Thanksgiving

Thursday, my wife and I hosted our annual Thanksgiving for the left behind. Every year, we gather all the foreigners and Americans who couldn't make it back to their own family and have a great big feast. This year, we stuffed 14 people into our small apartment and had a ball. This is the 7th year we've held our left behind Thanksgiving, and since my wife's brother and his wife moved to Boston we had family over as well.

We've been slowly recovering from the big party. It took about a day and a half to prepare the meal, and after the event it took another day to clean the place and an additional day to recuperate from all that work.

Over the meal, we talked about food, movies, work and of course ... the RNA world. While I was helping our friend explain the concept to a dental student (a friend of my brother in law) I used an economic analogy. In fact I think that economics is the best way of describing evolution - I hate it when people say "evolution is a slow gradual change" ... I know that it's one way of explaining the whole process, but it does not REALLY explain the mechanism ... and it's not a idea that you can relate to. Telling someone that it takes a long time ... a really long time for things to change is like telling them that the process is so slow that it's beyond human comprehension. But basic (and I mean really basic) economics that is something that we can all relate to on some level. I would repeat that whole spiel, but I'm still recuperating.

I guess it's time for breakfast ... espresso with a side of pumpkin pie. Yum!