My in-laws took Porter and Alice, my two kids, to the Exploratorium in San Francisco yesterday. And they brought me back a present, too. A stuffed animal no less. Now normally I’m not much of a fan of stuffed animals, especially for myself. But this one was different. It’s a stuffed Saccharomyces cerevisiae, better know as brewer’s yeast. A company, Giant Microbes, makes stuffed animals out of all sorts of microscopic goodies such as the flu, ear aches, bad breath, black death and salmonella to name a few. I’ve got him sitting on my desk watching me type. What a great gift.

My new pal Saccharomyces cerevisiae, I think I’ll call him buddy.