Burnt Peanuts, a Mr. Goodbar, and...

 

I am not sure why it did not successfully post on Friday, but this post was one I actually wrote on Friday and I thought I HAD posted it.  But, apparently I did not do so successfully.  Therefore, I am now posting it as is (other than this inserted paragraph (and the small addendum below) helping folks to know this was not about TODAY (November 27th) but was instead about last FRIDAY (November 24th)).

There is really no adequate way to describe fully a person.  We all know this.  But, the best we can do is perhaps reflect some truths somewhat like how a mirror reflects a visual image.  

My Dad had many and varied different aspects to his life:

1.  My Dad's Mom (my grandmother, of course) died when my Dad was ~4 years old.  He was the youngest of seven siblings. 

2.  My Dad was in World War II.  He was a glider pilot in the 101st Airborne Division.  He earned two bronze stars, was also wounded in the invasion of Normandy, and received the Purple Heart.

3.  Upon return from WWII, he met my future Mom at a dance.  Less than a month after meeting, my future parents traveled with a pair of friends (one, a close buddy of my Dad and the other, a close friend of my Mom's).... in a rickety, old, pre-WWII car cobbled together..... down to Georgia (at least 1,000 miles (~1,600 km))... where both couples eloped.   

4.  My Mom only agreed to elope with my Dad if he promised two things..... a) he would become a strong and faithful Catholic (his family was Lutheran in origin, but did not really participate after my grandmother had died), and b) they would marry (remarry) in the Catholic Church after completing his study to become Catholic.  

5.  My Dad was 100% true and faithful to my Mom.  It was approximately 6 weeks after they had eloped that my Dad had become Catholic and he and my Mom were married in the church in the small chapel that following Saturday.  

6.  One of the many jobs my Dad had, was that of a welder.  It was ultimately the time he spent as a welder that caused his death due to mesothelioma, because he welded inside large room-sized pieces of boilers together that were all heavily lined with asbestos.    

7.  Today (addendum, actually I am writing about Friday the 24th)  was my Dad's 100th Birthday.  

My wife, her sister, and my oldest daughter decided to spend this "Black Friday" going to several craft shows and bazaars.  I wanted to visit the cemetery where my parents are buried, and to especially think about my Dad on his 100th Birthday.  

We had placed a grave blanket for Winter at my Parent's headstone a few weeks ago.  Symbolically, I wanted to leave a small token of my love and thoughts for my Dad at the grave.  So, I bought two of his favorite candies..... burnt peanuts, and a Mr. Goodbar.  I wrapped them in a small box and added a silver bow.  

It was very cold.  Even though it was already near noon, the temperature was a bit below freezing (~30 degrees Fahrenheit ; ~ -1 C) and there was a bit of wind.  So, I dressed quite warmly because I planned to be there a while.  I pinned the small, wrapped package containing the burnt peanuts and Mr. Goodbar to the edge of the grave blanket to hold it in position.

At the cemetery I pulled out a folding lawn chair, so I could more comfortably sit by the headstone. It was very cold, but it was nice being there.  At the cemetery, I feel I can talk more "fully" with my parents.  I talked and reminisced about a lot of different points in my life with them, but especially with my Dad.  It felt good to be there on his birthday.  Only one car meandered through the cemetery during the time I was there, so it felt peaceful and intimate.   I also smoked a pipe while I was there with my Dad.  It seemed a good and fine way to spend time with him on his 100th birthday.

I spent about one and a half hours there before I left and drove back across the county to home. 

PipeTobacco  

Happy Thanksgiving

 As we wind up getting ready for the festivities to begin as company will begin to arrive shortly, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!  

Keeping fingers crossed that all of you (and us too) have a happy and calm and contented day and that the tryptophan from the turkey keeps everyone feeling groggy and satisfied! 

PipeTobacco 

Generally

 … a middling day.  Keeping quiet and tight lipped regarding that individual which I do not mention here any longer is the current best policy at home also to keep the day from decaying at home, although there are rumblings from said. 

Went to Thanksgiving Eve evening Mass.  

Ran 12 miles. 

Made two pies for Tomorrow’s festivities….. a traditional pumpkin and a pumpkin raisin pie.  We also have a store bought apple pie just in case.  And my SIL is baking a “Lemon-Apple” pie and making a “Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake” that she will bring tomorrow.

I miss the “pipeiness” of the preparing for a holiday.  It was always such a part and parcel of the process for me as I cooked, cleaned, and thought of creative ways to modify SOME recipes (my wife would limit me to TWO) “creative modifications” per event.  This far, my raisin pumpkin pie is #1.  Not really as creative perhaps if I had had nourishment from my pipes.

PipeTobacco 

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night

 

It actually wasn't..... but it did become a cold, blustery, very heavily raining early morning and day today.  I do not know if it was the weather, or just a general sense of malaise..... but I damn well did not want to get out of bed this morning.  I kept resetting the blasted alarm and eventually found that it was too late to get my run in this morning (not that I wanted to run in the first place).  

Being only 38 degrees (~3 C) outside, and with the heavy winds and pelting, heavy rain..... it was not enjoyable even walking into the building with my offices and labs.  The distance from the parking lot to the entry door seemed to grow several fold longer than it had been for decades.  

All I wanted to do this morning was a) BRIEFLY get up and take the dog out for her constitutional, b) make myself a big iced coffee, and then c) crawl back into bed, deep under all the many layers of blankets and quilts nestled between the sheets and the bedspread I have on my side of the bed (I tend to be cold, my wife's side has very minimal bedding as she always feels hot.).  I would then like to have been able to while away the day reading a novel, smoking my pipe, and drinking my iced coffee and occasionally snoozing.  That would have felt like Nirvana.

Instead, after taking the dog out on her constitutional, I came back in, dressed for work at the U, and made myself my big iced coffee, and drove to the U. I lectured for ~3 hours on the biochemical aspects of limb formation in embryos.  The most enjoyable aspect of the lecture for me was when I briefly described polydactility in "Hemingway's Cats".  I wrote about that once before, but polydactic digits occur when an organisms develops more digits (fingers or toes) than are typical for the species.  Ernest Hemingway had a large number of cats with extra toes on his homestead in Key West, Florida.  And, in fact, many of the polydactyl cats around the US have their genetic origins tied to the population of "Hemingway cats".   I had a wonderful, big, burly Tuxedo Cat in graduate school with a grand total of 28 toes across his four massive paws.  After lecture, I have had at least 7 students visit me during my office hours for "guidance" on how to do better on their anatomy & physiology exams.  I would have thought most of the kids would have high-tailed it off of campus as quickly as they could have to start their Thanksgiving break (my U does not have classes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.... it is a long story). 

Continuing with the ever present thoughts in my mind of homonyms, the image above shows what I believe would be a perfect Halloween costume.  I would love to dress as a knight in a suit of armor. 

Because of my ill-mannered ways this morning, this means.....  I need to run my damnable 10 miles NOW, this afternoon sometime, and I am not pleased at my shoddy behavior nor my life choices at the moment.

I want a pipe.... VERY MUCH.  Sometimes I get awfully damn tired of writing about this... because it is always the same damn thing.  But, it is true.

PipeTobacco 

Steaks!

 

After lecturing for the last few hours on all manner of things:

• In one class, I was discussing the physiology of female sexual morphology, and was discussing the hormonal development of the Graafian Follicle in the ovary as a means talking about the ovulatory cycle that regulates the timing of the release of the ova, and stimulates the development of the endometrial layer in the interior of the uteru.  In this new discussion, I also brought back and reiterated some earlier discussion about the three forms of orgasm in reproductive behavior (ejaculation - male; clitoral - female, and vaginocervical - female) and how they aided the spermatazoa to attempt to reach the ampula regions of Fallopian tube where the ova could potentially be fertilized. 
• In my other class, I finished up a lecture on the dynamics of conversion of sound waves into neural signals generated in the Basilar Membrane of the cochlea of the inner ear, and then contrasted how in the semicircular canals the forces experienced by the movement of their endolymph would apply forces on the neural hair cells of the christa ampularis to allow the ear to perceive body motion.  I concluded by also describing how the gravitational forces experienced by the otolitic crystals atop of the otolithic membrane will generate neural impulses relaying information about body position as they distort kinocilia and stereocilia in the ear.   

But as I was migrating from one classroom to another on campus and then back to my laboratory, I was reflecting on the performance on Saturday.  Fortunately, as a whole the concert went very well, and I was able to navigate with reasonable success through "Excerpts of Polar Express."  The musicality of my being the train of Polar Express was not quite as good as at dress rehearsal, but it was more than passable.  Tonight, we have another concert of this same set of ~10 different songs.  The stakes are not as high, however, for we are playing at a retirement community tonight.... and with the smaller physical space, our amplitude needs to be far quieter.... it is easier to play the very rapid Polar express passage at this lower volume... so I am less nervous.

But the thinking of the "lower stakes" concert, had me imagine (as my mind often does) various homonyms of words..... "stakes" (the non-Moo-able type) lead me to think of steaks (the Moo-able form).  This had me think back to the last time I had eaten a steak, and I realized it was back in 1998 (that is 25 years ago!).  I was taken by one of my favorite Uncles, to a celebration dinner at the Knights of Columbus. The celebration dinner was for all of the "Past Grand Poobahs" and their guest.  I use "Grand Poobah" a bit facetiously and in reference to its use in the old cartoon, "The Flintstones".  The term "Grand Poobah" was the name given to the leader of the Men's Club in Jellystone (the fictitious town where "The Flintstones" was set.   My Uncle had been the "Grand Knight (the "president") of our Knights of Columbus for many years until he retired.  This dinner was for all the "Grand Knights" of the different Knights of Columbus organizations across our Diocese. My Mom & Dad always referred to this Uncle as the "Grand Poobah" ever since the cartoon was televised in the 1960s....in fact, all of us in the family did.    

For many years, my Uncle (logically) took his wife (my Aunt, of course) to this "yearly dinner celebration.  But for the last several years of his life, after my Aunt had passed away, he always invited me and encouraged me to go with him as his guest.  It was always wonderful to spend time with him, so I always said yes.  

He was always adamant about having me order the more expensive items on the menu too.... because he figured that was a benefit for the Past Grand Knights and their guest.  With his encouragement, I enjoyed my first gin & tonic (very pricey compared to the pop (soda) or beer I typically ordered), and of mixed drinks, the gin & tonic remains my favorite to this day.  Additionally, at these dinners, through his adamant encouragement, I had my first Filet Mignon.  For the several years I was able to go to this dinner with him, I always had gin & tonics and Filet Mignon (at his urging). 

I am not much of a steak person (I guess you figured that out, since I haven't had one in 25 years).  But, I have to admit the Filet Mignon was tasty.  However, I think many folks would cringe at how I asked for mine (every time)..... butterflied, "medium well" and with ample A-1 sauce on the side.  

Overall, beef is not my favorite food.  I think in the last 25 years, I have probably had beef likely less than 15 times.  I do not actively dislike beef (nor steak, I guess).  I just find that if I am ordering something with meat, I naturally prefer turkey, chicken, or fish.... yeah, yeah, I know.... fish is NOT meat during Lent, but I use meat in the biological sense.  And as most of you also know, I do not eat much turkey, chicken, nor fish anyway.  

The last year I was able to go to this celebratory dinner was in 1998.   He passed away a few months after that dinner.  

+ + +

• Ran 10 miles on the track (~16 km).
• I am trying to think through and reason a way to carefully enjoy a pipe occasionally again.  I just do not know how.

PipeTobacco
 

Olives

Today, I am going to be trying to accomplish a helluva lot at the U, in a very short time frame.  It is a jam-packed day:

• I have to get a variety of experimental solutions made for some of my research students.  These are for a couple of new projects I have started with a handful of new UNDERGRADUATE research students.  They need considerably more "hand-holding" than do the graduate students.  But, they are a good bunch.  
• I have to get caught up on a fair amount of grading.  I have approximately 200 papers to read/grade (thankfully, I am smart enough to have only SHORT papers in my bigger classes). I also have to score and analyze an exam I gave in embryology (a smaller sized class).  I am hoping to upload their scores today, if possible.  
• If I can get to it, I should do some writing.
• If I can get to it, I should do some animal husbandry work with my rodents.

Then later in the afternoon, I need to:

• Go to a visitation for a work friend who lost her Mom recently.  Her Mom was in her upper 90s, but it is still always very hard.  
• Another rehearsal tonight before the big gig tomorrow.  I am still nervous as hell about "Excerpts from The Polar Express", and I would like to try to eek out some additional practice time before going to rehearsal tonight.

Tomorrow, before the big "musical gala"... my wife and I are hoping to spend Saturday "dunging out" the house in advanced preparation for the the upcoming Thanksgiving Day Celebration.  If we can get the house up-to-snuff on Saturday, it will make next week.... especially the work-part of the week.... a helluva lot easier and less stressful.  But,  we would also like to swim, and we would like to go to Saturday Mass (if the timing for when I need to show up for the "gala" permits it... which I will learn tonight at rehearsal).  

As far as my pipes go, I am rather at a loss for words.  Hell, that is actually incorrect.... I have too damn many words..... ideas swirl around in my mind all of the time about this.  To even attempt sorting through the back-and-forth, up-and-down, round-and-round thoughts and ideas I have about finding a potential method to, in a regulated fashion, return to  my beautiful pipes and pipe tobaccos..... to get all of these thoughts down….. would likely take hundreds of pages of text. 

But, in a nutshell sort of fashion..... a) I (obviously) very much want to be able to have a pipe or two or more, but b) I am not sure I have the fortitude nor the stamina to maintain a "regulated" approach to pipe smoking…. unless I have actual physical "barriers" to regulate this (such as the trip to a distant city).  If I simply were to say... "Ok, self.... you may have one pipe each month." and it could be at home, or just about anywhere in the day-to-day.... I do not feel confident I would successfully force myself to abide by the rule. I can see myself wanting to whittle down the pipe interval (because, heck, at home it WOULD be incredibly easy to do so) regularly.

I was going to run outside this morning with my headlight as it was 52 degrees F (~11 C), but it was starting to rain.  I just did not feel up to running in the rain and dark.  So, I went to the indoor court (10 miles; ~16km).  

Oh.... why "Olives" you may ask?  It was the first thing that popped into my mind as I was thinking about a potential title.  I absolutely love olives of any shape, style, sort.  If I allowed myself to do so, I could easily eat an entire can/jar/container of olives every day. 

My Mom had told me often over the years, how when I was just a toddler of two years old or so…. when she was introducing me to new foods and new tastes, she was surprised at how at that very young age,  I showed very strong fondness for two foods most kids are at best neutral about or actively dislike:  

Olives..... I still love them to this day.

Cucumbers..... Today, I could easily eat 2 or 3 big cucumbers a day if we had them at home.   

And even though my Mom introduced it to me later (apparently ~4 years old), I also showed a similar, very strong fondness for grapefruit. 

PipeTobacco

Wrong Side

 

The statement "getting up on the wrong side of the bed" aptly describes my whole day.  

• I got up later than planned, and was only able to get in 7.5 miles (~12 km) of my needed 10 miles today to stay on track.  So, now I am behind and will have to try to make up additional miles.... tomorrow if possible.
• Our dog..... (frustrated grimace).... this morning, I took her out for her constitutional, and must not have been paying close enough attention to what she was doing, but as she is apt to do on occasion, she (after eating breakfast) ate some LEAVES that had fallen from the trees while outside.  She has a very balanced diet and always gets very good reports from the veterinarian.  But, she likes to "sample" things (she has eaten a bite splint, a pair of glasses, a sock, a towel in the past).... so we do not get too alarmed when she sneaks a piece of tomato, or a potato chip, or whatever.... it is JUST HER behavior.  But.... this morning, the leaf she ate, must have been not chewed well and not swallowed well (dogs do not have "chewing" molar teeth, so they tend to try to eat most things whole)... so.... she coughed a bit while on our bed this morning, and she coughed chewed up debris all over the set of clothes (including my hat) that I had laid out on the bed while I was washing up a bit.
• On the one section of road to the U where there is only one lane, I ended up being behind a driver who MUST have a really sore, painful foot, for he would not push on the accelerator in any appreciable sense.  He was going so damn slowly I think even a sloth would have been angry to be behind him.
• And, everything is still leading up to the "Parish" Council Meeting I have to attend this evening.  I WILL do it.... at least this time.... but I am strongly.... no..... VERY STRONGLY considering writing a resignation letter before another meeting comes around.  When my wife and I settle on which parish we want to belong to, I will then immerse myself in helping at that parish.  I am not looking forward to driving half way across the county to get to this new "Parish" Council Meeting when I already know.... especially since DOUBLE the people will be there..... the amount of important work TO DO... would AT MOST take ~5 minutes.... if even that.  Any other business could easily be done by e-mail..... and all the e-mail could be written and distributed in about 15 minutes.  But, this will likely be a 2-3 hour "yammerfest" where folks just blithely ramble on about nothing pertinent to the parish, the diocese, nor the Catholic faith.

My friend who goes by "Unknown" here made some significantly valid points about my pipe smoking.  I grow so tired of abstaining.  I am at a loss on what to do.

PipeTobacco

Dichotomy

 

I happened to recall TWO rather dichotomous dreams from last night.  I believe our dog facilitated in these remembrances.  Her facilitation was brought about by her behavior in the middle of the night.  Usually she stays fast asleep on the bed with my wife and me.  But, occasionally she will get up in the middle of the night and jump off the bed.  This may be because she becomes a bit disgruntled perhaps at being jostled around a bit (by me, most likely as I move around a fair amount while sleeping, my wife stays virtually stationary).  When our dog jumps off the bed, she typically will lay in her dog bed.  But, last night, she jumped off the bed (~2:45am) and began to drink from the glass of water I have on the floor by my side of the bed.  I always have a large glass of water on the floor by the bed because I can get rather thirsty in the night.  I keep it on the floor, so that moisture from the glass does not mar the finish of my nightstand/table by my side of the bed.  

Well, our dog ended up drinking from my glass with apparent gusto and the glass toppled over, making considerable noise (and waking us) and having water flow across the floor.... which she continued to drink.

When awoken by that sharp noise, I awoke from a dream where I was sitting atop of a hill in some park or other, and I was playing a variety of songs on my bass clarinet.  It was rather peaceful and serene (I was NOT playing "Excerpts from Polar Express" (hah!)).  It was warm and sunny atop of the hill and I could see out, far and wide all around me.  

After being awoken, I shuffled to the bathroom, and retrieved a towel to absorb the spill from our dog, and then ambled back to the bathroom to relieve my distended bladder.  I then hunkered down back in bed to sleep some more.  

In my second dream, it was a very pleasant, cooler Summer morning.  I was again outside somewhere, but I am not sure where as it was densely foggy and visually I could not see to any great depth because the fog was so thick.  I was reclining in an outdoor chair, smoking my large bowled, walnut-colored full bent Peterson pipe.  I was smoking a robust burley leaf with a hint of vanilla.  Nothing else was happening, it was just me and my pipe relaxing on the pleasant, foggy morning.  

The infernal clanging of my alarm awoke me from this dream, and I rousted myself out of bed.  I dressed in my exercise clothes, and headed to the indoor track to hoof out my 10 miles (~16km) before coming home to clean up and head the U.  

PipeTobacco

(P.S. Not sure if anyone caught my pictorial/title "pun"?)

Exhaust

 

The word "exhaust" has been on my mind:

• some of the definitions include.... to drain (someone) of their physical or mental resources; tire out.... use up (resources or reserves) completely....waste gases or air expelled from an engine, turbine, or other machine in the course of its operation.
• I was imagining the word in the context of my bass clarinet playing last evening.... the sound and air coming out was a form of exhaust.  By the way, the "Dress Rehearsal" ended up going VERY WELL.... I can only hope that I can/will perform similarly this Saturday.... if I do.... I will be pleased and relieved.  
• I feel exhaust(ed) this morning.  My run (10 miles/~16km) was very sluggish and uninspired and I was actually feeling rather "grumpy" as well.  
• A big part of the "grumpiness" was from my wife telling me that there was a Parish Council Meeting scheduled this Thursday and the thought of this exhausts my psyche.  This is a meeting  that I technically had to attend (as a member of the Council).  Even though our actual Parish closed, it technically combined with another Parish (farther away) and the new combined "Parish" which has one church open and ours closed has me listed as a Council member because I was one in our old, now closed church.  It gives me feelings of frustration about the closure and I really do not want to go.  
• Because of the coldness of the air, I was able to see the exhaust of several vehicles as I drove to the U this morning.  I am hoping that in the majority of these vehicles the exhaust was just mostly steam as the vehicle was warming up in the cold and not excessive pollutants from a poorly tuned vehicle. 
• Even with my bite splint, I awoke with an exhaust(ing) soreness in my tempormandibular joint this morning, and I presume I was clenching and grinding my teeth enough to inflame that joint.  It is making my ear canal feel rather tender as usual when this occurs.  
• I exhaust(ed) my voice physically for three hours today.  I primarily talked about early embryonic mechanisms of how the tetrapod embryo forms its limbs (arms and legs) and how perturbations in the embryonic environment can cause malformations in limb development.  The two bigger examples I spoke of included the exposure to thalidomide in humans and also the multiple limb formation that can occur in amphibians exposed to the parasitic nematode, Ribeiroia.  Thalidomide chemically short circuits biochemical parameters of  periodicity formation in limbs if an embryo is exposed to this chemical at critical periods of limb development.  Ribeiroia induces extraneous limb formation by feasting on the growing limb bud in embryonic amphibians causing them to bifurcate and each division can develop into a limb.  
• The only exhaust I did NOT get to participate in today.... that I would have LIKED to participate in was tasting and feeling the delightful flavors, textures, aromas, and ethereal pleasures of the well tindered exhaust from one of my tobacco pipes.  

PipeTobacco

"Dress Rehersal"

 

I am feeling a bit nervous.  Tonight is our "Dress Rehearsal" for the first concert in our Holiday series.  This first concert is the biggest concert of the six times in which we perform this series. It is held at a large Lutheren church in the heart of downtown and is part of festivities across the whole of downtown when all the city's decorations for the holidays are first turned on. This big concert is this Saturday, so today's "Dress Rehearsal" is a pretty big deal.  

Unfortunately, there is one song of the ten in this series, which is especially FUN to play for the bass clarinet but is more CHALLENGING than usual because it is VERY fast.  It consists of several longer passages in the compilation of songs from the film "Polar Express".  Because of the prominence of the train in this film, many of the songs of the film feature a lot of rapidly moving passages where the bass clarinet musically represents the train sound in a variety of keys.   Basically, a large percentage of my part consists of long, RAPID passages of me trying to sound much like a running string bass line.  Unfortunately, the fingerings on the bass clarinet use a large number of accidentals with many of the rather most complex fingerings of these accidentals needing to be used to accomplish them.  Alternate fingerings are not overly commonly necessary in bass clarinet parts…. and usually never RAPIDLY.  

Due to the rapid tempo of this music which is in a fast, cut-time tempo.... which is further enhanced by our conductor who has a penchant for liking tempos to be even faster than written, I am not feeling "up-to-snuff" on this song, and... I am feeling quite nervous.  Through a lot of practice this past week, I am at a point where I can play these passages reasonably well......  at about 80% of the speed he is likely to take this  music.  Who the hell knows how I will be at full speed tonight.... occasionally this weekend I have made it through at full speed without a problem (by the skin of my teeth).... but other times while practicing at full tempo, I careen off course and sound more like a train derailment.

+ + +

• 10 miles (~16 km) of loops on the indoor track this morning. I probably should have ran outside with my headlight since it was a balmy 45 degrees (~7 C) this morning (unexpectedly).  But, I just did not feel like navigating the dark trails this morning.
• I need to order my running shoes.  I was dismayed that my "shoe mileage app" appears to have gone on the fritz and was misrepresenting my number.  I went back and hand calculated the number of hoofed miles on this pair of shoes and it was closer to ~1,250 miles (~2,000 km) and I really should get a new pair.  I can feel their wear on my feet at times.  It is especially noticeable at the pad at the head of the 5th metatarsal.  
• I still have no damn idea how to try to "fix" my pipe challenges.  I do not know if I trust myself to schedule a trip to enjoy a bowlful at my favorite old pipe shop (the remaining one that is ~45 minutes away.... the other, more nearby ones closed or became a headshop).  I know I would relish that trip.  If I could perhaps limit it to once every 6-7 weeks, I think that would be showing abundant caution and prudence.  But, without the long distance travel.... I can imagine in times of weakness, convincing myself of the ability to shorten the interval considerably.  So, I am feeling cautious about adopting this strategy.  

PipeTobacco

Minor Chords

 I believe I mentioned this a few days ago, but I am not sure how complete my information was at that time.  But, my wife and I have both officially committed to taking guitar lessons together!  We are going to begin these lessons sometime in the first week of January.  We have purchased the lessons, and over the next couple of weeks we will be figuring out out schedules and picking a day and time we would like to have these lessons be so that we (of course) can attend together.  

We are both very happy and excited to do this, and we are considering it a Christmas gift to us as a couple.

A major aspect of learning the guitar is to learn the FINGERINGS for various chords on the guitar.  I am going to begin some serious attempts to toughen up my fingers during the next several weeks to be able to more comfortably form chords with my left hand on the fret board of the guitar.  But, I also have two other plans for me during this time for waiting for our lessons:

1.  I am going to brush up....  review and refresh...  my understanding of the notes within the various chords by practicing them on the piano.  I am rather rusty at this, and so the practice will do me good.  As my primary instrument playing for the last several years has been using my horns (clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor sax, etc), these instruments only play a single note at a time, therefore do not really reinforce the knowledge and understanding of chords.  

2.  I am going to study the organization of the fret board of the guitar in terms of the actual notes that are produced in different positions for different strings.  I think this will help me have a better grasp of the workings of the guitar that will help me learn in the way I think about music (as notes), rather than just a difficult bunch of randomly memorizing hand positions for a "chord sound".  

One of the things I especially look forward to in both of the above.... AND in the guitar lessons is in producing musing in minor keys using minor chords.  I have always greatly appreciated the sound of minor chords and hope to someday be able to successfully play an array of songs that I like, and I typically like them because at least in some portion of the song, there is a prominent part that is in a minor key.

This young fellow actually does a very nice job of discussing the use and practice of playing in a minor key if you are interested.  

+ + +

• Ran 10 miles this morning on the track.
• Purchased a pair of tires for the front end of the vehicle one of my kids drives.  This kid does not have the financial means to buy the tires at the moment, and my wife and I are concerned about this kid driving around when (very soon) the roads will be icy and snow-covered.
• My wife and I will be heading out to a pizza place this evening to have dinner with two of my siblings and their husbands.  I have not seen either of these sisters of mine since the end of September, so we phoned each other up and set tonight as the time to get together.  I do not eat pizza much anymore because of my efforts to maintain a normal BMI, but it will be fun to (carefully) splurge by eating one or two slices tonight.  The place we are going to, I believe, also has a few IPAs available.  That too is tempting.  

+ + +

I am still at a loss on how to better enact my "pipe dream".  I haven't written much about it, but my pipe desire and cravings have been more than "quite robust" lately.  Perhaps it is just my fate to always feel this way, or perhaps it is the crispness of the Fall air... I do not really know.  But, what I feel is that having an occasional pipe IS something I do very much desire.  The beautiful bowlful I had at Iwan Reis lingers so very pleasantly in my mind.  And, having a magical bowlful of pipe tobacco on a trip feels and seems safe enough to do.  But, the damn conundrum is that my trips are awfully far too sporadic.  Yet, the idea of developing some sort of "pattern" of indulgence near or even at home seems too fraught with risk.   Risk.... of "falling off the wagon".    So, I just feel stuck.

+ + +

 I still have a lot of work to try to get done today, so I had better head off.

 PipeTobacco

Bee

Back in the earlier days of time in graduate school, I spent about 1.5 years working with honeybees.  At the time, I was especially interested in animal behavior, and initially thought I wanted behavior to be my primary research focus.  While bees are utterly fascinating, I also began to be more cognizant of the relatively few number of faculty positions for "pure" animal behaviorists at universities.  My worry/concern about wanting to be able to obtain a tenure track faculty position nudged me to imagine ways I could be more "marketable".  By happenstance, I ended up taking a course in development because it sounded quite interesting.  Development is a course that highlights embryology through the lens of physiology... and it revealed to me (in a way I was not previously cognizant of) the idea of physiology of the development of behavior.  That course shaped me into what I became, a developmental endocrinologist (a sub-speciality of physiology) where a sizable portion of my work also involves the examination of behavior.  Study of physiology became just as much a passion as the study of behavior, and this was a great thing, because not only was it exciting for me, and I found an area where I felt I could contribute.... and physiologists were also more sought after as a specialization in biology departments at most universities.  And, it apparently worked well for me.  I only applied for one academic position in my life, and had only ONE academic job interview... and was hired after that one interview.  In academia, that is not particularly common.  Many folks end up applying and interviewing for several dozen (or more) positions before being hired. 

I was thinking about bees because during the two Summers where I worked with the bees, besides immersing myself in the study of their language, and how it is used to communicate navigation signals to other worker bees in a hive..... I also grew a tremendous fondness for honey.  Part of working with bees experimentally involves having to set up a variety of experimental hives in various configurations.  I would regularly tear apart existing beehives (my mentor in this work kept a few dozen "farming" style beehives just for this purpose).  So, quickly I learned how to go about tearing apart and reconstructing hives to collect and shape the environment for the thousands of bees in a hive for the variety of experiments I ran.  We used to have frequent honey and beeswax collecting runs as well, and so..... even though before graduate school I rarely had honey as neither of my parents were particularly fond of it (it was not present much growing up)..... as a result of those two Summers working with bees, I have been a devotee of honey ever since.  

I even have had (several) varieties of honey tinctured pipe tobaccos over the years.  If you are not familiar with the care and handling of bees, you may not realize that to manipulate bees you need to use a smoker (shown below), which will quiet bees and keep them from being as aggressive and utterly frantic if you disturb their hive.  

Also, most everyone who works on hives wears a head to toe full body suit designed to minimize bees ability to sting you.  I do say MINIMIZE, for across the two Summers, even consistently wearing a full body suit, gloves, boots, and mask, I would estimate I received ~250 stings overall.  A riled up next of 40,000 bees is a damn ugly thing to see, and even with the smoker and full body suits, if you had to manipulate the hive enough, they would swarm you, and even with the full body suit, a few bees would be successful in getting their stingers through the cloth, especially in tighter areas, like the bend of the knee or elbow.  So, I would average 5-10 stings a week.... but that was considered pretty damn good, when I would would typically encounter 50,000-100,000 bees a week through manipulating just two or three hives. 

But, back to the bee smoker.  It was common practice, back in the day, for pipe smoking workers with bees, to smoke and clench their pipe inside their headgear.  The full face of most suits looked like a window screen (see below):

By keeping your pipe clenched while wearing your suit, it offered another layer of protection from the bees, because you could blow pipe smoke at them to quiet them and keep them from aggregating around your face as well. I did this often while working with the bees.

I still eat a lot of honey these days.  I love the subtle flavors.  And, I have even tried a few "speciality" honeys where the predominate foraging flowers for nectar are derived from the same species.  You really CAN taste a subtle difference in these honeys made from unicultural flower species.  It is interesting and entertaining.  

And, I have enjoyed a variety of honey tinctured pipe tobaccos as well.  Twenty five or so years ago, I had a brief period of time where I had a temporary interest in trying to "blend" my own pipe tobaccos.  Basically, what I was doing was taking a very simple, plain burley leaf and adding "toppings" of flavors to the leaf.  I made small batches (a few ounces) of several flavors, including French Vanilla, Chocolate, Raspberry.... and Honey.  While I ended up enjoying all of them, the process of fussing with making them did not really appeal to me, so I let that sort of experimentation fall to the wayside after that.  It was not "my cup of tea" I guess.  It was simply more fun to just buy and smoke various pipe tobaccos.  

+ + +
 

• Ran 10 miles this morning (~16 km).
• Went to a Department Meeting
• Graded two sets of exams for A&P.
  
• Taught and guided a set of students in a lab about tissue and organ regeneration.
  
• Gave a lecture about neurogenesis (the process of how in early development, neurons develop their appendages and have biochemical means to find each other or find their target organs).
• Drove a pair of visiting scholars to the airport so they could start their journey home.
  

PipeTobacco

Diner

I awoke from an interesting dream when my alarm started clanging at 4:55am.  In this dream, things were all rather mixed up and scattered in terms of dates, times, appearance, ect.  The gist of the dream was that it was set sometime in the latter part of the 1970s or early 1980s, and I was at a diner of some sort (imagine something akin to a "Big Boy" restaurant).  I was sitting in a booth in the far back corner.  I was quietly smoking my pipe, and looking out the window at the grey turbulent skies which were releasing a mixture of rain and snow onto the ground.  My pipe was one of my various 1/4 bent Dublins, and I was enjoying a simple burley leaf with a hint of vanilla.  I must have already placed my order with the waitress, as I had a steaming cup of black coffee in front of me that I was patiently waiting for it to get to room temperature, after having spooned in a few ice cubes from the glass of water that was also in front of me.  

Even though it was very much the late 70s or early 80s, I was my old, grey bearded self of today. I was wearing one of my grey, corduroy sport coats with the grey elbow patches that was from that era (but that I still have today, and still wear since it fits again for the last several years).  I love this sport coat, and it is amongst the many I have and still wear from that era.  Please note that they look traditional, and do not in any way look "leisure suit-esque" 😀.

I had a book with me, but I do not remember what book it was, as I really was not looking through it, but instead peering out the window.  The waitress then came back with my order, and although I must have ordered these in my dream, seeing them arrive shocked AND thrilled me. I had ordered five (FIVE!!!) different ice cream shakes (four of them malted).  I had ordered:

1.  Chocolate (malted)

2. Vanilla (malted)

3. Strawberry (NOT malted)

4.  Pumpkin Spice (malted, but definitely not of the era)

5.  Coffee Mocha (malted, but again definitely not of the era) 

I had just laid my pipe gently onto the tabletop, and was reaching for my spoon to begin to dig in (I usually eschew straws initially until near the end) when......

"clang, clang, clang,... clang, clang, clang......"

The damn alarm forcibly wrestled me into wakefulness.

+ + +

It was too cold and windy to attempt to run outside, so I went to the indoor track and was the first person (other than the counter lady, Teresa, who opens up the place) to step inside.  I quickly changed into my damnably expensive running shoes (with ~1000 miles on them, so they are getting worn out) and traipsed upstairs to the track.  I stretched a little bit, then started to pound the "pavement".

• 11.1 miles stomped out this morning (~18 km)
• As I finished, I went into the small stretching room to stretch more completely after my run.  One of the regulars (a walker) was in there trying to adjust his phone to play something or other on his headset.  I have talked with MANY of the regulars over the years, but never with this fellow, as he had always been rather quiet and normally did not stick around after his walk.
• But, today he decided to talk, and he said to me, "I heard you were a teacher."
• I nodded my head in affirmation.  
• He then said, "What school did you teach at?  When did you retire? I retired in 2012, just as soon as I could at 62 myself.  I worked for the city, plowing snow, and taking care of the parks."
  
• I looked at him ruefully, and told him I was STILL teaching.  I then said I was teaching at the U.
• "Oh, you're a "perfesser" then? In what?"
• I told him I taught biology.
• "How long you got left?"
• I told him I am thinking I will probably work at the U for perhaps three more years.
• With that, he raised his eyebrow at me quizzically.
• I told him that professors do not have a mandatory retirement age, so I could conceivably stay there forever if I wanted to, but that was not in my plans.  I then told him I knew of two colleagues who did not retire until they were in their early 80s.

• With that bit of information, the fellow just stopped talking and left a bit abruptly. 

+ + + 

I searched around some more for the blueberry tinctured pipe tobacco, but could not find it.  I am HOPING I still have some left somewhere in my many stashes.  It was wonderful.  Instead, I did find a partial tin of Balkan Sobranie, which is one of the few pipe tobaccos with latakia in them that I liked enough to buy a fair amount of.  Latakia is not particularly special to me, although on rare occasion it is pleasant.  Balkan Sobranie is no longer made (I take that back, a "replica" version is made that I have never tried, but most folks say it is no where near the same.)  But, I opened the tin of Balkan Sobranie to enjoy its aroma a few times yesterday and this morning.  

PipeTobacco

Cabot

 

In response to Margaret's comment about not generally liking wine, I thought I would mention my own "preferences" as it were.  Overall I am not much of a "drinker".  These days, I would likely average about two drinks a month.  At my "peak" of drinking, which was while my elderly father-in-law was alive, I would average about two drinks every other week.  But.... what are my PREFERENCES:

1.  Beer.... preferrably a very dark, bitter, hoppy IPA

2.  Gin..... I enjoy the "pine tree flavor" and I like the bitterness of tonic water as well.

3.  Beer.... regular beer

4.  Bourbon or Whisky.... learned to appreciate and like... as this was the preferred beverage of my father-in-law.  

The above represents my general "likes" in rank order.

A distant 5th (pun somewhat intended) is....

5.  Wine..... I generally like red wines, but do not really enjoy white or Rose' wines.  But, a special exception is made when a friend makes his own wine.... then I will try anything. I actually have three wine making friends who sometimes will give me a bottle of their creation.  I generally find these interesting/fun because the wines are "odd" in some fashion....... the latest being the wine I drank last Friday, BLUEBERRY wine.  It was rather fun.  In the past I have had a variety of others.... dandelion wine, raspberry wine, blackberry wine, peach wine, raisin wine, prune wine, and a few others.

+ + +

I am not sure if I am in "bear hibernation mode" or what.... but I have been robustly hungry all day long this morning.  I would eat just about damn near anything at the moment.  Fortunately, I still have some of my food in my lunch box to eat.  

+ + +

I am in a really big "roasted vegetable" mode lately.  I do not turn my nose up at ANY vegetable at any time, but in the past week, I have had all sorts of roasted vegetables..... roasted Brussels sprouts,  roasted beets, roasted zucchini, roasted bell peppers, roasted butternut squash, roasted acorn squash, and roasted potatoes.  I could eat bowls-full as big as my head of these vegetables every day and I would be delighted.  

I read an article recently that has me curious to try OTHER vegetables that this article SAYS can be roasted..... including roasted CUCUMBER and roasted CELERY... both of which sound intriguing.  I greatly enjoy and already eat very large quantities of both cucumber and celery, but the idea of roasting them seems so odd, but I have to at least give it a try. 

+ + +

• Ran my usual 10 miles (~16km) this morning at the track.  Even with the time change yesterday, there was not enough light for me to run outside without a headlamp, and I was just not in the mood to navigate my run by lamp light.  
• In some ways I am feeling "blah" about my running.  There is nothing new going on.  It seems mundane to talk to folks about running because most folks know I am running and have heard me mention it before.  I tend to feel more "motivated" when folks at least nod their head that an old geezer like me running, is kind of interesting/unique.  It helps me persevere on days when I would really prefer to chuck it.
• My wife and I made the decision that we are going to purchase guitar lessons for us to share and attend together as part of our Christmas gifts for each other.  My wife is a generally good "by ear" player who knows a reasonable number of chords, but does not read music.  I truly am a basic beginner on stringed instruments, knowing how to strum a bit and a few basic chords, but I know comfortably how to read music.  We thought it would be fun to take these lessons AND we think they will help motivate us to practice as well, which we have been suggesting we should do together for quite a while, but never seemed to get started in doing with any regularity.  

+ + +

Pipes and pipe tobaccos have been on my mind much of the weekend and today.  While doing some tedious grading of a large number of papers (on line submitted papers to boot)  I was doing late into the wee hours of Sunday morning, I would (far too) often take a "break" and mosey around various pipe and pipe tobacco sites I know.  I was hunting around to see if there was a blueberry burley I could find.  I used to enjoy often a blueberry tinctured pipe tobacco, but it was from a shop now closed, and I do not think I have any left.... or at least it is no longer in the desk drawer I thought it was in.  I wanted to open the pouch if I could have found it, to smell deeply its fragrances.  I also actually have a Dublin style Dr. Grabow pipe somewhere, that is one of the ones with an enameled bowl... it is blue (I have a green one too that I liked to use for St. Patrick's Day).  I remember grinning when folks used to comment that my "blue pipe" would have them think about blueberries (as I was smoking the blueberry tinctured variety).  

+ + +

For some reason I am not sure about, Sebastian Cabot has been in my thoughts as well.  I always enjoyed him on television and in films.  And, in my younger years, I always thought I looked a bit like him.... when by beard and mustache were dark brown and my body somewhat rotund.  

PipeTobacco 

A Glass of Wine

 So very pleasant is a glass of wine following a hellacious, foul week at work.   I am sipping on a glass of blueberry wine a friend from band gave me a bottle of roughly a year ago.  He made it from blueberries he had picked.  

It’s delightful flavors and neural quelling have me hankering deeply for a pipe to complete the available rhapsody of the adventure.  Yet, ever stalwart, I shall (I think) refrain…. at least this evening. 

Unless I break my fast of the pipe, my wife and I will simply watch television amicably this evening to start the glory of the unencumbered weekend!!!!! 

PipeTobacco 

Maximillian Kolbe

 

 

Saint Maximilian Kolbe was born  in Zdunska Wola, Poland on January 8, 1894.  In seminary he and other seminarians founded a group dedicated to Mary Immaculate called “Knights of the Immaculate.” After Kolbe’s priestly ordination, this group published a newspaper and magazine. They also operated a radio station that was very influential in fostering devotion to Mary and opposing the rise of the Nazi regime.  In 1933, Kolbe lived at Niepokalanów (Niepokalanów  is a Roman Catholic monastery and religious community in Teresin Poland) and he and his community had become increasingly more critical of the Germans and the Nazi regime. He and the Niepokalanów community worked to establish a hospital and took in many refugees from Poland including about 2,000 Jews whom the community hid from Nazi detection.

On February 19, 1941, the Germans shut down Niepokolanow and took the community, the refugees and also Kolbe prisoner.  They were all transported to Auschwitz. During the time Kolbe was at Auschwitz, there was a prisoner who succeeded in escaping the camp, which caused a great deal of anger and retribution from the Nazi commandant of Auschwitz.  To further threaten the prisoners and deter them from trying to also escape, this commandant selected ten men from among the prisoners to go into a starvation bunker in the center of Auschwitz, where they would be seen by the other prisoners as they slowly starved to death.  One of the men selected wailed about his wife and children being wittness to his starvation as they too were at Auschwitz.  Fr. Kolbe stepped up to the commandant and stated he would take the place of the man with a family. Upon learning that Kolbe was a Catholic priest, the commandant was quite eager to send him to the bunker and allowed the other man to return to the main body of prisoners at Auschwitz. 

While in the starvation bunker Kolbe ministered to the other prisoners, praying with them, and helping them prepare them for death. On August 14, the Nazi's presumed all would be dead after weeks of starvation.   Soldiers entered the bunker to remove the moldering bodies.  They were shocked, when they came to Kolbe's body that he was still breathing weakly.  To kill him, they injected a large quantity of carbolic acid into his body, and he died shortly thereafter. His body and those of his fellow cellmates were cremated the next day, August 15, which in the Catholic Church is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.

Maximilian Kolbe was canonized as a confessor and “martyr of charity” by St. John Paul II on October 10, 1982. His feast day is the day of his death, August 14. The man whose place Kolbe took in the starvation bunker, Franciszek Gajowniczek, was present at his canonization.

In the image above, Kolbe is on the left, and Gagowniczek (later in life) is on the right.  

+ + +

The above encapsulates what I have been able to learn in the last ~18 hours or so since I left Mass last evening.  Yesterday was "All Saints Day" in the Roman Catholic faith.  Because of the long work day and extreme busyness of work yesterday, I needed to find a Mass that occurred later in the day.  The diocesan Cathedral (quite a ways away) had a 6:00pm Mass, which I thought we could get to in time yesterday.  My wife and I had to drive very rapidly and I had to work considerably throughout the day to compress things at work into a more compact form, but we arrived at the parking lot, and we both jumped out of her car and made it into the entryway of the church just as the opening hymm of Mass was starting.  

One of the nice things at this Mass of the many, was a bit of a surprise.  One of the cathedral groups had worked on putting together a basket with small cards in it of a large array of recognized saints.  We were encouraged at the end of Mass to each take a card, open it,  and then spend some time learning about the particular saint you had selected.  As you can guess, my card had Maximillian Kolbe on it.  Although I recognized his name, I really knew nothing about him and his journey.  I am very happy to have picked the card containing his name.  

+ + +

Some folks are extremely negative regarding the idea of saints in the Catholic Church.  In my opinion, this negativity is because these folks misunderstand the role/significance of saints in the Catholic Church, or are just generally anti-Catholic overall.   The roles of a Catholic saints today is to act as a mentors and example of how to live faith as a Catholic. Since saints are presumed to be in heaven, many Catholics will pray for saints to intercede on their behalf for various reasons. It is an extreme misconception that many folks have that Catholics worship saints.  No person who is a practicing Catholic worships any saints.  

+ + +

• As mentioned, yesterday was so jam-packed with doing things and trying to fit all the needed tasks into the day, that I did not have a single moment to write here.  And, I did not have a single moment to eat all day until after Mass.  
• Part of the "jam-packed" nature of yesterday was that six months ago, I had idiotically scheduled my dental cleaning for 7:50am on November 1st.  And, to make matters worse, I had completely forgotten about the damnable appointment.  It was not until late Tuesday evening when I happened to glance at the answering machine attached to the kitchen phone and saw the damnable blinking light.  On the recording was a reminder of my 7:50am appointment for Wednesday morning.  
• Yes, I cussed (audibly too) when I heard that message.  It meant that I had to head upstairs to begin my "super cleaning event" of my chompers that I always do in an effort to dissuade the hygenist or dentist from having to stay at that hell hole any longer than possible.  It also brought back memories of my having to refrain from my beautiful pipes when I went to bed the evening before the damn appointment so as to not receive admonishments about smoking a pipe.  Both thoughts put me in a sour mood.  
• Fortunately, my teeth cleaning regime (my daily regime, not just the "super cleaning event") resulted in my receiving a clean bill of health for my chompers.  The hygenist remarked that my teeth were so clean and free of tartar that she had to hardly do anything at all.  She also commented that she thought my rather heavy and robust beard was rather "stylish".  That made me grin.  But, when the dentist came in, he did his normal peering in my mouth and grabbing and moving about my tongue to look for abnormalities.  Finding nothing, he then began to grope around my neck region with his hands, working up to my jawline, looking for "lumps" or other potential "problems".  Finding nothing of the sort, he then dismissed me saying I was doing a good job with my teeth, especially considering my TMJ.  Of course, when I saw the mirror near the exit of the waiting room.... I no longer looked like a genteel, "well-groomed" professorial sort as seemed to be the hygenist's suggestion..... but instead looked like a disheveled mess due to the dentist groping my neck and jawline.... it seemed I now looked more akin to this:

• Ran my 10 miles yesterday two parts..... first some in the morning, starting at 6:00am at the track.  Then I went to the dentist and two of my classes.  Then I high tailed it over the the U Gym & Track and finished running to GET TO 10 miles for the day.  Then I went back to more classes. 
• I am going to go running now, as by the time I got to bed last night.... I ended up getting less sleep than usual.  I WAS SO TIRED this morning, that I gave up on running.  I have to make that up now.  
• Other than when I was drifting off to sleep, did I have a chance to think about beautiful pipes and pipe tobaccos.  And, as I was so tired already, I barely started working through one of those exceptionally pleasant memories before I was fast asleep.

PipeTobacco