different criteria. Imagine my surprise at the end of the day when they were wrapping things up to hear that I had been ranked 2nd. Ha, and my research so didn't deserve it but those are the breaks I guess. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Especially considering there was a cash prize. It's simply that I don't think my work was nearly as deserving as some others. Meh.

I drink too much wine. I woke up about two hours ago having finished off 2 and a half bottles last night with a friend. Good stuff too, from the mid 90's. I always feel a little sad opening a good bottle. It's like harvesting a crop that can always grow riper. Patience is a virtue with wine. One I still have much to learn about. At any rate, I promised her we would have sangrias tonight. She likes the sweeter spirits while I am perfectly happy with a nice dry red. But then I'm never one to pass up good conversation with a little liquor mixed in. I'm a glutton for a little soft core philosophy and witty discourse and she has a way with words and a peculiar presence I've never found in another. Enjoy your weekend. Happy B-day MLK Jr.

"Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. I have read and heard many attempts at a systematic account of it, from materialism and theosophy to the Christian system or that of Kant, and I have always felt that they were much too simple. I suspect that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of, in any philosophy. That is the reason why I have no philosophy myself, and that must be my excuse for dreaming."

--John Burden Sanderson Haldane, "Possible Worlds"