Some of the things I've done since my previous entry:

* Read a dozen or so full-length journal articles (no, not "skimmed", read).
* Reviewed matrix algebra so that I could start teaching myself some techniques of multivariate statistics.
* Spent an entire nine-hour workday, with only brief breaks, observing and recording Drosophila matings.

The frightening part is that I've actually enjoyed all of these activities, but right now I'm tapped out of most creative energy except for a few straggling images of bacterial transmission dynamics and bug sex, so it's probably time to post the solutions to the song meme game. Here goes ....

1. Captain Pierce was a strong man/Strong as any man alive/Stuck in his craw when they made him retire/At the age of sixty-five. "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver", Primus.

2. A new age has dawned rising from the ashes of the innocent/My dead versus your dead/Let's see who can get more militant. "Supa Dubya", 40 del Tren (Rebecca got the song title.)

3. I was on the inside/When they pulled the four walls down/I was looking through the window/I was lost, I am found. "I Will Follow", U2.

4. Well, he's tellin' us this and he's tellin' us that/Changes it every day/Says it doesn't matter. "Rocky Mountain Way", Joe Walsh (Kathy)

5. They say your style of life's a drag/And that you must go other places/But just don't you feel too bad/When you get fooled by smiling faces. "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing", Stevie Wonder (Kathy)

6. When logic and proportion/Have fallen sloppy dead/And the White Knight is talking backwards/And the Red Queen's off her head.... "White Rabbit", Jefferson Airplane (Greg)

7. Aims/Dangerous games/Their mother says one false move and we all get hurt. "Let The Children Speak", Simple Minds.

8. You can blow out a candle/But you can't blow out a fire/Once the flames begin to catch/The wind will blow it higher. "Biko", Peter Gabriel (Greg)

9. The way I see it, he said, you just can't win it/Everybody's in it for their own gain, you can't please 'em all. "Free Man in Paris", Joni Mitchell (Kathy)

10. How can you tell when you're doing all right/Does your bank account swell while you're dreaming at night? "What Do You Want From Life?", The Tubes

11. ...You're whispering in my ear/Tell me all the things that I wanna hear. "What I Like About You", Romantics (Greg)

12. Put the tape on erase/Rearrange a face/We always liked Picasso anyway. "Through Being Cool", Devo (Greg)

13. You don't really need to find out what's going on/You don't really want to know just how far it's gone. "Dirty Laundry", Don Henley

14. Well, don't be blind to the big surprise/Swimming round and round like the deadly hand/Of a radium clock at the bottom of the pool. "Private Idaho", B-52s.

15. There's a room where the light won't find you/Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", Tears for Fears (Maribeth/Greg)

16. We can plant a house/We can build a tree/I don't even care/We could have all three. "Breed", Nirvana

17. When I saw you for the first time/My knees began to quiver/And I got a funny feeling/In my kidneys and my liver. "Tongue Tied", cast of Red Dwarf (Kathy and kids get credit for this one despite not having actually responded with its name)

18. The people sipped their wine/And what with God there, they asked him questions/Like: do you have to eat/Or get your hair cut in heaven? "God Shuffled His Feet", Crash Test Dummies (Maribeth, who also had it in her song meme list)

19. Houston, does the weak transmission say it all?/Wave transparent agents of the urban sprawl... "Don't Entertain Me Twice", Game Theory

20. Why don't you go about your own business?/Why must you bother me when I'm thinking? ..../It's none of your concern/So just buzz off! "The 'What's It To Ya?' Chorus", Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio

They just don't make 'em like that any more.

The song meme game is still open, since it has just garnered an entry from my old MIT classmate Kathy (see comment of 13 February). Never fear: Most of the songs remaining are much more recent, so we seventies kids won't have to school ya. Give 'em a try. Don't make us come back there.

Rick surprised me at work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which were the envy of the whole Rochester Drosophila-verse, including a few actual Drosophila that flew around the bouquet and perched on the leaves. Most of the flies probably escaped from the cultures I was trying to set up today; I'm still learning which species are tractable and which are composed of twitchy little escape artists.

MIT and flowers ... MIT and flowers ... Reminds me of the Valentine's Day back at Baker House when a big bouquet appeared in our lounge, bearing a tag that read:

TO THE WOMEN OF FOURTH WEST
HAPPY V.D.

Not only did the Fifth West guys neglect (!) to sign it, but they complained later that we didn't thank them for it. (Yeah, we Fourth West women were all expert telepaths who just swooned over sophomoric double entendres.) The flowers were, as I recall, really nice ones, though.

Besides, I can't really complain about my old dorm-mates. How many of us can truthfully say that we've lived in a place where the residents routinely threw pianos off the roof? We all pulled (and occasionally pushed) together to keep life, if not easy, at least interesting. Here's a big Valentine's Day 'Pede hug for all you Baker alumni. (Don't panic. First of all, it's virtual. Second, I said "hug", not "bug".)

Last chance on the song meme game (18 January). Answers really will be posted this time.

The basement room is almost functional. Yes, Victoria, I have a lair of my own!