9:15 – the stupid DST is messing with my head, so I wake up late.

9:15-10:30 – getting myself together and fixing myself a Canadian breakfast (bagel, cream cheese, smoked salmon) to the sounds of Dr. Phil reruns playing in the background.

10:30-10-50 – blogging and Tweeting.

10:50-12:50 – working on the book.

12:50-13:40 – cooking. I made turkey kotlety that are supposed to last until the weekend, so I will be free of massive cooking obligations for a few days.

13:40-14:00 – lunch.

14:00-15:00 -working on the book.

15:00-16:00 – a relaxation hour. This means blogging and playing My Family Farm to the sounds of the Dr Phil Show.
16:00-17:00 – visiting the florist ‘ s to send flowers to a friend who’s come out of heart surgery successfully and running a few errands.

17:00-19:00 – reading and annotating the sources for my book at the bookstore.

19:00-21:30 – the gym with N.

And if I manage to get in another hour of reading somewhere in the next few hours after that, I will feel that I’m not wasting my spring break.

Today’s Dr. Phil Show is very good, people. There is a small kid who his parents say is destined to become the next Ted Bundy. The parents say they exist in mortal fear of their lives being taken by the little boy.

From the very start, Dr. Phil told the parents that the kid was simply doing and saying what the parents wanted him to do and say. They only pay attention to him when he says things like “I will kill you”, so he says them.

There is zero probability that these parents will hear Dr. Phil and recognize that they are not victims of this tiny child. But it is still absolutely crucial that somebody say these things in public.

The child is adopted, which explains this weird dynamic.

Decided to watch some Russian TV, turned on a random channel, heard that President Obama “was installed in power by the Rothschild clan in order to weaken the US and allow Europe to win world dominance,” spit at the screen, and turned off the TV. 

And it’s not just some especially freaky program, people. It’s like that and worse on every channel, all day, and every day. And newspapers are even worse. 

It’s the spring break, so I’m working on my book from home. I just looked out of the window of my study and saw a young deer strolling right in front of the window. At a little distance, two fat raccoons with stripy tails were sauntering by the creek. 

My colleagues are planning a massive exodus from this university and this region because there is no political will and no interest on the part of the citizens in preserving public education in Illinois. It will be a great pity to have to leave this beautiful area. 

And just to answer the question of “But why, why do the Russians hate Americans so much?” once and for all:

 

This is the city of Voronezh with the population of over 1,000,000.

As an old saying goes, there are two problems in Russia: the roads and idiots. Of course, the roads are allowed to remain in this state by idiots, so there is just a single problem in Russia. 

When you spend your life in one of these dilapidated wooden structures staring at this horrible muck, it’s hard not to develop a profound hatred for Obama who obviously caused all of this. (I’m not sure just yet how he caused all of this but all I need to do to find out is turn on my Russian TV.)

The Chair said during the annual evaluations that he can’t help admiring how easy it is for me to stay silent every time when the question of “Who’s willing to volunteer for this committee?” is asked.

I explained that I had decided years ago that I would only do the kind of service that I found fun and useful to me.