Half the dogs in America will receive Christmas presents this year, yet few of us pause to consider the miserable life of the pig -- an animal easily as intelligent as a dog -- that becomes the Christmas ham. (From last week's NY Times magazine)

This morning I went to visit Rice University (where I am going to be getting my Master's degree...). I got there at 8:30 or so, and campus was so dead, the only people out were joggers on Rice Blvd. That was my first flashback of when life didn't start until 11 a.m. (even when I had early morning classes that I didn't sleep through, I just kind of drifted until lunch time. Ah, that was nice.

Anyway, I really like Rice. It had pretty buildings, nice professors, green space, and a funny school paper. All of those components are essential, of course, to my education.

If you're worried about Apache, she's fine, she just has some sort of colon infection (the worst the vet has ever seen) and she's on about a week of drugs and special high-fiber diet. The unfortunate part is that she is contagious, at least for the next few days, and cannot be kept in her crate (lest she has an "accident" on herself). So, she is currently in "doggy day care" at $5/day at the vet so that she gets walked regularly and frequently. This kind of kills any possibility of plans for the weekend (I was hoping to scare up people to go to the Renaissance Faire tomorrow) as I can't leave her alone for more than several hours at a time (grumble). Having a dog is such a good form of birth control.

Tonight: Harry Potter. Not as exciting as Cantebury or the Odeon in London, like last year, but it will have to do.