It�s another rainy and gray day here in the back of beyond, although as I�m working in my basement office, the windows to which are located directly under the back deck, it�s kind of hard to tell. AJ staged a miraculous recovery from his cold, particularly given the fact that he was in and out of bed repeatedly beginning at about 3:30 a.m. Despite the interruptions, I�m not that tired today. Instead, after my third and final wake-up call at 6:30, I arose with a determination for accomplishment of one sort or another. Laundry has been done. Floors have been swept, garbage has been taken out and the kitchen counter, which is a most impractical butcher block (given that it surrounds the stove and is prone to grease spatters), has been scoured within an inch of its life with boiling soapy water. On the academic front, my conference paper has undergone yet another set of painful cuts and is almost short enough. I�ll be delivering it on my home turf to an audience of colleagues and faculty next week, so I�m sure there will be another round of changes yet to come. If past history is any indication of how this will go, they will be a much tougher audience than my conference presentation, as they will be paying much closer attention.

My point to all of this? My head is in the business of production rather than reflection today. As a result, there is not much to say. Not that that has ever stopped me from saying it. And now the daily dose of diss awaits.

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