Cold Snap
I was waiting for Nate or Jack to restart the blog for '08, but, before all you readers out there forget about us do to the lack of fresh content, here I am to save the day. It's not that warm in Miami. Only in the 60s right now. It was 22 when I left Pittsburgh, I was hoping for at least 70 down here, but no such luck. Although, I must admit, that it still feels very much like Spring, and I saw as much blue sky today as I think I did in 10 days in Pittsburgh.
I did see a couple interesting things in Pittsburgh, though. Most notably, I suppose, would be the newly redesigned dinosaur fossil exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Well done, for sure. A bit disappointing that the T-Rex and Triceratops won't be open 'til the Spring, but if nothing else that means I'll be heading right back to the Museum next time I'm back in Pittsburgh.
The second-most interesting thing, I must admit, was probably seeing white-tailed deer mating in the backyard. Deer make very regular appearances, but this is the first time I've witnessed this particular deer activity. At first I just noticed that there was a deer with antlers in the backyard, which is a rare-enough occurrence as it is, but then I also saw that it was chasing a smaller deer around in a circle of relatively large circumference. "Why is that big deer chasing that little deer?" I asked to myself, and soon enough I had my answer. "Oh," blushing to myself. In the amount of time during the chasing and before the mating, I had conjured several "just-so" stories that explained the behavior of the two deer, and I did not even guess mating ritual. I thought that was more of a Spring-time thing?
Speaking of things that are in pairs, and referring back to the top of this post, I had a brief, but interesting conversation with Jack and our mother while home about whether, as a twin, he felt that he was always the second-billed. Some other twin that Mom knows was apparently always listed second, on cards, cakes, introductions, etc. and actually resented that fact. Mom was curious if Jack had had a similar experience. Jack had not. And I was thinking about it, and I think that's correct - in listing Jack and Nate, I don't think a set order was ever utilized by our family. Depending on the rhythm of the sentence, I guess. Maybe Steve Pinker could help analyze the particular reasons for using "Nate and Jack" versus "Jack and Nate." I guess the next step would be looking at archival photographs of birthday cakes, and see if the names were always in the same order or not.
Either way, its of mild interest, I suppose.
I did see a couple interesting things in Pittsburgh, though. Most notably, I suppose, would be the newly redesigned dinosaur fossil exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Well done, for sure. A bit disappointing that the T-Rex and Triceratops won't be open 'til the Spring, but if nothing else that means I'll be heading right back to the Museum next time I'm back in Pittsburgh.
The second-most interesting thing, I must admit, was probably seeing white-tailed deer mating in the backyard. Deer make very regular appearances, but this is the first time I've witnessed this particular deer activity. At first I just noticed that there was a deer with antlers in the backyard, which is a rare-enough occurrence as it is, but then I also saw that it was chasing a smaller deer around in a circle of relatively large circumference. "Why is that big deer chasing that little deer?" I asked to myself, and soon enough I had my answer. "Oh," blushing to myself. In the amount of time during the chasing and before the mating, I had conjured several "just-so" stories that explained the behavior of the two deer, and I did not even guess mating ritual. I thought that was more of a Spring-time thing?
Speaking of things that are in pairs, and referring back to the top of this post, I had a brief, but interesting conversation with Jack and our mother while home about whether, as a twin, he felt that he was always the second-billed. Some other twin that Mom knows was apparently always listed second, on cards, cakes, introductions, etc. and actually resented that fact. Mom was curious if Jack had had a similar experience. Jack had not. And I was thinking about it, and I think that's correct - in listing Jack and Nate, I don't think a set order was ever utilized by our family. Depending on the rhythm of the sentence, I guess. Maybe Steve Pinker could help analyze the particular reasons for using "Nate and Jack" versus "Jack and Nate." I guess the next step would be looking at archival photographs of birthday cakes, and see if the names were always in the same order or not.
Either way, its of mild interest, I suppose.
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