Gross

For a long time I've been a fan of Balance Bars. They're pretty tasty and a good snack when I'm hungry and need a little something to eat and don't want a full meal or anything. Yesterday I had a balance bar and for some reason my eye was drawn to the word "fish" on the list of ingredients. I wasn't even trying to read it, but the word just jumped out.

Then I read it more carefully and it turns out that Balance Bars contain fish gelatin. I find this super gross. I haven't eaten meat or fish for 20 years or so. I'm certain that I've had fish products in stuff, especially when traveling in China. One of the types of Thai curry TastyBite entrees has fish in it as well, which I only discovered after having it once or twice. So it's not like the Balance Bars are the only fishy stuff I've ever had.

Nevertheless, I think this is just gross. Fish are yucky. Well, actually, I think fish are pretty cool. They're great as fish -- things that swim around in the water and that we should just leave alone and not eat. It's the eating of fish that I think is yucky. Yes, I know there are some cultures that eat lots of fish. That's fine, I guess. But I don't want to eat fish. I don't know why Balance would put fish in their chocolatey nutrition bars. Ug. I wrote Balance an email, but they didn't answer.

I guess I need to read labels really carefully. But I'd have thought that Balance Bars were free from animal and fish products. Oh well.

Anyway, I've got a bunch of Balance Bars now that I have no intention of eating. If there's anyone reading this in Bar Harbor who want them, let me know.

Sunday

It's been a nice Sunday so far. Slept in and spent the morning reading and doing dishes and other housework while listening first to Johan Geilen and then Spearhead. I was able to get a decent run in during a break in the rain. I got wet, but at least it wasn't pouring. Now I'm in my office trying to get organized. Listening to Above & Beyond and trying to just do stuff and not think too much about all I have to do. Am having mixed success.

A thunderstorm rolled through which was nice. A big thunderclap rattled the windowpane. It's still drizzling but is supposed to stop soon. Shortly I will head home for a good meal and an evening of grading while watching hockey and basketball finals.

Almost Over

Chilling out at home. Listening to an old Hed Kandi radio show while Doreen listens to French news streaming online. Today was the last day of classes of spring term. Late afternoon we had our awards ceremony, which was its usual mix of awkward and nice. This was followed by a reception for seniors and their families, which was fun. Then Doreen and I went to dinner with a bunch of the graduation speakers. It was a nice meal, but the acoustics at the restaurant weren't good, so it was loud and hard to have a discussion. Tomorrow is graduation.

I'm glad the term is over. It was a very tiring ten weeks. I need a few days to recover and then I have mountains of work to do. I have much grading and then almost fifty evaluations to write. There are two papers I need to referee, and I'm the external reader on a dissertation. All of these I should do by the end of June, if not sooner. And there is a book review that I'm supposed to have done in July. I also have a bunch of grant-related odds and ends that need to get dealt with. And then there is my main task for the summer, which is to finish my Chaos and Fractals textbook. I'm looking forward to it all, except for the grant stuff.

Tomorrow, though, will be a morning of rest, and an afternoon and evening of celebration with graduates and their families.