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Overwhelming April, Moving Day Approaches

The next 60 days or so are going to be extraordinarily busy for us. My calendar is cluttered with a mix of school, household, and personal project deadlines. Hopefully things settle down substantially by the end of this summer — just in time for the next school year.

Classes end on April 19, followed by finals week and grading. Because we get the keys to our new house on April 13, I'll be balancing the end of school against the need to get the house ready. The day before we close on the new house is packed with events, well into the evening. I am presenting a special seminar on the future of publishing during the day and attending a literary journal reading in the evening. The entire month is filled with such days.

I'm hoping my wife and I will be able to move into the new house by mid-May, before renovations start on our current house, and before summer school starts.

On April 18, I'll be attending a tribute to artists with autism at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. As I mentioned, classes end April 19 and we're moving so I politely declined exhibiting anything at the autism event. I'm simply too busy, unfortunately. It would be good to be more involved in some creative projects locally, but that might have to wait until next year.

I'm not sure how my colleagues at the university manage to write articles, attend conferences, teach, and have any outside interests. Maybe it is because this is my first year and I'm still not settled into a good routine.

My wife and I hope that in a year or two I can skip teaching summer school and use that time to focus on my personal writing and hobbies. This year, though, we need the extra income from teaching summer school.

Since I've also been ill twice this month, it has been difficult to update my blogs and websites. Now, with the end of school and the big move ahead of us, I'm not sure how I can return to my blogging schedule. It is frustrating, since I like schedules.

I have several blog topics on the to-do list, so please be patient and they will appear.

Right now, I need some sleep!

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