"It is a popular fact that 90 percent of the brain is not used and, like most popular facts, it is wrong. . . . It is used. One of it's functions is to make the miraculous seem ordinary, to turn the unusual into the usual. Otherwise, human beings, faced with the daily wondrousness of everything, would go around wearing a stupid grin, saying, "wow," a lot. Part of the brain exists to stop this from happening. It is very efficicent, and can make people experience boredom in the middle of marvels."
~Terry Pratchett

First off, thank you Keith for the amusing joke and Colbert script. Quite entertaining.

Also, I applaud you Peter on the utter abandon you have shown conventional wisdom. Unfortunately, I have become a summer job slave. The psych department didn't have any money to pay me to do research this summer so I'm a job site manager for college pro painting company. This basically means that I wake up at the crack of dawn and labor outside until the sun goes down. I worked 50+ hours last week and to put it is Carrie lingo, this job is killing my soul. However, I need the money if I want to go to school next year so I'll just have to find a way to stay alive for the next few months. On the plus side the house I'm painting right now is at the base of the mountains and has a family of black bears basically living in their backyard. There is nothin like painting while a 600 pound bear is looking over your shoulder a mear 10 yards away. The other day they chased us into the garage while we were trying to eat out lunch.
I try to keep my sanity by reading as much as I can. I'm reading a great Sartre biography and I'm about to start another one on Victor Hugo. I've also been reading the collected works of Voltaire. Last week I discovered the wonder of the video section at the public library here. I'm trying to watch all the classic films that I never got around to. Last night I watched Orwell's the Third Man, and Bergman's the Seventh Seal. I really wish I could visit you guys out there in Illinois but the odds don't look good at this point. There is a slight chance I could get out there in early August but I might be taking a research job with the deparment of corrections so I'm not sure if I'll be able to.

I hope everyone is well and in good spirits.
That's all for now.
-Z-