Gone for a Few Days

Going to be out of the state for a few days; a few of you have written questions to me about technical issues or methods, and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can!

In the meantime, as is custom whenever I go on vacation, here is another late masterwork by Brahms. Always a mysterious figure, one of the greatest enigmas surrounding Brahms's life was his relationship with Clara Schumann, piano virtuoso and widow of the famous composer Robert Schumann. Scholars have speculated for decades what happened between them - because, obviously, knowing whether they hooked up or not is essential for how we listen to and appreciate the music of Brahms, and such a line of inquiry is a valid funding opportunity for government grants.

Fortunately, however, I recently came across one of Brahms's lost journals in a second-hand bookstore; and the secrets disclosed within will finally give us an answer. Let's take a look:


November 4th, 1876: Cloudy today. Composed first symphony.

 August 9th, 1879: Went clubbing with Liszt and Wagner. Hooked up with Clara Schumann. No doubt about it.

 October 24th, 1884: Note to self: Find out why I'm writing my journal in English.

 April 3rd, 1897: Died from cancer.



Escape to Los Angeles

Because you all need to know when and where I go on vacation, I will be traveling to Los Angeles, California, for the next week; followed by a trip to Minnesota. Those of you still in Bloomington: Please don't break into my apartment. But if you do, could you at least water my plants? I forgot about that when I left town this afternoon. Thanks!

However, just because I am on the other side of the country, hiking and swimming and laughing and playing the Schubert F Minor Fantasie and Grieg and Brahms cello sonatas, doesn't mean that I'll quit updating. Do you think I would ever quit that? Did we quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no. So remember to check back regularly, because I will continue to post on topics such as GLMs, MVPA, FIFY, and IMHO. Maybe. It really depends on how much fun I'm having.


On Vacation

Friends, comrades, brothers, and droogs,

I will be traveling across the country for the next few days, playing at a wedding in Michigan, viddying all the pititsas with their painted litsos and bolshy groodies, and then goolying on over to New York to see my Devotchka play Gaspard de la Nuit at Carnegie Hall, those rookers iddying over the blacks and whites all skorrylike and horrorshow.

I should be back sometime next week - "sometime" being a very flexible word.




Back Next Week



Fellow brainbloggers,

I'll be going home for a few days - running a few races, seeing a few friends, eating a few pizzas, kicking back a few Shirley Temples. Getting that messed up on Sprite and grenadine means that updates may be scarce. When I return, though, I will be going to FMRI pound-town on those resting-state analyses and hit you with the full report as promised.


Eric my man, take us outta here.

On Vacation



I will be gone for the next ten days, making a brief layover in Chicago to see some friends, and then traveling back to the frigid northern wastelands of Minnesota to my old stamping grounds of Wayzata (and believe me, I used to stamp the living heck out of those grounds). As a result, there will be fewer posts - although I do have a couple of drafts at hand to sprinkle around like little orts, just to keep you all happy and coming back for more.

But seriously, I want to let you all know that I do not take anyone's readership here for granted. After the initial wave of inflated traffic statistics from bots and pings from Russian adult-oriented websites, I have seen that there is a good chunk of you that - for whatever reason - keeps returning; and so, I thank you. I will be sure to reward your loyalty by putting up Google ads soon, as they are targeted toward your desires, and so will make the experience more enjoyable. You think I am joking, but I am not.

But seriously - for real, this time - each time I get a comment about how this blog has helped someone out with some aspect of FMRI, or statistics, or their romantic life, it all seems worth it. I can't tell you how many times I've thought about hanging it all up and quitting (actually, I can: Twice), but for someone posting a comment at the last minute asking how the hell I could be so stupid as to write that optseq optimizes designs according to beta estimates as opposed to contrast efficiency; upon which I become pissy and defensive, and continue to post out of sheer spite. So to all of you who read and contribute - Thank You! Here is a reward for you all: