Is it Friday yet?

Bits and pieces -

- We here at the university seem to have someone in the know who loves to talk to the media. The last several major news items - Coach Williams leaving, the new president being hired and now the hiring of the Duke assistant coach as our head men's basketball coach - I've seen in the media well before it was officially announced by the university. It's pretty bad when the governor of the state tweets his congratulations to the university on the new president four hours before the employees are officially notified of their new boss.

- The weather was nice just long enough for the tailgaters at opening day to get their brats done. We're back to cold and windy, with (gasp!) snow in the forecast for Friday. I am so very over this.

- Without going into details, I'm more than a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Pulling back from a lot of things, needing time to figure some stuff out and regroup. Back into better routines. I'm on vacation in a week and a half...hopefully. A break I really, really need.

- Every year at my annual review, my boss asks what I think about the prior year. Every year I say the same thing - "Well, I'm not ready to quit - yet". Yesterday was no exception. But until I can find someone to pay me to sit around and read, I'm stuck.

- Speaking of reading, I should get my March reads post up sometime tonight. Forgot last night (because I was busy reading). It's all fiction (need for escapism), and the list is fairly short. But I need to point out that several of the last books have been in the "omnibus" format - three novels in one "book". It's a whole lot more pages that it may seem.

- Over the weekend I purchased MP3s to replace some music I once had on vinyl. I'm running off the wonderful double album Linda Ronstadt did with the Nelson Riddle orchestra of old big band stuff. It was a favorite, and even after not hearing it for close to ten years, I can still sing pretty much the whole thing. It's kind of fun to see the look on my coworkers' faces when they come into my office to see me working away (familiar music helps me concentrate) and quietly singing along. They're lucky I'm singing quietly...

- The red-tailed hawks are sitting on the nest. Big Red laid three eggs in all, I think. It will be another four weeks or so before they hatch. The link is here, though it's less than exciting to watch her just sit there. Still, I like to check in a couple of times a day. Lowers my blood pressure.