What Am I Doing These Days?

a) Dissertation. In a recent thread on Crooked Timber, someone stated that it is better to write just 15 minutes per day than to let a day go by with no writing at all. I will try to abide by this dictum. Whenever I sit down at the other computer (the Mac that is not connected to the Internet) I realize I get engrossed in it, fighting the computer to make a graph look EXACTLY the way I want it to look and, lo and behold, I realize I spent four hours doing it. If I persists every day, my Thesis wil be done in a couple of weeks....

b) I am preparing a lecture about circadian rhythms for next week. 230 freshmen and sophomores in the audience. I've done it before, but each year it is a nerve-wrecking event.

c) I've been writing a proposal for teaching a blogging class at the community college where I teach biology. I hope the Dean approves of it. If so, you'll be able to all watch it happen live online.

d) I've been quietly working in the background - updating my blogroll. I have also slipped on updating the Archives By Categories - one thing that I most wish Blogspot will start automating soon. I need to get those back up to date.

e) I've had several blogging friends encourage me to turn some of my best posts into a book. I am starting to consider this idea seriously. I may just do it. I am more interested, though, in writing several more serious Tutorial-type posts on Circadiana (plus doing some mild editing of the old ones) and turning those into a (text)book.

f) I will be hosting the next Skeptic's Circle in two weeks on Circadiana. You can find my e-mail address in the "About Me" section, so send me your entries.

g) I have read several books recently that I feel I need to review here, the most recent being Chris Mooney's "Republican War on Science". Be patient and you will see all those appear in this space over the next few weeks.

h) I am working on a long list of "My favourite science fiction books (and Why I like them)". I hope to post that within a few days and I hope a lot of people chime in with their ideas in the comments.

i) I am working on a looooong post that summarizes all of my Lakoffian-based thoughts in one place. That would also be an opportunity to link to many of my older posts that new readers may not be familiar with. I am having a hard time, though. I feel a lot of that is highly speculative and that makes me uneasy about the endeavor. I guess I can dig through the psychological and sociological literature to back up (or alter) my claims, but that will take too much time that I do not have right now.

Also, much of it is a rehash of the old stuff with relatively little new insight, just better organized, more clearly written, and all placed in a single post. Should I keep working on it? Or should I just ask you to dig through the "Understanding America" category if you have not done that yet? These are some of the same reasons I am having trouble with the idea of turning this blog into a book - I feel I need to find peer-reviewed papers to back up some of my more outrageous claims before submitting my thoughts to print.

j) I am seriously looking for a part-time job. I am sick of getting in the red every month and begging for money from the family and my blog readers. Do you know of an opening in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Pittsboro, RTP, Cary, Raleigh, Morrisville or Apex? I'll even go to Durham if the job is good. Teaching, writing, data-entry, waiting tables, sales, shelving books....whatever.

k) It is a holiday, after all. I am looking forward to the turkey. Traditionally, I get the leg! Sometimes I also get the wing. It is nice being the favourite son-in-law...