2005-05-04 - 2:21 p.m.

..dogwoods and cherries...

It is the time of year where I start singing "Tra La! It's May! The LUST-y month of May!" in a Julie Andrews-esque voice. Well, not first thing in the morning. Certainly not before my coffee.

But walking through the streets I've discovered multiple dogwood trees and cherry blossoms deep in the heart of Forest Hills. It makes me want to spend my afternoons wandering aimlessly and quoting passages from "A Shropshire Lad" about cherry blossoms. In Vancouver I wandered into a cherry orchard in full bloom. I sat on the ground under one of the trees and drank a capuccino, contemplating life. My newest life goal is to plant a dogwood and a cherry tree on my little ecological footprint of land, wherever that ultimately turns out to be.

I am experiencing severe West-to-East jetlag - the worst kind. Either that or it is some mixture of Spring fever and burnout. I nearly called in sick today. Our chair called a faculty meeting for today, but apparently forgot that he had done so. We were all here. He was not. No complaints from me, however, because I was happy to use the time trouble-shooting some time series analysis for a colleague. Time series analyses are always interesting to me. Go figure.

The ventilation system just turned itself on at top speed and volume. It sounds like a thunderstorm is developing in the hallway. In about fifteen minutes we will all be icycles.