… I walked down the aisle.

It has been quite the year. I’ve learned so much I hardly know where to begin. And yet I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface.

I’ll start with how we met. The day was August 27, 2004. My roommate liked her roommate. He couldn’t do the creepy thing and invite a girl over that he barely knew, so in addition to her, he invited her roommate, a couple of their friends, the girls across the street, and a few guys all to watch a movie at our place. It was all very casual. I learned about it that afternoon when he told that “a bunch of girls” were coming over to watch a movie. I’d long since given up on meeting a girl, having just graduated from a Christian university where some in the student body might think singleness is sinfulness, and still managing to not get married. (Which I’m quite proud of, by the way). Still, what guy wouldn’t love to have his future wife walk in through the front door of his living room?

We all stood around in a circle and played two truths and a lie. On the first go round, I told three truths by accident. The most awkward moment came when the subject turned to painting and decorating rooms, and I mentioned that I had just painted my room bright red and asked if anyone wanted to see it. Amy immediately said yes, but no one else did, leaving both us quite uncomfortable. (I especially since I didn’t want to be creepy — which, in hindsight the whole “do you want to see my room” line might not have been such a good idea.) One of her friends came to the rescue by saying yes too, and we both breathed a sigh of relief.

During the movie (which was really nothing that special), we just happened to sit next to each other on a small couch off to the side. Now here’s where I’m going to let you in on a little secret… If you ask my wife what happened next, she’ll tell you a lie. She’ll swear that I scooted closer to her first. Don’t believe a word of it. I wasn’t that brave. I was watching her out of the corner of my eye (she was a lot prettier than Tom Cruise after all) looking for any sign that she liked me. I saw it all very clearly. She scooted closer first. Emboldened, I scooted towards her too. As the movie progressed, the distance between us decreased. Here’s pretty much what it looked like.

Now for clarification, it should be noted that when distance apart = 0, that was the distance between our shoulders. She wasn’t sitting in my lap.

So about marriage itself… To begin with, I’ve learned that marriage is harder but better. No longer is the question you. It’s now us. And sometimes us means sacrifice or compromise. Even after a year, this changes you. I think it makes you a better person. It’s not always easy. In fact, at times, it can be downright maddening. But it’s always good. In this sense, marriage is one of the most spiritual things I’ve ever experienced. (And this from a person who gets the heebie-jeebies when it comes to people loudly claiming that this or that is spiritual). My whole understanding of what it means to both love and be loved took on a deeper meaning when I got married, and in ways that I can’t really explain, this has translated profoundly into my understanding of what love is, as it relates to my Christian faith.

Having a best friend to share life with is very satisfying too. Making plans for the future, coming home everyday to someone who’s happy to see you, and even facing the challenges that come your way. It’s all better married.

Yet in this regard I am profoundly sensitive. We’ve both known people who, upon getting married, suddenly act as if they’re on a different plane than those single people. As if single were a bad word or something. We’ve tried very hard to not be that married couple that can only hang out with married people, and who acts as if we’ve received some special revelation from God about the nature of life, just because we’re now married. I’ve seen this sort of arrogance or insensitivity first hand with friends, and we’ve been determined not to fall into its trap. But the reason this trap is seductive is because it’s exciting getting married, and it’s easy to let that excitement make you a little blind to those around you.

Mainly though, I’m honored to be married to such a great women. I can definitely say that I married “up” and am a better person for it. On the other hand, if you ask my wife on her perspective, though I’m sure she would say nice things about me, the truth is it might look a little something like this.

All I can say is “thanks, honey.” One down, a lifetime to go.

It’s been a while since I put up a picture of The Bruce. He was recently caught showing his dominance over all the apartment, belting out a manly roar. (Okay, it might have been a yawn).

If you’ll indulge me, I have quite a story to share. It’s about life and what we want from life. It’s about what we find important, what we really value, and what we’ll do without in order to get it.

My wife is a waitress this summer. The other day at work, she had a table that was particularly annoying. The moment they walked in, a man in the party did something so bizarre, so shocking, it defies belief. Because it’s the punch line of the story, I’m going to save it till the end. So you’ll have to read the whole post (or just skip to the bottom) to find out what happened…

Now my wife is very slow to get angry. It’s almost annoying how nice, tolerant, and mild mannered she is! But even she has her limits, and they were met and exceeded with this table.

To set the scene, it was a table with an older couple. They quickly became frustrated with the menu. They were trying to order the senior special, but complaining endlessly that the options weren’t comparable to the full menu. Perhaps they had a point. In offering an unequal menu for the seniors, perhaps society was unappreciative of their great contributions. The senior meals come with fries, which separately cost $2.50. Yet they could substitute only one order of vegetables, worth a mere $0.75. “Why the discrepancy?,” the gentlemen wanted to know. Indeed, a great injustice may have been occurring.

But an injustice at my wife’s hands it was not. Seemingly oblivious to the fact that she serves the food rather than makes the menu, they bitterly complained. My poor wife had to finally throw down the gauntlet. “I’m really sorry that your upset, but I don’t make the menu and have no control over these decisions. You can order a regular meal and get what you want, or the senior meal for the reduced price.”

Once the food was out of the way, the real point of contention surfaced. They asked friendly enough personal questions — Where are you from? What are you doing? Oh you’re married? What’s you husband doing? — etc. Friendly enough, that is, until they bluntly decided to share what they thought of our plans…

My wife wants to be an elementary teacher and I a college professor. “Are you independently wealthy?” the women asked with an incredulous scowl upon her face. “How do you expect to pay for any of this?”

My wife tried explaining that since you spend most of your adult life at work, we felt it was important to pursue things we were passionate about. That when the day was done and our lives were lived, we would be far happier with a job we cared about than a job we didn’t but which paid us more. This seemed to be lost on them, and they continued insulting her for being so stupid as to help support a husband in grad school. With the excuse of “other customers” my wife walked off, a wee bit ticked off.

So, what’s the surprise waiting for you at the end of the post? The punch line of it all? Well get this. When they walked in, the man had a tape measure. He required at least 14 inches in between the booth and the table to accommodate his stomach. His wife also required the same. And he measured to ensure that he had it.

Yes indeed. When times are tough, and I reflect on the decisions I’ve made in life and the endeavors I’ve decided to pursue, I’ll surely think back to this guy and his wife, squabbling over a few cents on a senior meal, and measuring their booths to make room for their stomachs. And I’ll reflect on the life I never had.

Something tells me I won’t miss it very much.

For those that haven’t heard yet, a project to sequence the Neadertal genome has been announced. The company doing it has a very nice press release available with a set of resources on the project. They also have a nice brief background (pdf format) on Neandertals.

What I found so amazing about this whole project is the ambitious goal of sequencing a genome from bones that long ago belonged to the deceased. Indeed, some of the main challenges to the project are dealing with very short pieces of DNA (something that happens as bones fossilize and decay) as well as lots of contamination from bacterial DNA. From what I gathered, the whole thing wouldn’t have even been possible if not for recent advances in sequencing technology.

I found the following particularly interesting.

Approximately 99% of the Homo sapiens genome is identical to the chimpanzee genome, our closest living relative. It is estimated that the Neandertal shares 96% of the 1% difference with Homo sapiens. The Neandertal shares the remaining 4% of the difference with the chimpanzee.

It will be fascinating to see what we learn about our own evolution, and what genes have undergone recent selection within the human genome, by getting something inbetween chimpanzees and humans to compare with. I also immediately wondered if it would be possible to get gene sequences from even older fossil species. I’m guessing that the older a fossil is, the less there is to work with. Still, I had no idea that sequencing a Neandertal genome was even a remote possibility.

For a little more insightful commentary, the anthropologist John Hawk’s blog has a write up on the project.

Update: I also noticed that the Questionable Authority has some nice comments on the project, explaining just how the genome comparisions can be put to use.

John Stewart had a recent piece where he took the news media to task (especially CNN) over their reporting on the middle east conflict.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it on YouTube or Google Video to include it in this post, but it is online at Comedy Central.

It’s hilarious, and I think you’ll get a big laugh from it.

In Florida comes the story of a young White Ibis that’s had some hard times lately.

juvenile White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) – photo source

It’s been shot with a practice arrow, though apparently no vital organs were hit. Authorities have been trying to catch it for two weeks, with no luck. They’ve given up, but beleive the arrow is working its way out on its own.

“I have captured hundreds of birds,” said Bob Hunt, a volunteer with the Bird Rescue Center in New Smyrna Beach. “You would think this would be one of the easier ones.”

Yes Bob you would think. But perhaps the bird has learned that people aren’t his best friend? Perhaps?

(Hat tip to The Birdchaser.)

Okay. The updates have been installed and things seem to be working. Firstly, there’s a strong chance that if you’ve visited this site recently, that you’re browser has cached files used to display the site — files that have now changed. If things on the main site or in the photogallery look wrong, refresh your browser. (Usually F5 on Windows computers.)

You’ll notice some minor changes to the site. I’ve installed a few bells and whistles. Why? Because I can!

Quotes

Random Quotes now display in the sidebar. If you know of any good quotes, particularly about science or religion, I’d love to hear them. If I like them, I’ll gladly add them to the list.

Books

I now have a spiffy list of books I’m reading, plan on reading, or have just read. This spiffy list links to Amazon. If you’ve learned about a book from me or were persuaded by a review I wrote, please order the book by clicking through from my site to Amazon. I get a very small percentage, and while I could care less about the money (no this isn’t my backup plan if grad school goes south), it would be really cool to earn a free book once in a blue moon.

Pictures

The photo gallery has been updated to a newer version (no real difference in the functionality from the old). I have, however, integrated it’s look with the design of the rest of the site. About time. I’d always meant to and never gotten around to it.

Tags

Finally, I’m going to start using Technorati tags at the end of my posts. I’ve formatted them quite obscurely and inconspicuously so they shouldn’t be an eyesore. Technorati is a popular blog search service. The tags act like keywords and (supposedly) help drive traffic to a site. We’ll see.

If you notice anything that’s broken, doesn’t look right (remember to refresh your browser first), etc., please let me know. I’ve tested everything as best I can, and feel confident that it’s all working, but there’s always a chance… (And if anybody’s using a Mac, I’d especially like to know if something’s wrong, as I haven’t tested it on a Mac).

Update: I squished a minor bug that could cause some Windows Internet Explorer users to see a glitch. Refreshing your browser once again will solve the problem. Hopefully this is the last of the problems.

Update 2: After watching my wife access the site, I realized that for anybody who arrives at this page via an RSS feed, you won’t see the quotes or the book list. I’ve put these only on the homepage, as I didn’t want the length of the pages to get unwieldy.

I’m taking the picture gallery down momentarily to apply some updates. I’ll also be adding some functionality to the main site as well. This should be brief, but if you see a hiccup on the site, it should be back to normal soon. I’ll post when I’m done.

And today is one of them.

Pink Princess, a 1-year-old toy poodle, enjoys a walk around Oakland, Calif., with owner Unique Hildreth. Hildreth, who says she has worn pink everyday for the past five years, dyes the poodle about once a month to maintain her pinkness.

There’s an interesting article in LiveScience on how Mosquitoes find a mate. It included this tidbit, which I found fascinating.

Scientists have long known that male mosquitoes key in on the buzzing of females to help them find a partner. But a new study finds that female mosquitoes, despite their comparatively simple antennae, are among the best listeners in the insect world.

The research also revealed how the mosquito mating commences.

When two mosquitoes approach each other—typically moving along at about 1 mph—each alters the tone of its buzzing, which is created by the wings beating at up to 600 times each second.

If the tones converge, each knows the other is a potential mate. If the tones diverge dramatically, then they learn they’re chasing a same-sex relationship that’s not apt to produce any little pests.

It is likely, the researchers say, that different mosquito species (there are about 3,000 of them around the world) employ different flight tones in order to recognize viable mates.

So not only do the two sexes have opposite tones, but, if I read that last statement correctly, researchers think that even different species have tones that would allow mates to find their own species and avoid others.

This is somewhat akin to the Hawaiian Drosophila, which have elaborate and very precise mating dances, where if the males get it even slightly wrong, the female flies off and won’t mate.

Biologists refer to these behaviors as behavioral isolation mechanisms — behaviors which isolate similar species and keeps them from mating.

These are precisely the kinds of things that I find so interesting about the natural sciences. I dislike a mosquito buzzing in my ear as much as the next guy. But it’s pretty amazing to realize there’s a lot more going on with that buzz that just flight.

Update: I just noticed that PZ Myers over at Pharyngula put up an in depth explanation of this paper on mosquito “song.” Since that LiveScience article is so sparse, it’s well worth a read.