The merits of chocolate milk and other (delayed) Thursday thoughts

Deciding to have chocolate milk with my lunch rather than my usual V-8 juice was the best decision I made all day.
I'm glad the Wisconsin dairy farmers have clarified, in response to the burning question "Isn't chocolate milk just for kids?", "Absolutely not! Flavored milk is a great way to satisfy that sweet tooth while increasing your intake of calcium and eight other essential nutrients."
I feel very reassured about my maturity now.
Although I will still probably blow bubbles in my chocolate milk when no one is looking.


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Dinosaurs in 3-D are awesome!
Paleontologists in 3-D.... not quite so awesome.
Also not so awesome... nachos and cheese sauce for dinner. The Imax concession let me down again.
In general, cheese sauce is only safe for drunken consumption, at which point it goes well on everything.













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Another Pointful decree:
When I rule the world, the baking temperatures between french fries and any other item meant to be paired with french fries, such as fish sticks and chicken strips, will be identical. It's far too complicated to guess what temperature between the two will not leave the fries frozen and the chicken strips charred, and I'm certainly not cooking them separately.

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I'm starting work writing my first chapter, which I believe (fingers crossed) I will have first authorship on.
My academic buddies know that this is actually really good news, as authorship on a chapter is worth more than authorship on a journal article.
Double bonus-- As my supervisor was recruited to write this chapter for a book, it's already accepted, meaning that we don't need to go through as extensive of a peer review process. It's reviewed more for editing suggestions, rather than for acceptance or rejection. Yay!

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I'm leaving for 2.5 weeks in Austin in less than a month now!! More details to follow, I'm sure, but the gist is that I'm going to a summer institute, which is basically an intensive 2 weeks of courses on a particular topic. I'm also headed out on my own a few days early to do some exploring. As I haven't travelled very much on my own, I'm actually really excited about doing the solo expedition thing again. I actually wish I was completely solo in my meeting of a bunch of other grad students, but, as my longer term readers may remember, I am being joined there by none other than Mr. Self-Disclosure, which may put a bit of a damper on things.

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I'm also going to see the White Stripes in a little over a week!!!
In one of my better nights, I actually met the Duke at a Raconteurs show. I can confidently say that Jack White is pretty much a rock god on stage.


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Speaking of music... I pride myself on being a pretty avid music fan with reasonably good taste.
Which is why it is so embarassing that, if you press play when you turn on my iPod, the first song that comes up is "I Run" by a Flock of Seagulls.




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I dreamt the other night that I went to some Hollywood party, where I met Justin Timberlake, George Clooney, and Jon Heder, actually in the role of Napoleon Dynamite.

One of these things is not like the other....

(In reality, I actually am not a particularly ardent Clooney or Timberlake fan, though J.T. does have a couple secret songs on my iPod.)

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I'm a little disappointed in the voting turnout for my little contest. I know for a fact that more of you are commenting on posts than are voting. Only a few days remain, so get your vote in!