i comes before e except in weird proteins.

I keep running into people who've been permanently disabled by massive head injuries. They're friendly and coherent, but something's obviously wrong. For instance their speach is slurred, or they walk strangely. After a bit of conversation comes the inevitable story about the biking or climbing accident, followed by coma and months spent in a hospital re-learning everything from talking to walking, and even to thinking. My reaction is a mild panic, and a resolution to stop all my activities with high injury potential, like unicycling the wrong way through traffic. Life is precious and all too easy to take for granted.

These people are truly heroic because they've been dragged through mud and they've found it within themselves to get up again. Getting up again is really the only thing in life that matters.

I know people who know people in Iraq, but I've never known anyone there myself. My cozy academic circle is fully insulated from the peril and danger that are daily facts of life for members of our armed forces in the middle east. I read about the deteriorating situation *over there* as though it's happening on the moon, or in a history book. And when I'm bored, I read about something else.

My friend Jeffery is being sent to Baghdad. I told him I was sorry and I wished him luck- really I didn't know what to say.

Suddenly I like politics again; my faith in the American people is making a cautious return.

Today around 2:30 I finally succumbed and jogged up to LBL. Of course it felt absolutely wonderful. The weather was great, and my resolution to never run again went out the window. I think that if I only run once or twice a week, and only on dirt or grass, it'll be fine. If Lance Armstrong can run a marathon (he's 35), then I can definitely jog around my neighborhood. My new thing will be jogging AND swimming; maybe I'll do a triathalon...

The publication of the Saddam trial verdict two days before U.S. elections is purely coincidental.