I spent the day today painting my new office. It felt great. Now, the whole thing has a complete coat of paint, and one wall has 1 and a half coats. So, the office is getting there! (although it still doesn't have furniture. I'd really like to get that all squared away well before classes start. So that, you know, when I have office hours there is something in there for the students to sit on. That might be nice.) But, the best thing today was that a friend offered clear out of the blue to spend a Saturday helping me finish up the painting. What a gift! Spousal Unit is really deep in it at work right now and so hasn't been available to help, and it is kind of overwhelming. So, her offer was most welcome. Next Saturday, we'll go up together and work on it. And then when we're done, we're heading to the outlet mall.

This evening I took a group of friends out to the Saturday concert by the lake. It was great. We got greasy fried chicken, fries, fruit salad, cupcakes, carrot sticks, beer and soda -- the perfect quintessential American picnic. It would have been perfect if I hadn't left the bag at home that had the plates, napkins, and utensils in it. But, it was fun to improvise plates out of various cardboard pieces that came with the chicken and to eat everything with our fingers. Fortunately one of us had napkins in her purse (clearly the boy scout of the group -- always prepared!)

I have got to finish Chapter 1 before I forget what I was doing with it -- and, before I just give up on the dissertation so I can start to prepare for the semester. So, tomorrow, back to the grind.