Tom Isern, NDSU

The department has made a rather congenial home on the garden level of Putnam Hall. One bit of evidence of a good spirit in the place is the development of a Friday noon routine known as Dr. Helgeland's Dog Days--grilling for all comers on the little patio out back. Although this week, judging by the NWS forecast, we'll be retreating indoors and relying on the George Foreman grill. John is having a dandy time playing host, and the general spirit is relaxed and conducive to constructive work.

On an unrelated note, there is a problem with rabbits and squirrels launching misguided assaults on their own reflections in the ground level windows. From the outside, I mean.

I love this piece about Dave Berryhill, Bison fan - http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/254663/

Strange to say, there are faculty who have no regard for Bison athletics. I mean, it goes beyond just saying, I'm not interested--it involves active expression of disdain. I like a good Bison game, whatever the sport. I also like a good choir concert, a good biology lecture, or a good poetry reading. The combination of eclectic curiosity and institutional loyalty gives you a rich academic life. This is something, too, we can model for our students. Being seen at a Bison game gives you cred with students. Then, when you encourage them to take in a play, they might just take you up on it.

This weblog is moving--that is, it will be housed on a new server. This should be invisible to anyone viewing it, but bear with me for a little while if there are odd incidents.

I'm back this morning from three days spent with the Dakota Memories Heritage Tour to Germans-from-Russia sites in south-central North Dakota. Time well spent, including calls at some great sites (such as the Lehr Tabernacle) I never visited before. That's about enough bus riding for me for a while. Great company, though.

. . . to Annie Erling, NDSU History grad, who went off to Washington to do an internship in the office of U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, and now finds herself hired on as a staffer. Another NDSU grad forced to wear a suit to work.