DrW

Same here. Worst was leg muscle atrophy - losing the ability to walk. But it is coming back, slowly, with a lot of exercise.

About a year ago, due to adverse reactions to chemotherapy I experienced a loss of taste. Based on the receptors found, scientist describe taste as composed of "sweet", "salty", "sour", "bitter", and "umami" (savory, similar to MSG). For me, the taste loss was not complete. "Sweet" was the least affected. As I had never been much of a "sweet" guy before, you should have seen the joy on my wife's face when I became the best customer of her pies (German tradition: you have to bake a cake/pie on Sunday). Beyond "sweet", everything else got screwed . I had always loved steak; now it tasted like wet cardboard. Strangely enough, chicken and salmon tasted the same; pizza too. It is not easy to consume enough calories and especially enough protein when there is nothing to entice you. To make things worse, "bitter" caused an overreaction. My favorite beer had been the Maharaja Imperial IPA from Avery. It has a lot of hops - but now it was insufferably bitter. I would like to hear from those of you with similar experience. But mostly, I would like tell you - the altered taste perceptions might not be permanent. About two months ago, I went with my wife through our local supermarket. Despite the dislike I had experienced toward all meat, I was attracted by the barbecue brisket. It was delicious (you have to take the "moist" variety, a euphenism for "fatty"; "lean" can be very dry) . Everything else seems to have returned to "normal", too. Recently, I enjoyed pizza and salmon.

For outdoor activities, I prefer March/April. Everything is getting green and spring bird migration is at its peak. Even the temperature here in West Texas is still bearable. And I like summer (as long as you have working A/C). Like most people in my position, I am on a 9-month contract (September to May). This does not mean that I have three months of vacation. I have limited administrative duties and can devote most of the time to my own research. The main advantage: no teaching. Don't get me wrong, I love to teach. But I also enjopy getting a break from it.

The Paris Olympics and the recent soccer Euros in Germany are good examples of how important it is for the atmosphere to have such major sports events in places with support by residents and/or fans. Don't misunderstand me, I don't want to restrict such events to the traditional locations in Europe or North America - the soccer World Cup in Brazil and the Olympics In Rio were just as fine. But a World Cup in Qatar?

Well, did you watch the shot-put competition today? Especially the two Chinese gals in their pink outfits would have wiped that smile quickly off your face. Only the gold medal winner actually looked quite nice, as if belonging to a different athletics discipline than the others.

You bring here up a very interesting point: are hundredths (or even thousandths) of seconds relevant? In general, people would say "no way". However, I have come to a different conclusion. As I am German, we do better at the winter olympics, and we are especially good at bobsledding and luge. In both sports, tiny fractions of a second will determine the winner. However, these sports have enough events (~30 runs or more per season) to look at the statistics. And it turns out that while the margin of the individual victory is tiny, it is always the same guy (or girl) who wins.

Program alert: The final days of the olympics will bring us Pierre de Coubertin's "other" invention (besides the olympics themselves), the Modern Pentathlon, supposed to reflect an officer's duties in combat: shooting, swimming, fencing, running and horseback riding. The last part is represented by a show jumping competition, and for me that is the highlight of the whole pentathlon. In contrast to the three "regular" olympic equestrian events (dressage, eventing, and show jumping), for the pentathlon the athletes do not bring their own horses. Instead, the olympic organizers rent a bunch of horses, and they are randomly assigned to the (human) athletes. The athletes get 20 minutes to "familiarize" them with their horse, and off we go to show jumping. Quite often, hilarity ensues and can reach "funniest home videos" level. The horses crash into obstacles or just refuse to jump. I would like to emphasize that these horses are quite capable and jump regularily; however, the communication between horse and rider is lacking. I would also like to note that equine fatalities due to injuries in pentathlon are rare. Still, the Paris Olympics will be your last chance to watch the show jumping competition. Triggered by an incident at the Tokyo Olympics where a coach was seen (better: recorded) to beat a horse that refused to even start to jump, the show jumping part will be replaced by an obstacle course (without animal participation) from 2028 on. More than 80% of the pentathlon athletes were opposed to the change. I am too...

This has nothing to do with the final choice, because the incident supposedly occurred a couple of weeks ago. However, if true, it indicates that Biden was actually relieved having not to run anymore - some sense of humor returned. Biden was talking to some reporters at an event. The TV in the background was discussing Harris' VP candidate search. Biden's comment: "Hey, I am available!"

Monty Python ... and my favorites: Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo Marx. Just watch the mirror scene in "Duck Soup", made more than 90 years ago ...

I agree with winners (gold) only. I find the cut-off after three (GSB) rather arbitrary. Of course, as a German, here I am biased. We are the masters of the 4th place. We have more 4th place finishes than medals. Today, watch out for Leo Neugebauer in the decathlon. He is the record holder and current NCAA champion, starting for the UT Longhorns. Here, he is starting for Germany where he grew up.

Have you ever considered that different individuals have different conditions under which they can perform optimally? Some people can work/learn 24/7, and the more time they devote to it, the better the outcome. However, others need a break from time to time to be in their optimal shape when required. There is a reason why European companies require their employees to take vacations. My wife and I were lucky and have now both tenured faculty positions at a research university ranked around #100 nationwide. We are both successful in our research resulting in publications and grants. My wife is working 24/7, and she would not have it any other way. When our two kids were small, I was actually often charged to take them on a weekend hiking trip so that Mama could work. On the other hand, my optimal schedule is quite different. Since my PhD thesis 35 years ago, I have been working all day Monday to Friday; however, I need the weekends to recuperate and do something completely different, such as kayaking, birdwatching, or taking the kids for a hike. There had been occasions, mostly due to deadlines, where I had to also write proposals on the weekend; they were not my best attempts. In this context, there are a few questions I would like to ask you. I should emphasize that I do not expect any answer. 1. Do you think that your own job performance is optimal? 2. If not, would a salary increase improve it? 3. At your work, do you supervise other employees? Do you have to grade their performance? If yes, are you more strict or lenient? 4. Do you have any specific suggestions where you think that Josh should put more effort in?

One of my favorite Brian Eno songs, "Third Uncle", here in a very dark version by Bauhaus. Probably mote of historical than of musical value: John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono sing songs from Paul McCartney's albums "McCartney" and "Ram".

John Wayne had a lot of mediocre to bad movies. True Grit was actually pretty good, much better than the Jeff Bridges version.

This is more of a "directly after high school" movie: "Eurotrip" (2004). Most critics panned it, but I like it.

I love David Bromberg. IMHO his best song is the "Bullfrog Blues", a very detailed funny story about a relationship (not the Canned Heat/Rory Gallagher song). You might need some patience to go through the whole 16 minutes.

OK, this is from my experience 25 years ago. Things might have changed by now, but I would not bet on it. The Island Cottage Woods in Greece/Rochester. The place had a few hiking paths, but was mostly used as trash dump. Unless you enjoy trash, for most of the year the place was a bore. However, for three weeks in spring it turned into magic. On their way to the nesting grounds in Canada, warblers (small and often very colorful birds) would use the woods as last stop before crossing Lake Ontario. Within one morning, you could easily see 6-8 different species of warbler. My personal record was 13.

Interesting tidbit: The Dead South are actually Canadians from Saskatchewan. Well, they are from Regina, which might qualify as South Saskatchewan.

A truly unique sound... the "Sleepytime Gorilla Museum"

Of course, the Brecht/Weill song most famous in rock music is the "Alabama Song", here in a live version by David Bowie.

Savoy Brown "Hellbound Train" Live

The Tragically Hip in their final concert with "New Orleans Is Sinking". Frontman Gord Downie already visibly stricken with cancer.

If you are more on the acoustic side, the combination guitar/cello has a lot to offer. Here are Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses, 50 ft Wave; still going strong at 57) and Scotsman Pete Harvey.

You severely underestimate Josh's football IQ.

I can understand the Josh/Luka comparisons. The similarities go beyond their importance for the team. Most notably: Both seem to try to grow some facial hair; in neither case it looks convincing.

For me, Three Dog Night were always too much pop and not enough rock. Thus, I started to think of more challenging song titles than "Never Been To Spain", such as "Never Been To Uruguay" or "Never Been To Uzbekistan". However, upon listening to the song I liked the lyrics and the music. Well done!!