When your life follows the academic calendar...

...September is busier than you expect it to be.

We have the a larger group on incoming students, which is a good thing. Just surprising! While some fields are seeing a larger than average pool of applicants for graduate school, ours is not one into which you can really just "decide" to go. It takes a certain amount of language training and area background knowledge.

Couple the usual beginning of school and school year issues with a few screwballs thrown to us from left field, and you have a busy department.

Expect things to cool down slightly in a week or so.

In the mean time, headed out of town for a conference in connection to our major-source-of-funding grant. Carpooling to the airport, and utilizing the hotel's free airport shuttle = ways to save (the department) money.