man, I've been busy: family, work, campaign

I hope to get back to regular blogging soon, but it's been too crazy. What have I been up to? Some big family stuff: my sister had her first baby at the end of December-- and my brother came up from Alabama and we celebrated the second half of our Christmas around New Years

But at work, it's been a load the last few weeks. The biggies:

-I just finished chairing the Campus Review Committee. We looked at 14 cases for promotion-- the level of review following the School/Department Review Committee and the Dean's. This occurs in a tight window from mid-December to early January.
-I'm chairing the Search & Screen committee to replace a retiring Econ colleague. We reviewed 91 candidate files in mid-December and then spent three days last weekend in New Orleans conducting interviews. Down to our top 9, we'll bring three or four people on campus starting in early February.
-I'm editing the next edition of the Indiana Policy Review-- on property taxes. We asked for articles from various experts in Indiana. From there, we edit them for style, substance, and space. And then, I'll write a few op-ed length essays and introductions for each piece. Again, most of the work has been in this mid-December to mid-January time period. Brutal!
-Oh yes, and then there's prepping my two courses this semester and getting back into the classroom!

Finally, the more formal aspects of my campaign got under way on Wednesday-- with a 30-minute TV show with Paul Knies on Jasper's channel 27 (it should be on the air a week from Monday, I think) and a lunch speech to about 18 people with the Ferdinand (and Jasper) Kiwanis. Indirectly, a lot of stuff relates to "the campaign", but it was good to be in the saddle again-- directly speaking to policy issues and the 9th District race.

Update: My appearance with Paul Knies will appear at 8 AM and 7 PM on January 21st.