Are You Part of the Charles Darwin Posse?

Grass-roots marketing: Charles Darwin has a posse -- free bookmarks and stickers. I get a kick out of this sort of thing.

And, while you're there....

Evolution Outreach Projects

I Have the Teeth of a Greek God

Well ... a statue of a Greek God.

Okay. A statue of a Greek God that's been lying on the floor of the Aegean Sea for several centuries. Lying there among the broken amphorae and rotting timbers of a wrecked trireme.

Never mind.

I had my mid-year dental check-up today and I'm thrilled to report that it didn't go nearly as badly as I was certain it would go. In fact, for a 43-year-old guy with a lifetime of questionable dental hygiene habits in his past, my teeth are in fairly good shape.

I have a fear of the Dentist. I know it is irrational.

My Dentists are very nice young guys; I've been to a Dead show with Dr. Barnhart. They do great work without a lot of pain.

But the reality for me is that the several days before a Dental appointment are a trial. It is true that the anticipation is worse than the reality. I project all sorts of unpleasant possible outcomes.

The worst part? The knowledge that any Dental problems found will reflect badly on me and my discipline. It bugs me that cavities, gum disease, and other possible problems could be my fault.

But my teeth are okay. My gums looked pretty good. My brushing and flossing have been effective.

As I walk away from the chair and out to pay my bill, I always feel this incredible wash of tension out of my neck and shoulders. As much as I try to go in relaxed, as much as I manage tension by getting into the cool new technology they now have, as much as I tell myself it'll be cool, I still have that tension.

But here's my secret: I try to stay aware of the fact of that tension. I remind myself that it will seem worse ahead of time. In fact, that's why I wrote this.

A Trip to the Water Park

Floating Tubes
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

Karen, the girls, and I spent our traditional start-of-summer day at Jungle Jim's water park at the entrance to Rehoboth Beach today.

There are water slides, pools, lounge chairs, and a "lazy river" in which to float.

We particularly like the up-to-five-people family slide in which we all sit in a big round raft and spin down into a pool of water. We also enjoy the one we call "The Master Blaster" -- a water-jet assisted raft slide.

For Karen and I, the great pleasure in this is hearing Christina scream and Colleen laugh in pleasure each time down.

The Lonely Donut of Friday Afternoon

The Lonely Donut of Friday Afternoon
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

When I buy a dozen donuts for a meeting or an office event, I never let the donut shop staff just randomly select the donuts. If I let the counter staff fill out the dozen, they will more than likely add a filled donut or two. These need to be avoided; they are hard to eat, impractical, and not really good for you.

Have a look at the break room, coffee table, or microwave stand in any office at 4:00 in the afternoon. When there are donuts left, it will usually be that creme-filled monster, a gooey jelly-beast, or maybe a half of one of those odd donuts covered with shredded coconut.

A Book I Read: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

It has been a while since I've offered a book review/book report here. It's not that I haven't been reading; I just haven't run across anything remarkable enough to be worthy of mention here in a while. Or maybe I haven't done so at a time when I felt like writing at length. Besides, if all I posted about was the books I've read, this site could get boring. Quickly.

I've just finished reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. I think this one is worth a mention.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a novel set in present-day New York City. The protagonist is a nine-year-old boy who lost his father in the fall of the World Trade Center on 9/11. The novel follows his quest to illuminate his father's memory and, although unwittingly, to discover his family history.

This is a wonderful book. Foer offers a free look at Chapter 1, as a PDF file, on his web site. Have a look, I think you'll see the charm.

I was struck by the echoes of The Tin Drum, a disturbing novel of World War Two published in 1959 by the German author Gunter Grass. There was also a movie version in 1979.

I read The Tin Drum a year or so before the movie came out, while I was in High School. It was one of the books that really conked me at that point in my life. It helped confirm me as a lifelong reader.

The echoes?

In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the boy's name is Oskar Schell. The child in The Tin Drum is Oskar Matzerath.

Oskar Schell obsessively plays a tambourine. Oskar Matzerath plays a child's tin drum. Both kids exhibit a variety of obsessive/compulsive behaviors.

In both books, the reader is witness to some of the major human tragedies of the 20th and 21st centuries. Both books tie tragedies in their present settings to tragedies in history and track families through human upheavals.

There are other echoes; these are the obvious, hit you over the head, ones.

At root, both books are about the effects of war and conflict on children, on families and on the innocent.

I recommend them both. I also think I will look for Foer's first book -- Everything Is Illuminated -- next time I'm in the library or bookstore.

For now, I'm just embarking on a pleasant trip to Botswana in the latest edition of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, by Alexander McCall Smith. Karen gave me a copy of In the Company of Cheerful Ladies for Father's Day.

Filed in:

• book
• safran

I Hide, Therefore I Am

I Hide, Therefore I Am
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

This cat never wants to be seen, but she chose the wrong hiding place this evening.

Gardening

White Flowers
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

I'm not much of a gardener, but I'm proud of the way the yard looks this spring. These are some of the perennials in the side yard flower bed.

Fourth Golf Game of 2005

I played a round of golf with my buddy Andy Southmayd this afternoon. It was part of our Father's Day.

Waiting for the Foursome Ahead of Us
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

We played Marsh Island, a shortish 18-hole course near Angola, Delaware. It's an odd course, with a string of funky par-3 holes crammed into the back nine. But I had a gift certificate for part of the cost, and the course is proposed to be plowed under in favor of a housing development, so I wanted to get back out there again.

I started well, carding a par-4 on the first hole and staying within sight of par on the next few holes. Until the sixth, when I fell apart. I mostly pulled back together on the back nine, but it wasn't a great round. I ended up with a 112. On the plus side, I shaved strokes off on the back nine.

We had fun, though, swapping stories and laughing, and comparing what we'd received from our broods for Father's Day. Afterwards, we met our families at Big Fish Grill for a pleasant dinner.

Day at the Beach

We spent Saturday at the beach at North Bethany. My brothers Bob and John, with their sons, were with us, along with my parents and our friend Lynne, who brought along two of her three girls. It made for a pleasant group of adults, and just the right mix of kids.

One in the Surf
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

Colleen, Emily and Rachel spent most of their time body-surfing with boogie-boards. Robert joined in as well, but at a slight distance.

It was a slightly over-cast day, so we worried less about the sun than we might have. Last week's Sunday at the beach was incredibly clear and left us with nasty sunburn.

We were more careful this week-end anyway. Notice that Colleen is wearing her board shirt in the surf.

V-Minus-29

Today was (finally) the last day of school -- for the girls, anyway. Karen still has a week of in-service ahead.

We are now just a month away from our week in northern Vermont. Twenty-nine days, to be precise.

We're headed for just south of the Canada/US border.

But we'll stay on our side, never fear.