Category: general news
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In Memoriam: Donald P. Hartmann
One of my professors from the University of Utah, Donald P. Hartmann, recently passed away. I took one of Don’s advanced classes as an undergraduate and, during that class (with about 8 students in it), he invited me to consider doing some research. I later joined his Peer Lab and spent quite a bit of…
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Leon Woodfield (1934 – 2013)
My Uncle Leon recently passed away. He was a very kind and insightful person. He was also very influential in shaping my career. I spoke with him several times about academia and graduate school because he was a Professor at BYU. At the request of my father, I recently wrote up a specific memory of…
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California Trip – day 9 – Travel Town Museum and Griffith Observatory
This was our last day in California. Debi was in her conference most of the day, so Toren and I went on another adventure. I found out that the Travel Town Train Museum was giving free tours in the morning. Toren likes trains but doesn’t love them. I thought it would be fun and it…
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California Trip – day 8 – work
Today was my second work day. I know a few people who live/work in the area and one of them is a professor at Pitzer College who happens to be using my new book for his current class. I emailed him ahead of time to see if he wanted to do lunch and he invited…
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California Trip – day 7 – Page Museum and LA Science Center
It was science day on our trip. Our first stop was the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits. When we arrived, parking was limited because they were filming a TV show there – Trophy Wife?!? I’d never heard of it, and I wasn’t really all that interested, but we watched them film a couple…
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crank mail
I think you’ve officially arrived when you begin receiving “crank mail” (i.e., incomprehensible ramblings from crazy people). Well, I just received my first piece of crank mail today. And, of course, for it to be authentic, it has to be paper mail and include something in addition to the letter (no idea what it is;…
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cheetah party
Debi just asked Toren what he wants to do for his birthday party. His response, “I want a cheetah party.” Then Debi asked what you do at a cheetah party. Toren explained, “You just run, and you eat, and you play, ’cause cheetahs like to do that.”
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Busch Gardens creatures
I mostly film Toren when we visit Busch Gardens, but I ended up filming a couple of other creatures while we were there one day. Here’s an ant eater giving it’s baby a ride on its back: Toren insisted I film the mother giving the baby a ride. Toren found this snail crawling across a…
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Toren’s latest trick
Toren’s getting daring with his bike. Now he rides it with no hands:
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first cancelled class… in 5 years
I will have taught at the University of Tampa for five years at the end of this semester. During that time I’ve cancelled classes for conferences, which I usually know about well in advance. I also cancelled classes once when my brother Mark died. But I’ve never cancelled a class because I was sick or…