So today and yesterday were absolutely lovely. Sunny and warm. It was nice but now I wish I were down in the heat of Florida. I'll be sad to leave the luke warm weather in NC for the frigid weather in NY, but happy to be home.

This morning I had a Resting Metabolic Rate Test, or RMR. I had to fast for 12 hours and then go over to the Duke Center for the Living where they did the test. They put me in a semi-dark room and put a hard plastic bubble around my head. I then waited, sat still and rested, but didn't fall asleep, for 30 minutes. The test measures your breathing and somehow they are able to calculate the amount of calories you would burn in a day if you just sat on your butt. My RMR was completely average. This information is helpful for planning out calories and exercise once I get home.

We have arrived after a day of flying. Had a nice dinner at the Sweet Tomatoes to celebrate Mom and Dad Woods Anniversary and our arrival in Florida. The weather is in the 80s and much different from what we left in NYC. We are trying out the pool at Heritage Cove and then go to a concert tonight by a local muscian called Paul Todd. We are looking forward to seeing many others here shortly.

This will be short, because the only access here is in the library. Cedar Key is a delightful old time fishing village, that is now starting to be developed. Many of the properties are >$500,000 now and I'm afraid the character of the town will change. With the help of friendly neighbors at the Sunset Isle RV Resort we got parked and hooked up to all utilities for the first time:water, electric sewer and cable(a luxury for Anne who loves the Olympics). We've been to all the state and national wildlife preserves in the area and have been birding daily. We 'dipped' (did not find) the Red Cockated Woodpecker which we have searched for in all the right places for 5+years.

I hope some of you got to watch the Villanova vs. UConn game the other night, it was intense! Villanova beat the #1 team in the country and there were many lead changes back and forth that made for an exciting game.

Keep an eye out on Nova basketball, this is our best chance to go all the way in a long time.

I recently "subscribed" freely to NPR's podcast from the iTunes music store (you should all check out podcasts if you have an ipod and EVEN if you have only iTUNES - you can still listen to the free podcasts on your computer) it's nice to be able to listen at your own leisure.

On this podcast they give the day's "best" segment and today's was on blogging, which I found relevant to this new site.

The woman was talking about how her husband and she now measured events by whether or not they were "blog-worthy" and that her husband would be disappointed if she hadn't read his blog before going to bed. It was very funny in parts - if you can get the podcast and download 2/14's installment you should listen to it.

check it out.

"Best of the Web"

I read this somewhere: " 'A reader tells me that there are more Catholic churches in Las Vegas than casinos. When the offering is received at Mass, it is common for people to put casino chips rather than cash in the baskets. The several parishes send the collected chips to a neighboring Franciscan Monastery, where they are sorted and then cashed in at the casinos they came from. This weekly task is undertaken by those who are called the chip monks.' I apologize. That is really awful. But I needed one more short item for today’s posting. I promise it will not happen again."

Just read the new U of Chicago Magazine article about how the Univ is "looking south to Woodlawn". Great discussion of the history of the neighborhood and what is happening development-wise. Doug's condo is right in the middle of the area they are looking to develope. Very cool. Patty & Tom & Dan, do you guys get the mag? I love reading it, although the articles are always very scholarly and I have to read them s l o w l y. There is another article on the evolution v. creationism debate. I'll save that for later. See ya!

Title says it all.

"Davidson"

It looks like I figured out the directions. Look out--mucho articles to come in the future! This article reminded me of the aricle in "The Economist" a few months ago which revealed the survey that 17 of the top 20 universities in the world are in the US.

"Davidson"