A new arrival
I have a personal announcement to make: Saturday night, at about half past ten in the evening, my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Young Victor came home last night, and has managed to completely destroy the family routine simply by existing! This is normal, of course, as any parent can attest, and none of the adults in the house are surprised by the lack of sleep, or chaotic behaviour from the two older girls. But it has affected Urban Astronomer in that I have very little time to write, and when I do get an opportunity I find my thoughts too muddled to produce much of value.
Still, I’ve achieved a few things: I wrote (and finally passed) my calculus exam on Monday, which had become the bottleneck to my entire degree – ALL of my subsequent courses require that I pass that subject. I’m almost as pleased about this as I am about the new baby!
Additionally (and finally, something relevant to Urban Astronomer), I’ve entered one of my earlier articles into the 3rd Annual 3QD Science Prize. The organisers at 3 Quarks Daily rely on votes from readers to shortlist submissions, so if you enjoy my writing then please feel free to support my entry as soon as the public voting process begins.
And now we return you to our normal schedule…