The times we’re living in

The economy is so bad right now that, after spending one night in the Holiday Inn Express of Spokane Valley to attend the USATF club cross country championships, we received a handwritten, personalized card from the hotel thanking us for our patronage. I suppose it’s possible that they’ve always sent out thank-you notes, but I doubt it.

Then at a family gathering on Christmas Eve, my brother-in-law jokingly advised us to get ready for the coming of the End Times. Since my ears are perpetually tuned to science rather than religion, what I thought I heard him say was that we need to prepare for the “Coming of the Enzymes.” Now there’s a scary thought . . . especially considering that the enzymes may already be upon us. In fact, the more you look around (using spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography and so forth), the more you realize that they’re everywhere. Aaaaaah!

Happy New Year, fellow doomed earthlings!