Bits and Pieces of Blah and Brrrrrrrrr!

It's cold in New Jersey. Not as dangerously cold as Upstate New York, but chilly nonetheless. The little boy previously known as Clifford has changed his ID again, and is now Donald the Very Big Shark Who Tickles People. Yesterday Donald declared he couldn't go outside because his "fins might freeze," so we have been devoting ourselves to other, indoor pursuits. To wit:

1. We have determined that the freezing point of Windex is somewhere around 10^o F. That determination was made when we briefly opened the French doors to clean off the doggie noseprints on the outside glass. Also, Windex makes lovely frost crystals.

2. We have determined that Whiskercicles are adorable. Whiskercicles are what happens when dogs run around madly in this weather for five minutes or so. Their breath freezes on their whiskers, and the result really is worthy of inclusion on Cute Overload. I must try to get a picture.

3. We have determined that the best way to spend a cold afternoon is to invite some good friends over for a playdate. The only hard part is at the end when Donald the Very Big Shark watches his friends leave and says forlornly, "Why do they have to leave? I like them! Will they come back sometime again? Because I like them!"

Thank you all for coming and breaking up the Winter Blahs for us! Hopefully next time we do this it'll be a bit warmer and everyone can venture safely outside without fear of freezing fins.

4. This is The Greatest Thing to wear in cold weather. Kevin and Big Shark gave it to me for Christmas, but it's been so warm I haven't had much opportunity to wear it. It's really comfy and toasty. Thank you, guys!

5. This is one of the best documentaries I have seen in forever. It really communicates the competitiveness one finds in the synthetic organic chemistry community, the difficulty of natural products synthesis, and to me, the truly amazing thing is that the race to physostigmine detailed in this show is not all that different from the races to other products that go on these days, despite all our advances in instrumentation and technology.

Percy Julian was a contemporary of my grandparents, who were also organic chemists. They spent much of their careers looking for non-petroleum energy sources (yes, the alternative energy movement has been around for a long, long time), particularly during World War II. The description of Julian's work into the uses of soybeans for everything from oil to paint is bringing back a lot of memories of stories my grandparents told me.

6. In fifteen days I will be 37 weeks along, which is the magic number as far as a homebirth is concerned. If I were to go into labor before then, I would have to deliver in a hospital. If I can make it two weeks and a day, then this baby can pop out any ole time he so desires and we can welcome him into the world at home. That is definitely something to look forward to, and is a big help in chasing away the Winter Blahs.

And that is it for now. Towards the end of the week it is supposed to warm up above the freezing mark again. I'm hoping the warmer weather will awaken my brain, and inspire me to post something of note.