So if it's just us . . . seems like an awful waste of space.

I have now been on campus for eight days and attended exactly zero classes. 'Tis the nature of pre-season cross country. My days have mostly consisted of the following:
1. Wake up, get dressed.
2. Walk to athletic center, eating a cliff bar.
3. Morning workout.
4. Breakfast and lunch. Not brunch, because that would imply only one meal. No, we eat breakfast and lunch in one sitting.
5. Begin napping.
6. Continue napping.
7. Wake up, check clock.
8. Resume napping.
9. Continue napping again.
10. Wake up, check clock.
11. Afternoon workout.
12. Dinner.
13. Bro time, high fives all around.
14. Sleep.

But I haven't been completely unproductive. Just mostly.
What have I accomplished this week? Well, I decorated my room. It's very me and as such I like it.

Fellowship poster, Friedrich painting, and Fowl Towel.

Dirt biking trail maps for Sequoia National Forest and Ocotillo Wells

Hiking maps, organized geographically. For example, the furthest left map is the furthest west.

And the crown jewel: my ski resort trail maps, also organized geographically. Due to the location of the back wall, I couldn't stand far enough away to get one picture of the whole thing, but you can see where the two photographs overlap.

One of the other productive things I did this week was finish reading Contact by Carl Sagan, who is more or less my favorite human being of all time. Well, he's right up there with J-S Giguere, anyway. Jason, I know you have already expressed an interest in reading the book, and after reading it myself I can confirm that it is well worth your time. Rich, I can't think of anything that would be more up your alley than this book. It's about contact with ETs, but more than that it's about how humans react to contact, and it covers the spectrum of scientific, political, military, and religious reactions. To those who are not Jason or Rich: I recommend this book to all of you as well, just less aggressively because it's not necessarily your favorite genre.

Back to running. Last Saturday we drove up to Burlington and did a nice 15-miler on a pretty bike trail right on the shore of Lake Champlain. This run is notable only because of the first forty minutes, which were passed rather quickly because we did nothing but sing throughout those forty minutes. Well, and run, of course. Most prominent in my memory from that morning are "Build Me Up, Buttercup", "I'll Make a Man Out of You", and "Bohemian Rhapsody". Needless to say, you had to be there.

First race of the season is tomorrow, at Dartmouth. Should be a hoot.
First class of the semester is Monday at 8:00. Might be a hoot, but I'm not counting on it.