I opened the bedroom drapes this morning to find the backyard covered in a fine layer of snow, with more flakes lazily drifting from the sky. AJ was excited. He wanted to put on his boots and stomp around the yard and was all ready to get his sled out. But by the time we got downstairs, the snow of the front porch was already melted. It�s not a real storm, just a friendly reminder of the season to come. But it doesn�t really matter to AJ. He�s been stomping around the house singing, �It�s snowing! I�m so excited! It�s winter!� all morning long.

The season to come is the real reason for his excitement. Strangely, he is not, as the media would like him to be, obsessed with Christmas yet. He has a countdown to Thanksgiving going on the chalkboard in his room right now. Yesterday, when we arrived at the supermarket to find the employees in the process of putting up Christmas decorations, AJ got a very sour and surly look on his face. �What about Thanksgiving?� he demanded, with his fists on his hips. �Where are the Thanksgiving decorations?� I confessed my ignorance on the answer to this question while the employees, adorned in Santa hats, giggled at him from atop the ladder from which they were attempting to suspend a giant snowflake.

I�m going to miss that little guy while I�m gone. I leave early tomorrow morning. My paper is edited and done. My DVDs are labeled and awaiting transport. As soon as I get a proof of my abstract back from our resident editor (I highly recommend marrying an editor to anyone of an academic bent. It is most convenient), my c.v. update will be complete and I will commence printing a pile for distribution at the conference. The penultimate edit of my first chapter is done and sent to my committee, along with recommendation requests and a list of job applications. It�s been a productive week all around. What I did not get out were the two job applications I had hoped to send. I had to make a choice between being prepared and rested for the conference and sending in the two applications before I�d done as much research on the schools as I would have liked. I chose the first, reasoning that both schools will be represented at the conference and I might be better off preparing myself to talk to people there instead. I think it was the right decision. At least I won�t be worrying about sending off applications that were not as fully vetted as I would like. And I should be ready to send them when I get back. I�m sorry I have not responded to any of your notes and emails and guestbook entries in the last couple of days, but know that your good wishes are all much appreciated.

The rest of my evening will likely be spent absorbed in assorted fashion crises, as I make final decisions on what goes into the suitcase. I find this particular conference to be a bit of a challenge in that department, as it tends to be more casual than the others I regularly attend. I�m on the job market and I�m presenting, so I wish to look professional and will try to dress the part, but my usual paper-presenting suit will, I think, look over-eager in this venue. On the plus side, I should be able to get away with more comfortable shoes. Also, I may have to rethink my outerwear. I had been expecting warmer weather in Georgia, butweatherbug tells me it�s going to get down in the twenties a couple of nights while I�m there and it�s currently snowing like crazy here. Unless, Miss Leigh, you happen to have any pull in the local weather department?

And now, in the immortal words of Virgil, it is time �to go forth a conqueror and win great victories.�

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