MIT speed.

We did the normal ladder today at MIT: 200, 400, 600, 800, 800, 600, 400, 200.  Felt good to run fast.  Now i'm drinking wine and watching Cosmos.  As a chemist, it's funny to watch the awe-inspiring graphics of the universe - and ponder what the hell i'm doing spending my life studying atoms/molecules - crap you can't see.  I remember doing an STM experiment at NAU and one of the astronomy profs walking in and basically making that comment: "why spend so much time and effort looking at that, when you can just look up and see the universe?"

"The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.”