A little time to breathe...

... before another whirl wind whips me away.

The semester is pretty much over for me and it couldn't have come at a better time. It's been a busy year and it's not letting up anytime soon.

I may have given my last final of the semester and have 2 out of the 3 classes completely graded, but the week's far from over.

Our program is growing so fast that we are implementing a Portfolio Review that will help us keep control of our classes and our sanity. The BFA has been approved and we are rolling out a half dozen new courses over the next two year (none of them are ones that I have to develope). Next semester I switch from a MWF schedule to a TR schedule. I've been MWF for the past 5 years, so this is going to seem weird at first, but then I realized that I don't have to teach on Monday, so I really spend my Sunday nights with the family.

... anyways, after the review on Friday, we have Commencement on Saturday, and Michelle flies in that night to stay with Mindy and the kids while I take off to...

... London and Paris. We leave on Monday, May 15th and get back on the 26th. I'm excited and can't wait. I wish I could have more than a day to unwind from the semester before jetting over the Atlantic with a group of 15 students. This will be my third trip with the department (Beijing/Ghaungou '02 and Manhattan '05), but its a nice perk.

At least (Alan and) I put the book to bed before I left, but I know that I'll come home to a bunch of rewrites... but that's the nature of the business. The publisher has it now and its heading off to the reviewers (I hope we get a better one than last time) so it'll be a few weeks. The book is scheduled for release in August, right before school starts and soon enough that I can use it for my class (only one section this time, the new faculty is taking the other two sections).

Anyways, that's it for now.

I've got around 8 shows backed up on the TiVo I've got to watch so that there's room for all the Season Finales I'm missing while I'm gone.

Oh well... there's no rest for the wicked.