Some random thoughts percolating through my brain:

As the stock market keeps free-falling, and I regret my decision several years ago to remain in it, I realize that my decision to spend my last thirty years in a profession with relatively low salary but guaranteed pension and medical benefits actually made good financial sense in addition to being fulfilling years for me.

I have not seen any of the movies nominated for an Academy Award, but when they are released in video I hope to see both Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon. I have the least interest in Benjamin Button since it is a very old fantasy concept (going at least as far back as Merlin the Magician) which will probably disappoint me as most movies based on f&sf do.

Why is it that the students who spend the most time with me in the Math Lab tend to be those who suffer the most in my class? I feel a bit like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde as I counsel them for their stress which I am probably more responsible for than any other teacher!

My current car came with satellite radio a few years ago, which is due to expire in April. Now they want me to pay $11.00 month to retain it, which seems exorbitant except that is the only radio which actually covers the entire spectrum of music and plays lots of great stuff. But I do not really do enough driving to justify $130 per year for music. I will probably return to the college stations I used to listen to previously, as well as cds.

While I read a great book occasionally, and usually rave about it in print, I rarely rave about the great short fiction I read, so I am mentioning here Peter Beagle’s “The Rabbi’s Hobby” which was in the anthology Eclipse Two. Beagle has been an acclaimed writer for many decades, probably earning his first recognition with The Last Unicorn, but recently he has been writing a series of wonderful short stories, most of which can be found in his recent collections The Line Between and We Never Talk About My Brother. I highly recommend you give his fiction a try.