House Update

We've spent most of the past 4 days painting away in the new place. It's twice the space of the current house with much higher ceilings, so it's a lot of work. Still, it's looking better every day. For my first house, I spent 6-8 weeks working away on it before having a housewarming party. This time I'm not doing the work alone, but having to juggle a toddler in the mix is a new twist of the schedule. Taking time off work while Professor X is at day-care works for a few days, and Saturday he went to a Parent's Night Out at the Y for a few hours as well. Today, he just got all into the paint and messed up an outfit while having a grand ole time.

Thoughts on Carl

Looking back on my childhood, probably the single most influential television show was Carl Sagan's Cosmos. While I ended up in a career that is more being an engineer than a scientist, the original show sparked a deep interest in the scientific method, the wonders of the universe, and a strong secular viewpoint on politics and history. I wouldn't say that Carl Sagan's influence made me 'non-religious'. In fact, I half-joke that I consider myself a "Saganist".

I've made more than a few people watch my DVD set of the remastered original series. It has held up remarkably well, and still evokes a sense of wonder in me.

I have been excitedly awaiting the lunch of the new Cosmos. Neil deGrasse Tyson has done an admirable job to date being a "science communicator" in the mold that Sagan more or less created in the modern media. The pilot tonight didn't disappoint, although I wish we lived in a world where PBS was actually able to deliver that level of content without the ridiculous amount of commercials. Then again, we do live in a world with TiVo and DVRs so there's that.

I'm really looking forward to the next 12 episodes. If I wasn't so busy setting up a new household, I would probably be watching the classic Cosmos back-to-back with each release of the new series :) I guess I'll have to settle for listening to Vangelis on the ride to work in the mornings...