This is it...

Tomorrow the Evil Fruit Lord either becomes Dr. Evil Fruit Lord, or he becomes Very, Very, Sad Fruit Lord (I don't think that's likely, but it's not my decision). Either way, tomorrow night looks to include a fair amount of beer.

You may have noted that I haven't been very active in the past month. As in at all active. That's because I have been writing a dissertation and preparing for a PhD defense. It's basically eaten up all my free time (as well as my very soul). I'm a rather scary husk of a man at the moment. I do however have a fresh haircut and I've actually shaved, so it basically evens out I guess.

So anyway, wish me luck, if you feel so inclined.

I'll keep you posted.

Update: Success! It was a bit brutal at times, but I'm still here and I've got the signatures. I've still got a ton of revisions, but I'm over the hump.

I'm back!

Didn't even know I was gone, did you?

I've been out in California, interviewing for what I consider a fairly high profile fruit breeding position. I think it went well, but it's hard to really tell. Either way, it was a fun trip and I met a lot of great people. It seems like a truly great job. If I get the offer, I'll fill you in on more details, but I figure with things undecided it just seems a tad unwise to engage in too much discussion (why? I don't know. Just my instinct.) But I'll keep you posted.

This is your opporunity to congratulate me...(hint, hint...)

I passed my qualifiers yesterday! I am officially admitted to candidacy for the PhD! Woohoo!

Also, completely coincidentally, at about the same time, the 10,000th hit came to my humble home on the web here. So that's pretty cool, too.

Seriously, I feel a bit self-conscious posting such things, but since other people have blogs detailing the dullest, tiniest minutiae of their lives, I figure I can post at least the big highlights now and again.

I miss sleep. I remember it was pretty cool.

Anyway, still in the barely staying functional part of the new baby experience. So don't expect too much here for a little bit. But I thought I'd pass on a couple of links:

The Orchard Keeper's Blog
This is a recently initiated blog to discuss the operation of Royal Oak Farm, an impressively diverse fruit operation in northern Illinois. There might be a tad too much religion for some, and I'm sure some folks will find it incredibly dull, but I think some people may find a window into the nitty-gritty operations of a working orchard to be rather fascinating.

TreeDazzled
TreeDazzled is really a tree site (and he/she seems to be particularly into conifers), not a fruit site, but it's a nice one, and there are plenty of tree fruits. There actually seems to be a fair bit of just general horticulture, with a good mix of academics, links, and forums.

A picture of the wee seedling...

Well, for those of you who care, here's a shot of the youngest hybrid:



She's still not big on opening both eyes for any length of time, but she's getting to be a little bit more aware of her world.

Evil Fruit Seedling

Actually, she's not remotely evil (as far as I can tell), but I thought I'd let you folks know that the second half of my very small scale breeding program in humans arrived last night, after a comparatively easy labor (says the person who didn't squeeze a baby out of his body), weighing in at an even seven pounds. She had a little trouble breathing at first, but she's doing great right now.

Thanks for all the good wishes...at some point when I've reverted to a functional human being you might even see pictures.