Dave Munger tagged me with a meme about (among other things) the effect blogging has had on my life. The questions seem worthy of relection, so I'm game:
- What have you learned so far from visitors to your blog? I've learned that there are a lot of people who aren't paid to "think for a living" who think for fun and do it quite well. I've learned that people with strong opposing opinions can still have rational discussions with each other. And, of course, I've learned that what my kids say is more reliably fascinating than what I say.
- If somebody offered to pay for a course (or more) for you, what would it be? I'd love some coursework in astronomy. The chemistry of foods and their preparation methods (and of wine, and of distilling) are also longstanding interests. Also, I want to learn to play drums.
- Are you satisfied with what you have achieved in 2006? Wait, 2006 is over?! "Satisfaction" is tricky for me to gauge in my professional life. I managed not to blow any major deadlines, and I did some thinking and writing I'm proud of, but I have a number of projects that are still in play, plus a bunch of things I'd like to do if, say, I had five extra hours in each day that no one knew I had.*
- Has blogging changed your life in any way? Definitely. It has given me a larger (and broader) audience for the ideas I'm trying to work out. It has helped me plug back into the tribe of science in an interesting sort of way. And, it's helped me meet (online and in person) some amazing people. Another unexpected bonus: it's helped me to talk with my mom about science on a regular basis. It's not like we didn't try to do this before, but on the phone, we're usually multi-tasking. Words on a screen keep attention focused on the topic at hand.
- If you could meet the one person in the world whom you truly admire, who would that be? That's a tough one, given the number of people out there who I admire (and the number of those I've been lucky enough to meet already). Off the top of my head: Michael Pollan, whose writing is astoundingly good; Romeo Dallaire, who struggled with the issue of how to do what is right in a nearly impossible situation (and with next to no support) in Rwanda; and Victoria Hale, founder of the Institute for OneWorld Health, because leaving it to the "free market" to get pharmaceuticals to people in developing countries wasn't such a great idea.
I'm not an aggressive tagger an this things -- if you feel like you want to be tagged, consider it done!
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*As my mother is fond of pointing out, the extra hours are no good if anyone else knows you have them -- they'll get filled immediately with extra work (in my case, committee).
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You are busier than your mother, who only ever asked for 4 more hours a day that no one else knows about.
I, too, appreciate the insight into your professional "soul". I tend to do, in place of think, so discovering the implications of examining the thought process has added another dimension to my attempts to be a scientist. Your astute commenters enhance this experience.
Your discussions of how you came to be where you are have enlightened us about your struggles and the YOU you have become (and are still becoming). [I'm not finished yet, either.]
And OF COURSE your children are more interesting than you. That is so for all of us, generation by generation.