That's a bit of an overstatement on the part of the Economist's writer.  

The article goes on to say that the new "rule" on Wikipedia is, "don't be a d**k".   I like that rule.  Maybe we can get the university to throw out their entire Policies and Procedures Manual and replace it with that single phrase.  The Wikipedia entry is a classic, well worth the mouse click.  I might have to start contributing to Wikipedia again.  Right after reading that, I decided to check on an article I wrote some time ago on self-surgery. 

I found that someone had made some edits to it that I disliked.  Perhaps I was a d**k for reverting it to a previous version, but I did it anyway.

Oh. My. God.  Y'all.  This is so damn weird.  I get a vertiginous feeling just thinking about it, because it's an artist making fun of a pop phenomenon by creating a pop phenomenon about an artist making fun of a pop phenomenon...

Ka-BOOM.

That was my head exploding.   Another story about this thing here.

Mar 17.  I never felt like it was appropriate for me to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, since all the genealogy I've done has convinced me that my ancestors were the oppressors rather than the oppressed.  I don't even have a speck of Irish in me, as far as I can tell. 

Rosemary, on the other hand, gets her Irish up sometimes.  But that's another story.

At the agility trial in Caldwell, Idaho this weekend, we met ACD-L listmember Kate Pickett, who is a member of the People Who Dress Their Cattle Dogs in Silly Costumes Club.

Griffin Pickett, who is more Irish than I am, is helping us celebrate St. Patrick's Day here at the RoxyLog.

Mar 13.  I ran my 15K yesterday.  It wasn't pretty, but it got done.  Now, I am last in my age group for the Northern Utah Training Series (N.U.T.S.)  With the gap between me and second-to-last, I'm pretty sure I'll stay in last place after the half-marathon on April 1.  I am a contender for the "most improved" award, though.

I'm still trying to decide whether I should run the whole Ogden Marathon on May 6, or just a piece of it.

I found an old friend of sorts on the Internet.  Does anyone else remember these?

A complete list of Jack Chick tracts can be found here.

Jack Chick tracts used to be scattered all over when I was a kid.  You'd find them in bus station bathrooms, in barber shop bathrooms, in the boys' room at school.  Come to think of it, they were mostly in bathrooms.  But I digress. 

Some examples of the wit and wisdom of Jack Chick:

Jack Chick's plea for religious tolerance.

Jack Chick rips off Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. A classic example of what my friends at www.snopes.com, Barbara and David Mikkelson, call "glurge".

Oh, and he has a really high opinion of college professors, too.  Looks just like me.

Mar 9. Paris Hilton Alert.   I may be away, but I can still keep up with the snarky comments my pals Jessica and Heather are making.  Oh Wireless Internet Bliss in a Sterile Hotel Room.

Went for a run, the first exercise I've had since the grippe gripped me.  It was a tough slog, with about the lower 1/3 of my lungs filled with some kind of goo.  Maybe it is the chewing gum I swallowed.  They always warned me about that.  Anyway, using the top 2/3 of my lungs, I ran 5 miles out and back from the hotel before it got dark.  With running in place at street corners as I waited for traffic lights to change, that was almost an hour of running.  It felt good to get back out again, in spite of my breathing difficulties.  The weather here in Phoenix is phoenomenal.

Mar 8.  Not much to report here on the training front, because I haven't been doing any.

On Mar 2, Rosemary went out of town, and I promptly came down with the flu.  Not a bad cold, not a little touch of something, the full-blown flu.  Thursday evening I felt a little chilled as I was working on the computer, so I went up to bed and didn't get much sleep that night, with chills all night.  When I woke up, I felt as though I had been thoroughly beaten.  Every muscle ached.  If I had thought to survey my tensor tympani muscle, I bet that would have ached too.

That threw a monkey wrench in a lot of my plans.  First of all, I had promised my beautiful and talented colleague, Lauren Fowler, that I would lecture in her Drugs and Behavior class at 11.  I had my own class at 10.  There was no way to cancel both, so I just had to muddle through.

Worse, we were expecting out-of-town friends on Sunday.

So, I did my lectures, then got home to rest and just laid around the rest of Friday and Saturday. 

That didn't work.  I was still sick on Sunday.

Perhaps the mountain air would improve my spirits and rejuvenate me?  I went skiing anyway on Sunday.  Big mistake.  Sunday night I was still not sleeping well, and I felt even awfuller on Monday.  Now I had another class to teach, plus meetings I had to attend.

Things started to break Monday night.  I actually got a full night's sleep, and then I took Tuesday off as another sick day.  This morning (Wednesday), I almost feel human again, and the mornings have been the worst of this. 

I have not been going to the gym, or running, so I feel tremendously out of shape, as though I hadn't done any exercise at all.  I hope that's not the case, but we'll have to see once I get started again.

I am leaving town tomorrow (Thursday) for a conference.  I'll miss the running of the 15K in the N.U.T.S. series but I'll run it on Sunday when I get back, just to stay on track.  I still want to complete the half-marathon on April 1.

We have a three-day trial in Caldwell (near Boise), Idaho, next weekend so I'll want to get in some training before that.  The snowpack finally melted and the equipment has re-emerged from the snow, so it should be possible.

In the meantime, we can enjoy our dogs in repose.  Here are two pictures of that.

Mar 1.  Sen. Orrin Hatch and I are great friends.  I know this because yesterday, I received the pictures from his Feb 11 visit.

If I ever open a restaurant, I have the raw materials for the lobby here.

Look at how happy I am!  That's the kind of smile than engenders friendship and respect.

In the right photo, President Millner is about to be mauled by a rampaging wildcat but no one seems to be taking notice.

Mar 1.  This has been a sad time for our good friend Tracy Smith and her husband, David, in Boulder.  Their two 13 year-old dogs, Elkhound Impi and ACD Karoo passed away, both within the past two weeks.  We remember Impi and Roo from when they were little puppies.  Here's a photo of them with their cohort, Isidingo.  In addition to being hiking and skijoring companions, they did lots of organized stuff with Tracy.  Karoo was a shy girl who nonetheless earned the highest titles in AKC, USDAA, and NADAC agility (MACH, ADCH, and ATCH) as well as her AKC UD obedience title.  She was also David's windsurfing buddy.   Impi was a multiple Best in Show Specialty conformation winner, and had very, very, very many agility and obedience titles as well as his Herding Instinct Certification from the ACDCA. Anyone who has tried to train a Northern breed dog will understand how special that was.  We feel as if we've lost members of our own family.