Things that make me happy:

It's nice to hear on the radio, on national news, that people in Chicago are doing nice things like pushing each other out of where their vehicles are stuck in all the snow. It really does. That is definitely national news. I know that we do that here in Laramie (where only a couple of the main roads in the city are plowed when we get snow), and it makes the national news every time. Hellz, the FFM and I helped push a couple vehicles out, one from New Joisey and the other County 5, right here, a month or so ago after we got a huge dumping. Remember hearing about us? Maybe you even saw a video of us helping out on TV.

I also like what I heard a couple nights ago at dinner. I was sitting at the Rialto Cafe (big thumbsies up for the chicken piccata) reading "Uranium" (more big thumbsies up for Tom Zoellner and this interesting read) on the 16th Street Mall in Denver, a pedestrian venue. It's right downtown, where all sorts of name hotels sit, and at that time, I'd heard, there were 4 different conferences happening in the area. Anyway, this middle aged woman and man were sitting at the table next to mine talking, obviously acquaintances who had caught up for dinner after a day of attending whichever event they'd gone to Denver to attend. And the woman said to the man something to the effect that she had heard there is a really good mall in Denver (remember, she was sitting on the 16th Street MALL, but I imagine she was talking about Cherry Creek), and that she wished she had her car with her so she could drive around and see things. Not only is the 16th Street Mall right downtown, offering shops, restaurants and pubs, even a big movie theatre, but there are also, within walking distance, several excellent museums, including the Denver Art Museum, the Mint and other pretty cool places to visit. And if one is especially lazy or hobbled, he or she can ride the free mall shuttle to the top and bottom of 16th Street, to get to one end or the other for its proximity to particular places of interest (like Coors Field, of course, which was looking cold and lonely when I left town yesterday morning.)

But, off I go again like Faulkner, so let me just wrap this up by saying that the exchange between the woman and the man, regarding having a vehicle and driving, made me happy to note that with so many people like this out there, I am assured of a long career in reclaiming lands disturbed by energy development. As my Dad would say: "Sweet!"

So many other little happenings like these make me happy, but right now I have to go to Soil Physics class, so I won't go into them now. I will leave you all mired in suspense, waiting for me to kindly push you out.