Some Late November Observations

• It seems as if we have been three weeks from the end of the semester for an eternity. It truly will never end.
• We're doing several faculty searches, which has me looking toward the future and what this place should look like.
• The quality of applications suggests that we have turned a corner at Texas Tech.
  
• It's exciting that really good people want to be here.
• My office is once again a complete wreck. It's embarrassing that I have three desks covered several inches deep in papers and books.
• I really enjoy my colleagues. I feel lucky to work in a great place.
• They call Twitter microblogging, and it has certainly harmed my macroblogging.
• Thanksgiving is scheduled at a really annoying time.
• Data analysis always beats writing. Unless, of course, that writing is blogging.
• My life was better before Facebook and MySpace.
• I wish that my e-mail would go into a secret folder on my BlackBerry so that I could see it when I wanted to without being forced to deal with it.
• I'm not going into the office today. First Saturday in as long as I can remember.
• I will still be working from home.
• I'm the happiest I have been in late November in as long as I can remember.
• No matter how great your kids and spouse, you can eventually test their patience with consecutive 12 hour days.
• You've been working too much when your four-year-old asks you if you've been out-of-town.
  
• I have no idea what I want to teach in Fall 2009. It may seem silly, but I have to decide relatively soon, and I am completely conflicted.
• My wife and I are long overdue to go out to dinner alone.
• Long overdue.
• We've had dinner along like once in the past year.
  
• I'm nostalgic for K-State football and Indiana basketball.
• Despite the fact that both sucked/will suck this year.
• A week from now, I will be in New Mexico, which is one of the best parts of living in Lubbock.