OK, here at long last is a (rudimentary) progress report: My piping instructor has started giving me further tunes to learn, but at this point one has seemingly dropped out of discussion, while the next, the "Skye Boat Song," evidently is of low priority.

Admittedly more interesting is the Mars flap. First of all it seems amazing that this planet should approach the Earth (marginally) closer in my own lifetime than at any point in virtually the last 60,00 years! Of course, we could say the same thing if we lived in the 22nd century. Furthermore, some might question whether this life is what it appears anyway--but I'd prefer not to get into metaphysics now. Well, also amazing is the fact that, without a global dust storm, Mars became bright enough in our skies to lose most of its color, blazing at midnight like a misplaced Venus. Early on the 28th my brother & I peered at it through binoculars. Keeping the image steady proved practically impossible, but we thought we saw a disk, which a good pair would reportedly show. He described it as resembling a reduced but intense version of the Moon.