Hi There! You Still There?

Well, I don't have any excuse for not posting, except for the fact that I've been exhausted lately. I've been getting up at around 5:30 and going to bed about 11 or 12. And I'm a guy who needs a full night's sleep. So, I'm tired and cranky, but I still feel the need to at least put up a placeholder here.

So, I'll do the traditional thing and present bullets of crankiness.

• The higher ups said that due to horrible budget cuts we must do the very unpopular and horribly unfortunate x, y, and z, and I'm the point of contact between the screwer and the screwee. Ok, I suck it up and try to put the best face on the situation. I explain firmly that x, y, and z are going to happen no matter what, and while we are all very sympathetic, there is nothing we can do. X, Y, and Z happen. The screwees were very unhappy. Then the higher ups suddenly find a way to un-do X and Y. But really it's kind of too late because everyone we wanted to participate has already gone elsewhere. And I'm the guy who now has no credibility and a horde of unhappy screwees.
• running is really hard to fit into this term's schedule.
• My PDA, which runs a program vital for my academic life (really!) made an appointment with Dr. Kervorkian, and I can't seem to convince it that there is so much to live for.
• Unwritten papers...
• Money. Money. Money.
  

Ugh. The funny thing is that I'm such a freakish optimist that I feel I need to balance things out:

• Big Sis (and I mean BIG sis :) ) and fam, including the two bestest nieces in the whole wide world are coming near enough to me that I can hang out with them this weekend. Woot!
• The class I'm teaching is difficult, but very fun and rewarding.
• PDA shopping could be fun :)