Heuristix Mix

New Nationals Stadium

2008-06-08T12:07:01Z

I visited the new Nationals Stadium in DC for the second time this season on Thursday. The Nats hosted St. Louis for what turned out to be an exciting, hit-filled game that ended with a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th. I was pretty underwhelmed by the new stadium when I first visited it in April, but I liked it more this time. It's very open and the food was better this time. And, I have to agree with the owner that there doesn't appear to be a bad seat in the house. These images are from the game in April against the Mets. I sat just behind the left field wall on Thursday, which was a lot of fun.

2008 Reading List

2008-02-10T19:13:48Z

After reading so few books on my 2007 reading list, I was hesitant to post a list for 2008. Obviously I've overcome that hesitation. There are fewer books this time so the sense of failure won't be so great, and to allow more flexibility for new additions throughout the year. There should be no excuses this year because I'll be on sabbatical this fall semester. Without further ado, here's my 2008 *prioritized* reading list:

1. How to Write A Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul Silvia - completed

2. Redeeming Science: A God-Centered Approach by Vern Poythress (currently reading)

3. Cezar's Way by Cezar Milan (the Dog Whisperer)

4. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

5. Doubting: Growing Through the Uncertainties of Faith by Alister McGrath (short)

6. Philosophy of Science by Samir Okasha (very short)

7. Belief in God in an Age of Science by John Polkinghorne

8. The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World by Matthew Stewart

9. The Verb 'To Bird': Sightings of an Avid Birder by Peter Cashwell

10. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity by Ronald Sider

11. Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner

12. Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education by Michael Dirda

There are several books from my "long-term list" not included, notably several from last year's list, but I had to make choices. Notice there aren't any fiction books on the list. This omission isn't intentional but reflects my current interest in non-fiction topics. That said, I usually fall prey to the guilty pleasure of thriller spy novels and I often flirt with filling in one of the many literary gaps in my reading résumé. As always, suggestions are welcome.

Birding Banshee

2008-01-13T02:47:26Z

There's something about January that makes me want to go birding. It has been a couple years since I attended the Audubon Naturalist Society's winter bird walk at the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, but I was on top of the calendar this year. However, there was a walk this morning in Loudoun County much closer to my home so I opted to try something new. The Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve is a quick 20 minute drive from Lansdowne, and boasts some great birding spots.

I listed birds that I directly saw, even if identified by another birder, but I didnt include birds seen and identified by others that I didn't see. For example, someone called out the Purple Finch today, but I didn't see it. Here's my list from today's bird walk (in no particular order):

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)

Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla)

Common Raven (Corvus corax)

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)

White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)

Hermet Thrush (Catharus guttatus)

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polygottos)

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Carolina Wren (Thyrothorus ludovicianus) - by call only

I was happy to finally see a Kestrel. They're so beautiful and fairly common, but I had never seen one before today. The Hermet Thrush was the only other new bird for me. There are always plenty of woodpeckers, sapsuckers, and flickers to see on these walks, along with various sparrows (often referred to as little brown jobs by birders). I was impressed by Banshee and I look forward to future birding excursions there.

True Story...So I'm told

2008-01-04T21:38:00Z

My friend Mike, who sadly still pays for AOL email, told me about a hilarious example of spirit-led prayer gone awry, as witnessed by his sister.

In a charismatic church, a man stood up as moved by the spirit and spoke with the voice of God:

"Thus says the Lord, Isaiah 42:2:

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze."

A few minutes later, while the congregation was still entranced in spirit-led prayer, the same man once again rose and said:

"Thus says the Lord, that was Isaiah 43:2"

Amen. Glad to hear the Lord corrects His mistakes.

Birder or creep?

2008-01-01T14:04:21Z

Having a dog means that once again I'm taking walks every morning and evening, which I love. I noticed some birds the other morning and thought to bring my binoculars the following day. However, it dawned on me that I might look like a neighborhood perv walking around with my dog and peering around with binoculars. So, I stopped bringing "the glass" with me. Wouldn't you know it, this morning there was a small flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) swooping from tree to tree on the next street over. I was close enough to see the waxwing's telltale profile, but I was kicking myself for leaving the binoculars at home.

Regardless, I'll mark the Cedar Waxwing as my first bird of 2008.

Happy New Year - 2008

2008-01-01T05:18:17Z

Well, technically this falls on the 1st rather than the 31st, but I'll count it as my 12th day of blogging (with one missed day).

Happy New Year to the handful of you who read this blog :)

Laugh Hard

2007-12-31T04:20:17Z

Judd Apatow comedies are hit or miss for me, but Walk Hard definitely hit and hit hard. I'm at a disadvantage for reviewing it as a musician biopic parody because I haven't seen Walk the Line, which is its model, but I can tell you that it made me laugh. Hard. Parody jokes are often predictable and quickly grow old, but Walk Hard managed to land enough great jokes to keep it afloat. John C. Reilly was great as Dewey Cox, especially because he did all his own singing. There were some great cameos and bit parts by recognizable faces from SNL and The Office. Thankfully there wasn't as much over-the-top base humor as in Superbad, which exceeded my sensibilities (and that officially makes me old). To be sure, there were plenty of Apatow moments, but they were funnier than they were gross.

I would see it again, though probably not for $10. It did appear that my compatriots and I were the oldest folks in the theater. Does that make the movie a guilty pleasure? Then again, we went during the second half of the Pats-Giants game so most men were firmly planted in front of their HDTV's. We almost skipped the movie because the game turned out to be so good, but we compromised and watched the rest of the game on TiVo after the movie. I was happy to see the Patriots win. It's not every season that we have a chance to witness greatness at the team level.

Just gettin' along

2007-12-31T04:01:20Z

These were taken with my iPhone. Scully (cat) is becoming more tolerant of Daisy (dog).

Faculty and Faith

2007-12-29T23:13:51Z

According to a chapter in the forthcoming book, The American University in a Postsecular Age, about the secularization of universities in America, professors in American institutions aren't nearly as anti-God as they're often portrayed. Make no mistake, as a group professors are more atheistic/agnostic than the American public, but the numbers aren't terribly lopsided. According to the chapter in the book by Gross and Simmons, their survey found 23.4% of professors are atheist or agnostic, compared to roughly 7% in the general US population. The percentage of atheists is higher in elite institutions (37%), but so is the percentage of those professors claiming to believe in God (33%) or "Believe in Higher Power or God some of the time" (29%). The rate of professors who believe in God is higher at community and 4-year colleges. Interestingly, professors in my own field of Psychology have the highest percentage of atheists/agnostics along with Biology (61%). Frankly, I expected to see Philosophy up there, too, if not higher. Not surprisingly, the disciplines with the highest rates of belief in God are the non-scientific ones like accounting, finance, elementary education, criminal justice, nursing, etc.

I was able to find a draft of the chapter by Gross and Simmons (the latter is from George Mason, by the way) describing this survey and its results. There was a short summary published in Harvard Magazine this past summer (Gross is from Harvard).

I guess I'm a rare bird to be a Psychology professor who believes in God.

**I'd love to post the figure of results, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a copyright violation.**

Missed a day

2007-12-29T02:55:20Z

It was bound to happen. I knew that leaving my posts until 11 at night I would eventually forget to post. That happened yesterday. My intention was to post twice today to make-up for yesterday, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Briefly:

I'm excited to see Walk Hard tomorrow night with some guy friends. Needless to say, our wives aren't interested. I'll post a review on Sunday.
It's hard to believe it's already Friday. This week has flown by despite the fact I had little to do aside from work with our new dog.
I've been yelling, "Did you hear that!" after burping ever since I watched Elf with Will Farrell earlier in the week.
24 days until my first class in the Spring semester.
I'm loving my iPhone, despite the crappy AT&T coverage at my house.

Holiday Laziness

2007-12-27T04:02:48Z

Two days of essentially sitting on my rear between dog walks is both relaxing and conflicting. I certainly enjoy the time to "do nothing," but the lost time always leaves a small wake of regret. The opportunity costs not only include work-related to-do items and household chores, but leisure activities as well. Case in point: reading. I don't do well reading for leisure in my normal home routine. I'd announce that will change in 2008, but the mostly unread reading list I posted in January suggests that's not likely, at least in that large a shift. More on productivity goals for 2008 later this week. If I can pull myself away from the recliner, that is.

Surprise under the tree

2007-12-26T04:02:10Z

So here's the deal. Every year my wife and I agree to a loose spending limit on gifts for each other, and every year she exceeds that limit (or at least spends more than I spend on her). I was determined to not let that happen this year so I bought her a GPS Navigation system--something far more expensive than our usual gifts. The wrapped present under the fake tree with my name was heavy but too big to be what I really wanted...an iPhone. I watched her open the GPS system with unabashed cockiness that I'd finally outdone her on our presents to each other. Opening my gift was practically an afterthought. It turns out the big heavy box had another wrapped box inside along with some stuff to make it heavier. Inside that box rested yet another. I was resigned to opening box after box until a small envelope or something when I sat staring at the impossible. She got me the iPhone. Talk about inner conflict. I was elated to finally have the iPhone and yet crushed that she'd pulled an end-run and beat me yet again.

You may have won the battle, my dear, but the war is not yet finished!

Christmas Eve

2007-12-25T04:31:22Z

It's 11:30pm on Christmas eve and I just finished wrapping presents and placing them under the tree. Miss Daisy desperately wants to go to bed (and was quite resistant about going out to pee one last time) so I'll keep this one short. Today was a mixture of relaxation and brief shopping sprints here and there. Christmas should be nice and low-key this year, which is always quite nice.

Dog days of December

2007-12-24T02:22:49Z

Daisy is doing quite well in her first full day with us. She's very quiet and sweet, but she seems to yearn for the outdoors quite a lot. I took her on three walks today, including a pretty long one in the afternoon. We discovered she loves to play and race around in our basement where there's carpet (we have hardwood floors throughout our main level). She's all nose on our walks, as expected with a scent hound.

Our friends Steve and Erin also welcomed a new dog into their home this weekend. I helped Steve pick up a beautiful Chocolate Lab from Dulles Airport this morning. The dog came from a family member in California that could no longer keep her. So, Steve and Erin's kids got an early Christmas present, and let me tell you they were thrilled. Fortunately, the dog handled everything remarkably well. After a 12-hour trip on two planes, she was as happy as could be when we picked her up. She even handled the shrieking children with tremendous poise and playfulness that's so characteristic of Labs. Steve was a bit concerned about the much-less-than-ideal conditions for the dog's arrival, but she quickly allayed his concerns. Congratulations to the Bennett family.

Meanwhile, the Redskins are currently handling the Vikings. But, as a Skins fan I'm always leery of the 4th quarter. Now that Dallas secured home field advantage with the Packers' loss today, we can anticipate mostly second-stringers playing for Dallas next week. If the Skins win tonight and next week, they're in the play-offs. Remarkable.

Pictures of Daisy

2007-12-23T01:17:19Z

We picked Miss Daisy up from the Friends of Homeless Animals (FOHA) shelter this afternoon. Sorry to all of you hoping to be the first to make the trite comment about "driving Miss Daisy," but my friend Steve holds that dubious honor. I'm sure he won't be the last.

Here's Daisy walking with me on the FOHA grounds.

Here's Daisy curled up in her bed this evening. We have the leash on her at all times during her first day or two in our house to help with the transition. She's a very sweet girl that has been wonderful today, aside from vomiting in the car on the way home.