The Thursday Evening Roundup . . .

1. First and foremost, I love my daughter. (Well, I love 'em both)

I send evilnicola an IM, and her away message says:

Eager Little Sponges, Thirsting Knowledge!

At work, educating angry teenagers

She's tutoring at a high school in Boston.

2. I had to resist a terrific urge today. I walked past the girls' field hockey team, and this voice inside my head said, "Hehehehe. Chicks With Sticks." I have seen it on a t-shirt, but it's just not something you say out loud.

3. The have determined that my classes include at least two orcs, a couple of goblins and maybe, just maybe a Nazgul.

4. I am a Teacher! I wield the +5 Red Pen of Correction.

5. I am honestly trying to eat healthier, so I shop at Whole Foods. Since they have Ben and Jerry's "Black & Tan" ice cream, it must be healthy, right?

6. And they have donuts. Donuts made of spelt.

7. I find it interesting that the president of Venezuela has referred to President Bush as the Devil, and the White House has not denied it.

8. Why isn't "Arthur" a more common SCA name?

9. I am very happy that Peter Gammons, a Hall of Fame baseball writer, is back on the beat after suffering an aneurysm in July.

10. Oh, I have a new position. I am one of the two teachers at our school who will coordinate services for homeless kids through a grant we got.

Tea With Weapons is cancelled!

Due to circumstances beyond the control of mere mortals, there will be no tea, and no weapons, here on Sunday.

Please forward appropriately.

But wait, there's more

Really, tell me, what's wrong with calling myself the "Prick of Doom?"

Gas in Peabody: $2.32 a gallon.

Soeaking of being warm and fuzzy, I have at least 10 college letters of recommendation to write and at least one common application to do.

Make that 51 home runs for David Ortiz. A Red Sox record.

The White House has still not denied that George Bush is the devil.

Registered for Arisia. Cost goes up after Sept. 30.

Yet more . . .

I live for the day that when school's announce they are putting on "The Laramie Project," people acknowledge it's a tough play and a challenge and a touch edgy, but they don't start spouting off about what a terrible, terrible thing it is.

Let's get over it, folks. High school productions sometimes push the envelope, and the kids are usually better for it.

One of the high schools in the area I used to work in -- Waterford, Conn. -- wants to put it on, and parents are complaining. at West Des Moined (Iowa) Valley High School, the uproar has been even ouder, even though more than 100 kids or so came out for the play.

Yeesh

One of the local Catholic high schools up here, an all-boys' school named St. John's Prep, has put it on. They used girls from a local Catholic school, I think.

Oh, so I found the smoked mozzarella. It was under my sweater on the front seat of the truck.

OK, so the special guest at Boskone (a science fiction convention) is Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, PhD.

One look at just a part of his biography, and I see a Dan Brown novel in the making:

Consolmagno serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection, one of the largest in the world. His research explores the connections between meteorites and asteroids, and the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. Details of his technique for measuring the density and porosity of meteorites can be found at this PSR page. For his contributions to the study of meteorites and asteroids, Consolmagno has been honored by the naming of an asteroid after him.

Curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection? . . . one of the largest in the world?

The mind boggles.