Faculty hell month

Well I've been out of commission for a while, engaged in the Reed faculty version of hell. At the beginning of April, we receive copies student theses -- 50-100 page documents in a variety of states of completion (we only receive theses for which we are the advisor or first reader). According to norms, we are supposed to read and comment on these documents within a week, so that the students can produce the finished product by the end of April.

Then at the end of April, another stack of documents arrive. This time, *all* theses appear, not just advisor/first reader, but second and "outside." This year, it totalled about 1000 pages on my desk on April 29th, with hearings to begin May 2nd.

To top it off, I received an invitation to conduct research for the Carter/Baker commission. I've been struggling to come up with a research design that is sufficiently detailed for the commission but that can also be completed within 30 days.

Fun fun fun!