Ich bin froh
Daß ich kein Dicker bin
Denn Dicksein ist 'ne Quälerei
Ich bin froh
Daß ich so'n dünner Hering bin
Denn dünn bedeutet frei zu sein

Well, perhaps not yet, but I'm sure I'll get there. A few colleagues are fond of asking whether I've lost weight, and I always tell them "no." Then they say my face looks thinner, but that's probably in comparison with last spring, since whenever I travel to Europe I walk/hike enough to lose a bit, and I probably kept my face slender enough from then. If I develop a double chin, I'd just do the fat-cutting work myself.

I refuse to get a scale. I do not really want to know my *weight* ... I'll just be happy when the gut is gone and pants with a 36" waist are too big. I'll probably have to break 200lbs, though, for that.

[...]
Für Dicke gibt's nix anzuziehen
Dicken sind zu dick zum fliehen
Dicke haben schrecklich dicke Beine
Dicke ham'n Doppelkinn
Dicke schwitzen wie die Schweine
[...]

terpia's comment last week inspired me to buy some of the Yogi Tea that my brother is so fond of drinking. Now, I like "good for you" stuff as much as the next person, but I'm also a skeptical little bastard, and frankly the so-called 'health benefits' leave me unconvinced (note their own fine print: "*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."), but I can say this: their Peach DeTox tea == TEH TASTY, so I do recommend it.

Dicken haben Blähungen
Dicke ham'n dicken Po
Und von den ganzen Abführmitteln
rennen Dicke oft auf's Klo

The following brownie recipe proved to be rather popular:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
• 3/4 cup sweetened cocoa powder (e.g. Ghirardelli)
• 2/3 cup unsifted flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

(a cup of chocolate chips or 1/2 cup of walnuts are optional; I chose neither, see below). Preheat oven to 350(F) and grease pan. Stir eggs, vanilla, and sugar; add butter. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa. Stir two mixtures together, pour into pan, and bake for about 25 minutes (20-30 depending on desired chewiness and such). I added about a 1/2 cup of sliced almonds to the mixture.

These brownies are quite sweet, and I might cut down on the sugar a tad in the future. In addition, as mentioned elsewhere, cayenne pepper is a wonderful addition to brownies. 1/4 tsp. will leave a lingering aftertaste; for more of a kick I recommend about 1 tsp. per batch. If you keep it mild, it will remind you a bit of cinnamon or anise.

At Kaffeestunde yesterday only one student showed up -- same student of mine who was there last time. Well, this way she gets plenty of one-on-one time with the various TAs. Furthermore we had six boxes of Girl Scout cookies (and the two batches of brownies), since the main dept. secretary ordered them -- 3 for us, and 3 for home, but her husband said "don't bring them home", so she gave us the other 3 boxes, too. And for once, I was not the one to make the silly joke about whether or not my brownies were made with real Brownies (given the boxes of Girl Scout cookies there ...).

[...]
Und ham sie endlich zehn Pfund abgenommen
Ja dann kann man es noch nichtmal sehn
Dicke ham's so schrecklich schwer mit Frauen
Denn Dicke sind nicht angesagt
[...]

I did not make it to bed until about 4:30am because I had to write a bibliography for my dissertation advisor; we had a meeting this afternoon about 12:45. I and several colleagues dread such meetings -- our advisor is great and such, but a bit of a perfectionist, so we always feel that unless it is perfect, we can't hand in anything ... meaning it is difficult to progress and actually *do* anything. Anyway, the meeting went well. We also discussed my new timeline; I need to get him a chapter by the end of May, and another by the end of August. I am not traveling this summer, so it *should* be possible ... all depends on my level of motivation, I suppose.

As an aside: I found a book that looks wonderfully interesting, and relevant to my work: Essays on Nonconceptual Content, edited by York H. Gunther. One of the dominant trends in criticism and such, due to 1) generalization and overapplication of Whorf-Sapir, 2) belief in everything being ideology- and discourse-bound (see post-structuralism and related 'things'), and 3) the 'linguistic-turn' .... three things that are closely related, but not identical ... is a focus on language being the locus of thought. One of the questions is: do we / can we have 'thoughts' or 'knowledge' that do not rely on language, or more generally are non-semiotic in nature? Actually, those two need not be so closely connected, especially not in a set-->sub-set sort of way (one might take Kantian 'ideas' as having a non-semiotic aspect since they are non-conceptual, but then you get into the whole self-referential and 'free-signifier' stuff). Anyway, as I stated, this is merely an aside for today.

To conclude: Bring in the logic probe!