June, December, whatever...

Yeah, so, six months have gone by without a blog entry. Mea culpa and all. Much has happened since then, a thrilling tale of Vikings, ninjas, manuscripts, and Michael Bay-esque explosions and other various and sundry special effects.

Academia

First, the book chapters were submitted, and I've been in contact with the editor ever since. That manuscript is in a form with which we're both happy, but we'll see what Open Court Press has to say. The other is lost in an editorial black hole. I expect to hear back from him sometime before the Mayan Calendar finishes and Carrot Top finally kills us all and/or the Zombie Apocalypse occurs. Either way, you'll need a shotgun and a blunt object. A third book chapter is due next month, so naturally I'm writing a blog entry instead. In all fairness, I've been reading about the legal history of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses in the First Amendment and the wranglings about how to properly define "religion" in that context, and it is just as thrilling as it sounds. So I'll be sure to extend my research onto Facebook and see if Mafia Wars has a solution to the issue.



Second, the semester is over, and grading was, as always, a little less fun than involuntary eye surgery, but it is over and done with. The new semester doesn't start for another month, so I'm back in Pittsburgh relaxing as much as is possible during a working vacation. This semester involved teaching an overload, thanks to Todd Furman's laziness, which he chooses to define as a sabbatical to write a book, elevate his house to prevent future flooding damage, and take care of his family. Whatever. I've seen the Xbox in his office, and I know the sound of tapping on the controller for Guitar Hero. Where he got Guitar Hero: Barry Manilow, I have no idea.



Third, I started training in Tae Kwon Do again, which was on hold since my senior year of college. I have my Black Belt exam in February, for which I have to break a two-inch thick concrete block. With my hand. Which is not normally designed for such activities, and threatens to put a serious damper on my social life. Plus there's the whole "relearning everything from white through brown belt" - it sounds worse than it is, but it will still be challenging.



Fourth, the social life is interesting, as always. There was a near miss that is still unresolved with a local in Lake Charles, a second possibility in the wings, histrionic calls from a quasi-ex back in Pittsburgh, and I ran into an ex today while on my way to the Apple store. It seemed to be uncomfortable all around, which was probably to be expected. But there are some people that are just poison to us - like heroin, it feels good when you are using, but you know it is bad for you, and you are better off without it. It's hard not to pick up, but gets easier with time, especially with the knowledge that it's way too easy to fall back into the same bad habits.

Fifth, some friends and I have started a photography business: Aegis Imagery. We'll see what happens.

Last, it looks like the Chatham teaching may have run its course. The classes I normally teach are mainstays of a program that is going the way of the dodo, so it's unclear whether I'll have any graduate courses, which will be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I'll be losing a source of income that was a nice supplement to the McNeese check. On the other hand, I'll be teaching a normal courseload and will have more free time. I'll be checking with the folks at Point Park to see if they're interested in having me teach online courses for them, just in case.

So fun all around. With any luck, I'll be able to have some semblance of normalcy in posting here in the coming weeks.

Alles Gute.

Time flies...

...when you're not traveling at the speed of light.

It's been over a month since I last wrote, and in that time, hurricane season has begun, "heat index" has taken on a new meaning for me, and summer classes have begun for good and for ill.

I do not anticipate massive amounts of water falling from the heavens before I drive back to Pittsburgh next week, so I'm not in crisis mode. That will come at the end of the month, which will bring with it two manuscript deadlines. With any luck, they'll be done beforehand, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my two undergraduate medical ethics classes and graduate research methodology course will be occupying my time (in addition to several volumes on Abrahamic monotheism). The fun never stops in the twisting and turning life of a professional philosopher.

Recently granted tenure

In other news, the Louisiana pilot light was relit, so the furnace is back on. It's been in the mid-90's all week, and they had to come up with new numbers to describe the humidity. I spent yesterday at the pool, and am rather lobsterish at the moment as a result, but the swim felt nice. And then I got in the pool.

The classes are winding up and down. My graduate students will be submitting their final papers soon, which will result in a flurry of paperwork. My undergraduates have been submitting bibliographies, and having a hard time recognizing that one-page letters and book reviews probably aren't going to be offering extended arguments they can use to develop their own positions, which will produce a flurry of panicky e-mails that will be answered by information in their syllabi.

Anyway, all will be well once I'm back North, in the Land of Reasonable Summers.

Alles Gute.

Aargh...

A quick surfacing from the grading Abyss to note a new source of torment...

One of the list-servs to which I've subscribed just posted two jobs - both chairs in philosophy at the University of Vienna (one in applied ethics). The only language commitment necessary is the willingness to learn German within three years (which I already have covered). If I weren't the low man on the totem pole as a newly minted Asst. Professor, I'd throw my hat in the ring for consideration.

Alles Gute.

Well that was fast...

Two new updates of interest.

Pictured: Sex Machine
Not Picture: Actual Sex

First, the car is now street legal, thanks to the maneuverings and kindly assistance of a fellow Pennsylvania transplant who happens to work down here at the DMV. And for those of you still registering and having cars inspected in Pennsylvania, my new plate is valid for two years, and the *entire* vehicle inspection consisted of:

1. Do the headlights work?
2. Does the horn work?
3. Do the turn signals work?
4. Do the high-beams work?
5. Do the reverse lights work?

And it cost me $10. I wish I were kidding. I'm golden until next May.

The One True God

The second piece of information is that my abstract on Pastafarianism was accepted. Like, immediately. I sent it off late last night and received the acceptance today, which was also the deadline for the abstracts. So I get to immerse myself in the philosophy and psychology of religion in defense of agnostic theism - i.e., the idea that if there is something transcending human experience, we have no way of knowing what it is, and the FSM is just as valid as any of the other, more traditional deities like Yahweh, Allah, Thor, Chuck Norris, etc.

So, yeah. It will make for a busy summer, as I have to write an chapter on Buddhism for the Dark Tower and Philosophy book first. Never a dull moment.

Alles Gute.

End of the Semester

Busy today, so the information/humor ratio will be rather high.

At long last, the semester is drawing to a close - there are three days of class left and then the tests begin. Consequently, the next two weeks will be a flurry of grading and panicked undergraduates. Yee-hah.

In other news, the biodiversity talk went well. About sixty people attended (both students and faculty); people were sitting on the floor and standing in the hallway to listen. It can't help but do the ego good. ;-)

I'll be submitting an abstract for a book on new religions; I have an idea for an article on the epistemological challenge posed by parody religions like Pastafarianism - the religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. There has been a recurring problem in both the philosophy and psychology of religion - there really isn't a clearly defined concept of what constitutes a valid religion. A number of ideas have been thrown around over the years, with some theorists becoming pretty influential, but there haven't been any criteria that don't apply equally to the genuinely held beliefs of some of the religiously fixated patients with whom I used to work. Religions propose what amount to coherent frameworks - rules are created that are internally consistent (at least in principle), but there is no means by which one can step outside that framework to establish whether it is objectively true or false. So, consequently, any belief set that proposes a similar internally coherent framework has just as much claim to truth as any other. This ends up having some pretty interesting consequences - the set of all beliefs that constitute potentially valid religions balloons. The book explores aspects of beliefs of some of the newer religions (e.g., Scientology, the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Raelians, etc.), and the editors expressed interest in seeing something on parody religions. We'll see what happens.

Aside from this, the day will be spent grading, hitting the gym, and doing laundry. I hosted poker last night, so I'm all about having a low-key day today. I'm working my way through the massive amounts of shish-kebab and rice I made for last night.

Time for lunch and the Pens game. Alles Gute.

Tax Day. Glorious Tax Day.

Aside from the chuckleheads holding tea parties protesting government spending (which, of course, is a new phenomenon and certainly not indicative of the previous eight years of apparent fiscal conservatism *cough*recordbudgetdeficitfarworsethanReagan's*cough*), it is a beautiful sunny day, and I'm happy to say that I'm now sunburned. On April 15th. From laying by the pool. And not at the University, because we're on Spring Break.

In fairness, after the Pens game and the gym, I'll be spending the rest of the evening reading about natural products and their derivatives in the constant struggle to discover new antibiotics, antivirals, and anti-fungals, in addition to how natural products and their derivatives can be used in the development of anti-cancer medications. Envy the weather, not the workload. ;-)

Alles Gute.

Bureaucracy Inaction

I'm just a ray of ******* sunshine.

In psychology, Freud no longer has as much influence as he did back in the heyday of psychoanalysis. Most undergraduates and high schoolers have heard of his ideas about the id, ego, and superego, and he is justifiably part of the history of contemporary psychology and psychiatry. One thing that he has given us (and which has developed over the years) is the idea of defense mechanisms. These are designed as ways of coping with unpleasantness, either within oneself or in one's environment. Denial and projection tend to be familiar to most people - the former, well, if you know pop culture you'll understand the reference.

"No, it isn't!"

And projection is, well, when you take your own faults and suggest that they are really the problems of other people.

Regardless, one of the most fun of the defense mechanisms, in my ever so humble opinion, is reaction formation. In reaction formation, one's words and actions are the polar opposite of one's true feelings and desires. It is frequently a cause of some of the more strident forms of homophobia - the closeted figure is the most vocal in his (it tends to be his) objections and threats.

I offer this as an explanation for what follows. As you are probably aware, I moved down to Louisiana. Well, Louisiana is not terribly keen on maintaining the licensure and registration of vehicles belonging to imported folks such as myself, and so, I spent Friday at the Department of Motor Vehicles, in a vain effort to secure a Louisiana license and registration, as my car needs to be inspected by the end of the month, and the mechanics won't touch the damn thing until it has all the right stickers and plates. Fair enough. And this leads me to the reason for this post.

I love the DMV. ^_^ SQUEEE!!!

I love the DMV. It is a model of efficiency. It also does not embody backwards bureaucracy. It makes sense that they would be willing to accept a check for registration costs, but not for a driver's license. It makes sense that the nearest ATM would be at a corner store a block from the office. It also makes sense that the fee would be $21.50, which is an amount most ATMs will allow you to withdraw. It definitely makes sense that this would also necessitate another two hour wait. There most certainly were not people missing more teeth than a shark produces in its lifetime. There most definitely were not myriad and competing odors of uncertain origin. Everyone at the DMV realized that sounds carry beyond their cell phones, and therefore did not carry on conversations that were far better whispered in an empty bar, rather than broadcast to everyone waiting. It most definitely made sense to have a numbering system that gives you no inclination where you are in the queue. I was number 324, so it makes sense that a random selection of individuals who were selected before me were 123, 051, 052, 143, 651, 652, 423, etc.

I enjoy the fact that I have to contact the Pennsylvania Dept. of Motor Vehicles this week to secure a copy of my title, so that I can repeat all of the above *before* getting my car inspected prior to the month's end. I repeat: I love the DMV.

Alles Gute.

Oh. Goody.

Now there are two things that could eat me.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520131750.htm

Apparently there are 30,000 Burmese pythons on the loose in Florida, and, per the Associate Professor of Herpetology and Fear Induction cited, they can live in any environment that gators can, meaning that they can be found anywhere in the lower 1/3 of the United States. Oh, and apparently they are breeding like slithering, limbless bunnies. Bunnies with scales. Bunnies capable of capturing, crushing, and eating a ******* alligator. Bad-ass Bunnies.

In less lethal news, it is sunny and warm and I have Vietnamese food.

Alles Gute.

A quick thought about grading.

I am currently most of the way through grading my first set of exams, so this will have to be brief. There are tests that are easy to grade - those from the people who have studied and know what they are talking about, as well as those who haven't bothered to study, as my red pen makes a few quick slash marks and we're good to go. The problem are the people who write incoherent answers - there are parts of their answer that make sense, but overall it's a mess. There are nuggets of truth contained in the answer, kind of like peanuts in stool.

Alles Gute.

Damn Girl Scouts

First and foremost, it was great seeing the family over Mardi Gras. By the end of the parade, I looked like Mr. T, but without the tasteful fashion sense.

In other news, **** the Girl Scouts with an iron stick.

Devil in a Blue Box

I made resolutions to eat better and exercise more intelligently (i.e., mix things up, don't let the body adapt to one kind of exercise, exercise more regularly, etc.). I bought fruits and vegetables, a new scale to track several body metrics (e.g., body fat percentage, since overall weight might not decrease during dieting, as muscle replaces fatty tissue), and had been good for awhile now (the visiting family was a clear exception). Then the little cookie pushers brought out their table with signs like "Good Cause" and "Noblesse Oblige". I've written elsewhere about my experience with them, so I will quote myself:

**** you, Girl Scouts. You and your Samoas and your Dulche de Leches. Didn't you know I just bought a new scale to track four different body markers? Didn't you see the *healthy* things I bought *right before* you sidled up with your table and "Good Cause" signs? The fruits and vegetables and reduced sodium/calorie soups? Didn't you know I would be helpless before you and your new flavors "Willpower Rot" and
"Eat 'em, Fatty's"? Jerkfaces. All of you. This is all your fault.

So, two boxes later, I have issued a fatwa: Girl Scouts are an Abomination unto the Eyes of the Lord. A sweet, nummy-licious Abomination.

In other news, it's testing season for my students. My personal favorite quote following an exam: "Nothing personal, but I hate you."

I figure I must be doing something right.

Alles Gute.

Nothing terribly exciting to report:

...reading for this Hobbes article continues to be the bane of my existence.

...my students have turned in sources, so I've spent the weekend checking to ensure everything is peer-reviewed by someone more authoritative than Wikipedia's anonymous authors.

...Valentine's Day was spent driving and reading in Texas.

...spent some time working on manuscripts for the research group.

...it is a lovely 63 degrees in Lake Charles at the moment, so I'll be outside doing, of all things, more reading.

The most *extreme* and radical thing at the moment is getting set up to grow my own basil and oregano. Because I'm wild like that.

Rebel without a cause. Or his own herb garden. Or the recurrent angst of attempting to reconcile Aristotelian teleology with modern existentialism in the question of existence versus nonexistence.

So, until things calm down on the academic front, my social life will probably be spent with books, which neither drink nor serve as good conversationalists.

In other news...

Oh yeah, Mardi Gras is coming, and we have that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off. I have beads in wait for women of loose morals. ;-)

Alles Gute.

What's New and Exciting in Louisiana

Well, for starters, there is now a grassroots campaign to elect a porn starlet to replace our currently embattled Senator Vitter. Yes, the Draft Stormy push (not sure if this is innuendo) is truly a high point in Lousiana, since we are no longer the most corrupt state (that honor went to Alaska with the whole Ted Stevens thing, accordingly to felony convictions for a single Senator). So, of course, we need something to put us back on top and, apparently, in reverse cowgirl.

This is what I think of when I think of participatory democracy. Heaving mounds of participatory democracy...

In other news, the major is going well - we had a very productive meeting with the Dean on Friday and made major headway. I've been immersed in political philosophy in preparation for this Dune and Philosophy article, and I have discovered entirely new veins of procrastination at my intellectual dig site. I brought three books on Hobbes home with me over the weekend, put them on my table outside with the idea of reading in the warmth (mid-70's all weekend), and proceeded to ignore them until Monday morning.

Another book arrived today (Essential Histories: The English Civil Wars 1642-1651), but it promises to be a faster read. Hobbes wrote the Leviathan within the context of the English civil war, a bloody nine-year affair (which extends further back before Charles I, which I learned in conversation with Hanno on the way to Mexican Mondays (lunch, not a cultural diversity thing)). Suffice it to say that England was sufficient nasty and violent to inspire Hobbes to write about the most base parts of the human psyche, in which our natural reason tells us that the most reasonable conduct involves killing others before they kill you. Or, to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, beat them with a crowbar before you speak softly. Or something.

Anyway, I'm off to the gym before dinner and more reading. The joys of modern academia.

Alles Gute.

Neat Opportunity

The Onion: Source of All Truth

Just a quick note, as I'm running out the door to head back home.

I'll be giving a presentation on Buddhism next Wednesday as part of Diversity Week here at McNeese. With any luck, I'll be able to keep them interested and get some recruits for the year-long survey of religion course I'm planning for next year. The fun part is deciding what to cut from the lecture to condense it into 30-40 minutes, since my notes are designed for two weeks of classes.

Off to hit the gym and read Hobbes.

Alles Gute.

Pop Culture and Philosophy

A little interesting news to start the week. I opened my e-mail this morning and discovered that I had been accepted for inclusion in Dune and Philosophy, part of the Pop Culture and Philosophy series by Open Court Press. They accepted my abstract for an article called "Hobbes, Spice, and Power", which relates the imperial structure in Herbert's books to Thomas Hobbes' political work Leviathan, in which he discusses scarcity, violence, and justifications for essentially any political structure that prevents anarchy. It will give me an excuse to read science fiction and call it work. :)

Alles Gute.

MLK Holiday

The Onion: Source of All Truth

Aside from letting freedom ring, today has been spent reading Zoroastrian and Pre-Socratic metaphysics to supplement lectures for my Introduction to Philosophy class. After making delicious and life-saving coffee, I will return to Middle-Eastern religious myths and Heidegger. The two may or may not be related.

Take that all you people with your DVD players and hula hoops and... and... fun.

Alles Gute.

Back in Queen Ida's Court

The visit to Pittsburgh went well. It was great to see everyone in Pittsburgh and Philly. Aside from seeing friends and family, there were a few extra fun highlights:

• Learning how to make limoncello - very tasty, and you can't go wrong with vodka. Much thanks to Rich for passing on this invaluable knowledge, which I will heartily exploit en Louisienne.
• Playing with liquid nitrogen in Pitt's Chemistry Department - every guy has an inner ten-year-old that must pop up from time to time. This is a rule - my dissertation director at Duquesne was a *huge* roller coaster fanatic, when he wasn't lecturing medical students and guiding hospital policy.
• Finally seeing the Critical Care Nephrology textbook published - I had an ear-to-ear grin finally seeing my name in print in a hefty textbook.
• New Year's Eve at Kaya - Great food, great fun, great company.

But all good things must come to an end, and with that end comes the return to Louisiana.

As a parting gift before my departure for the New World, my mother and I went shopping in Pittsburgh's Strip District, which is as close to shopping in Europe as you are likely to get outside of, well, Europe. It's very much akin to the Naschmarkt in Vienna or the weekend markets my mother and I went to twenty years ago in Ferney-Voltaire (France). It is an extraordinary collection of specialty shops, ethnic foods (Far East, Near East, Eurasian, etc.), and outdoor vendors plying art, clothing, and Steelers merchandise (albeit a little bit more Steelers merchandise than you would find in Vienna).

Our first stop netted Asian vegetables and mushrooms. Please note that mushrooms are not food - I will explain why not in future entries. More important than the fungus and the threat it poses to humanity, however, were the noodles. I am grateful to contemporary electronics that enable me to take pictures on my cell phone - it gets a bit conspicuous to carry around a full-size camera (or even a point-and-shoot) at times. It is important to be able to document random and funny things on the fly:

My Dragon Style Kung Fu is mighty, and high in protein.

After the Chinese grocery and Labab's for some hummus and baba ganoush, we went to an excellent specialty coffee shop, where I picked up some French Vanilla beans, along with "Burgh Blend". With grinders on the premises, the shop has a marvelous melange of smells. My car has smelled of many things over the years, and I'm happy that for the 20 hours it took to get back, it smelled of incredible coffee and Italian cookies.

After coffee we went to the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, which is, by far, Mecca for good food in Pittsburgh. Fresh pastas, hundreds of cheeses and meats, sauces, breads, homemade olive oil, and other saliva-inducing products. They carry giant, dried fish, which, unlike Jesus, they clearly would prefer you not to divide:

F*** the multitudes...

In addition to the violence-inducing fish, they carry a variety of hot sauces. There were too many to photograph, but four caught my eye:

As a cook of decent skill, I can tell you that one of the first things I was taught was that the quality of one's cuisine is directly proportional to the explosiveness of the bowel movements it produces. Have I mentioned I make a great chili?

Bidding PennMac a fond farewell with the knowledge that they will ship anywhere in the country, it was time to hit the interstate.

After an all-too-brief but meaningful stop in Ohio, it was on to Kentucky and regions Southern.

+++++

There are rules governing men's bathrooms that are almost instinctual in the male of the species. Ethologists will tell you about hard-wired animals behaviors regarding mating, rearing of off-spring, and personal displays. Male bathrooms have specific rules regarding where to stand, when to speak (almost never), and what activities are okay. Cameras and men's rooms are almost mutually exclusive, especially once one moves South of the Mason-Dixon line, which is why I had to be stealthy with my cell phone, for there were some things I encountered on my trip down that simply had to be recorded for posterity.

Kentucky was the worst offender, for three reasons:

Reason #1: The Tingler Ring, evidently designed by the Marquis de Sade.

Reason #2: Horny Goat Weed - a substance *to be ingested* sold in the men's room

Reason #3: Cologne to be applied to the face, in the men's room

As much of a men's room violation as it is to bring in a picture-taking device, I am convinced that these offenses are worse. I am used to seeing condom machines in bathrooms, just not one's with goth-style spikes on them. I am not, however, used to seeing something either meant to be eaten or applied to one's face. I did not take a picture of the rest of the bathroom for a reason, and I was, in all honesty, wondering if there were some quantum mechanical way in which I could simply pass through all of the matter contained therein rather than touching anything. And they want you to eat these/rub them on your face. I say unto thee that this is an abomination in the eyes of Infection Control...

The remainder of the trip was fairly uneventful - just lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of driving, a brief nap near Jackson Tennessee, and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of driving back to Lake Charles. It was beautiful and sunny upon my arrival (19 degrees in Pittsburgh, 75 degrees in Lake Charles), but it was far more important to me to be able to nap instead of enjoying the Vitamin D.

Dawn in Mississippi

The semester begins anew tomorrow. The syllabi have been printed, the notes are being updated and uploaded, and the campus activity is picking up.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...

Alles Gute.

The Odyssey - Part 3

Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious teacher who travelled far and wide after he had rocked the famous town of Lake Charles. Many cities did he visit, and many were the cultures with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by road while trying to save his own life and bring his car safely home...

Part 3. Of Tyrannosaurs and Underpants

The quest draws towards its conclusion, as Tennessee is left behind (maybe). The iPod is drained, and I am forced to switch to local radio stations and the CDs in my car. Kentucky sprawls before me like a dead hooker in a cheap motel room.

Not really. That would be more interesting and most certainly never happened. Especially not in 2003. Or 2004. Or twice in 2006.

Kentucky shakes things up, as the geography began to shift from Lousianian (see: "flat") to Kentuckian (see: "less flat"). Now to the Southwestern readers who are only familiar with Euclidean geometry, areas in the Northeast exist in three dimensions. "Height" for people translates into "elevation", and the physicial shape of the land changes accordingly. This translates further into hills, but not quite mountains. Kentucky serves as a transitional state from 2D to 3D living, just like slush is a transition state between water and ice.

As such, I was driving, ecstatic to finally be free of Tennessee's gravitational mass (maybe), when suddenly...

I was assaulted by a twenty foot orange T-Rex. It is unfortunate that Kentucky serves as the only remaining nature preserve for the majestic and serene creature known as the Tyrannosaurus Rex (Latin for "Patron Saint of Pilots"). Those of you familiar with Greek Orthodox iconography will recognize St. Rex the Indefatigable, who in 1461 led his Cossack squadron into battle against the Huns, preventing Hirohito and Mussolini from conquering Denmark.

I visited the shrine of St. Rex while in Kentucky, and offered a sacrificial goat.

+++++

Dinosaur World was not the only attraction, I also visited an organic underpants farm.

Captain Underpants himself led the tour, despite him not actually being affiliated with the organic underpants farm. It should be noted that this Captain Underpants is not to be confused with my former patient Captain Underpants. The fields of underpants were awe inspiring - mile upon mile of wild, free-range underpants, growing under the blue Kentucky sky, singing their mild and calming song of the underpants castles near the Great Barrier Reef.

At this point, I checked the clock and saw that I had been without sleep for about 28 hours. This led me to doubt the underpants. [N.B.: As I must make a return trip anyway, I will be able to form a more accurate picture of the ontology of the underpants in a few days. There may be a research article in all of this.]

+++++

I entered Ohio. Night fell while I was driving, turning Ohio's scenic nothing into a dark, scenic nothing. Every mile marker gradually changed to reflect a more honest experience:

Knowing people who live in Ohio, I was not hallucinating, as they have assured me that this is true.

+++++

But there was eventual triumph, and the Odyssey came to a fruitful conclusion. 1280 miles later, I did finally arrive in Pittsburgh (maybe - it is unclear whether this is still Tennessee).

I thank you for making this journey with me. I make the return trek in three days, at which point a new semester of students to terrorize begins.

Alles Gute.