February 2006 Archives

I took a stroll on the beach at sunset this evening. Since I grew up on the coast in Pensacola, I greatly miss the drama and power of the water.

Some pictures of the north end of Jekyll Island, which has been greatly impacted by erosion caused by the long shore current.

I'm at the Jekyll Island (Georgia) 4-H Center with a group of students. I'm impressed with the program and the facilities here. University of Georgia students teach our students, in conjunction with our science teachers. This is the second year we have conducted this field trip.

Today I was given Michael Bublé's newest CD, It's Time. It's really great. I love his voice and this style of music!

You Don't Know Me from the album "It's Time" by Michael Bublé

Today I had the opportunity to accompany some students from my school on a field trip to Emory University's Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core Research Facility. We spent about 1.5 hours with the director of that facility, Dr. Csete. I was shocked at her generosity! She did a superb job of explaining in terms the students could understand the complexity of the ground-breaking work being done there, the processes involved, the current limitations, the implications, the potential of the work, the problems being addressed today and the "really big problems" to follow that are not yet understood. She spoke of the melding of mathematics, engineering, and biology to tackle the complexities of the "really big problems." The students even saw living stem cells from a rat brain and muscle tissue under the microscope. They were quizzed by Dr. Csete.

I learned a tremendous amount and was delighted the students at our school had this unprecedented opportunity. I was also touched by how generous Dr. Csete was with her time and knowledge. She not only has her MD but also her PhD and is The John E. Steinhaus Professor of Anesthesiology, and the Director of Liver Transplant Anesthesiology. She had been working for 36 hours harvesting livers for transplantation when an emergency arose. Rather than canceling her meeting with our students, she had a colleague begin the emergency transplant procedure so she could share with our students her passion for her work in the hope that some of these students will take this work even further. As we said our goodbyes, she headed off to the operating room.

...but this is pretty funny. The caption read: "Who signed this permission form?"

It has to be an old picture. Look at the price of gas! So maybe circa early 1970's?

I hate feeling miserable. I have one of the worst sore throats I can ever remember. Swallowing is killing me!

I was hoping I could avoid it but figured it to be inevitable. It started last week in Austin. I was presenting in a room full of quad G5s. Aside from the heat that the machines generate, the air conditioner that wasn't working, and the fact that I had to speak non-stop for 6 hours, the room was over-crowded with people. My throat dried out.

So, I've been trying to stave off this infection for several days. Looks like I am just not successful! As I recall, last year I was sick at this same time of the year!

So, George W. Bush's approval rating has dropped to 1% in the black community just before his vice president shoots a man in the face...accidentally of course. And the vice president's office didn't report it for 24 hours–until a local paper in Texas ran the story. Thugs!

I just spent 30 minutes in the whirlpool. I am so relaxed I doubt I will ever walk again!

MoveOn.org has created this factual ad about the current wiretapping debacle. It's excellent. Additionally, they provide a line-by-line support of the ad with historical background. Finally, they have substantial fact support. No matter what you think about the wiretapping, the ad is extremely clever and very well done.

Watch the ad by clicking the picture to the left. Read the factual support by clicking here. Read the historical background by clicking here.

When will George realize that the rest of the world thinks we are crazy because we are not at war? Iraq didn't have Weapons of Mass Destruction. As Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery said at Coretta Scott King's funeral,

We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there [standing ovation]... but Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor."

Watch CNN's coverage of his eulogy by clicking the picture to the right. This link is hosted by CrooksAndLiars.com, an interesting site.

Well, this restaurant isn't new at all. These people have been in business for 28 years in the same location on Peachtree Street in Buckhead! That fact alone is noteworthy. But there's more... The owner, an elegant, classy Asian lady, visited with each patron during the course of our meal–and I mean visited, not just stopped by the table to check on customer satisfaction. She knew everyone but us, and saw to it that she would know us before we left.

An elderly couple was sitting next to us. After having already talked with them for about 10 minutes or so earlier, the owner later came up to them with a bag and said, "I know you love these navel oranges, so here is a bag of them for you to take home." She was just delightful!

Put the Grand China on your list. The kindness of the owners, excellence of the food, and reasonableness of the price make this a real find!

Grand China
2975 Peachtree Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30305
(404) 231-8690

So FEMA officials are not purchasing trailers for displaced victims of Katrina, for whom they now longer will pay a housing allowance, because prices of the trailers have increased a few thousand dollars. I thought the Republican party thought supply and demand was good. This from the same administration that will purchase from Halliburton for unspeakably absurd, brutally inflated, no-bid prices. So, if Halliburton were selling the trailers for $10,000,000 each, FEMA would be purchasing them by the thousands!

Am I cynical yet? This administration has done more to compromise my trust in our government than any I have known in my lifetime! And, boys and girls, that's no exaggeration!

Though becoming less so every day, Atlanta is still fairly hospitable. The people I hang out with in Atlanta are typically more friendly than I am actually. Texas, however, is completely different!

My experience started with the cab driver. At 2:30AM I am not exactly pleasant to be around. I just wanted some peace and quiet and to get to sleep as fast as possible! But the cab driver had other ideas. He was the most talkative cab driver I've ever met. I chuckle as I type this because he was just such a nice guy.

He chatted about Austin, about land values, about the bar district, the fact that Austin (according to him) has 3 women for every man (he called it doe season), about his life and where he had lived. He was 52 years old and loves this town, where he has spent most of his life. He lived briefly in California and Florida when he was in the military. I absolutely know more about this guy than I do my next door neighbors in Atlanta!

I got the full meal deal from him. He should be the Austin Ambassador. I actually felt pretty sleep-deprived and miserable when I got in the cab. I was a happy little clam when I got out of the cab. I was glad to be in Austin. Thanks Mr. Cab driver!

These people project an open decency and general friendliness. I have had easily over 30 people now, deliberately come up to me to start talking. I don't know anyone here, but I feel like I do. Three people came up to me, before I even spoke at the convention, and asked, "Are you Dr. Tyson, from [name of workplace goes here]?" I was shocked!

I was just in the hotel lobby, and this young man yelled out, "Tim Tyson?" and literally came running up to me. From the tone of his voice, I though it must be someone I haven't seen in a long, long time. It was. In fact, I have never seen him before. I don't know him at all. But he was so excited about having heard my presentation this afternoon and just wanted to chat. The people in Texas are just delightfully friendly! I like this place.

I've been insanely busy the last several days. Tonight I'm supposed to fly out to Austin, Texas, to do some presentations on Podcasting. I've been running like crazy all day. I got to the airport on time, nothing short of a miracle. Now the 10:15PM flight is running about 1.5 hours late! Crud!