First Week at PERC

Arrived Sunday afternoon, settled in and promptly started grading final exams! Had a brief visit to PERC on Monday morning, picked up my bicycle, which had been shipped to Bangtail Bikes and assembled for me, and then graded finals until midnight. Finished grading, but spent the next day recovering from being sick. Final grades were turned in on time Tuesday, but that’s about all that happened! Weather: about what you’d expect in Montana in early May – chilly with bits of rain off and on.

Wednesday was my first real day at PERC. Set up my office space: quiet back corner on the south east side of the building with two wide windows -- great views of Bridger Mountains to the northeast, the other MSU (that’s Montana State Univ.) to the east, and the Hyalite Mountains (Gallatin National Forest) to the south. Spent the rest of the day closing out my semester at MSU. Thursday, I actually got to work on my summer research project: Malthus and Julian Simon. Thought I’d start by reading the first edition of the Essay on Population again: what an amazing essay that is! I started Friday with swimming at 6:15 am, and then spent the rest of the day finishing my blog entry on ID, reading Donald Winch’s Malthus, going to the Montana State Univ. Library for Julian Simon’s books, reading Gordon Bigelow’s article on economics and evangelicalism in Harper’s (look for a blog on that over the weekend!), and reading some of Simon’s work. Weather: Thursday it snowed, and Friday became beautiful!

Friday night will be the first of many PERC social events: a party to say goodbye to some of the research fellows who have been here for the academic year. Saturday morning: I’m heading off early to ride to the mountains and back.