Today's news

Mount St Helens Erupts 10/01/2004 
1) I decided on my reward for passing the CPP. I bought myself a bottle of cognac. No, not Remy Martin Louis XIII, but the best I can afford: Courvoisier XO Imperial Cognac (Le Cognac de Napoleon). It is 1/10th the cost of the Louis XIII, which is hands-down the most amazing spirit I have ever sampled. I am looking forward to opening the XO this weekend, however, as it is a close second, and one I am much more likely to enjoy, rather than hoard.

2) I missed tuning into the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony at Harvard last night. I caught some radio footage on NPR this evening, it sounds like it was a lot of fun, particularly the Atkins Diet Opera and the Off-Keynote Address by Kees Moeliker on homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks.

3) Mount St Helens experienced a small eruption, with another one in the works. With Mt St Helens being so near, this is a significant concern for people here in Portland. I actually watched some television footage on it during my lunch hour...the first thing I've seen on TV since...hmm...I can't remember. Anyway, I remembered suddenly that my mother lived in this area when Mt St Helens erupted in 1980. She had felt such an affinity for volcanos that she later moved to the Big Island of Hawaii to be near the volcanos there.