Obligatory apology about how long it has been since I updated, yada yada yada…

Howdy there loyal blog readers!  Sure has been awhile!

Thought I’d take some time to update you on a few things, both in my life and on my mind:

• Normally, I follow one or two threads of news stories with interest and block out the rest.  These days, however, I’m regularly reading a dozen articles a day at least!  If you are not following the Federal budget impending doom, the Wisconsin union impending doom, or the Mideast/N. Africa impending doom, I recommend that you get reading!
• I’m going to Florida for my “Alternative Spring Break” in a week and a half.  We’re going to help move an animal sanctuary from its present home near a growing airport to a new, quieter home a few hundred miles away.  So, it looks like I’ll be spending a lot of time in a van with 11 other 18-22 year-olds… Been there, done that.
• Speaking of which!  AmeriCorps is in danger!  The radical slash and burn tactics of the kakistocracy in the U.S. House have led to a budget proposal with NO FUNDS (that’s ZERO dollars… Nil, zip, nada) for AmeriCorps programs!  If you have not already: Go! Go now! Sign the online petition!
• I’m getting a mandolin! For a few hundred dollars (thank you, IRS) I’m getting a chance at a lifetime of fulfilling artistic endeavors.  Here she is. Should be coming in any day now, courtesy of Advance Music.
• Speaking of the IRS… I’ve been down at City Hall here in Burlington a few times over the past few weeks working with their VITA program, doing income tax preparation.  The program here is much more relaxed than in Tulsa, not that I’m complaining (no septuagenarian tax guru comes after me with a cane if I mess up).
• My thesis proposal cleared committee!  I’ll be producing translations of six hilarious/depressing mythological vignettes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. … And, that’s about as far as I’ve gotten with that.

I think that there was more, but I can’t quite conjure it up now (that’s the trouble with only posing once in a blue-moon… You never can remember what happened in between).  As always, I’ll try to be better about it!  In the mean time, enjoy the remainder of your winter!  Or, for all my South American readers: ¡Disfrutan el resto de su verano!

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