Summer Has Begun

Although the semester ended almost two weeks ago, I was so caught up with end-of-the semester stuff (graduation, grading, conferences, etc.) that it took me a while to really appreciate that summer was here. And let me just say: Welcome! I was so burned out the last couple of months that I just couldn't wait for the semester to end.

We celebrated the beginning of summer with a great Memorial Day weekend. For starters, we headed to the drive-in to see Indiana Jones and Iron Man. I have been anxiously awaiting the new Indy movie for months and I was not disappointed. (Okay, to be honest, it would have had to have been truly awful for me to be disappointed. I have had a crush on Harrison Ford since Star Wars premiered when I was seven and the Indy movies came out when I was becoming fascinated by archeology in my pre-teen years, so I was predisposed to love this movie. Dr. Jones is also a U of C alum, and probably the coolest "person" to hold that distinction.) Iron Man was also enjoyable, although I'm not a huge fan of the superhero movies. Despite all of his personal problems, Robert Downey, Jr. is a pretty remarkable actor.

We also took a trip up to the Adirondacks, which is never disappointing. There will probably be a separate post on that outing. We often talk about other places we'd like to live in the country (not that we're unhappy here, but the nature of my job means that moving is always a possibility), and I have to say it would be very hard for us to live far from mountains again. We were always drawn to them while living in the flatlands of the midwest, and now we're spoiled by being close enough to go to the mountains on a whim. I'm not sure I would want to give that up.

After having the first three-day weekend I've had in a very, very long time, I'm back to the grindstone. Lots of work to do this summer as I'm now at the halfway point of my tenure clock. That sounds daunting, doesn't it?