School is out, students are gone, and campus and town are a little bit quieter for now. It has given me some time to catch up on a few things that I’ve been putting off. I spent several days cleaning files at work and sent many pounds of paper to the shredder and many more to the trash.

I finally finished The Sling and The Stone by Col. Thomas X. Hammes, USMC today. It has given me some more ideas to pursue in my dissertation and resulted in my ordering The Path to Victory: America’s Army and the Revolution in Human Affairs by Donald Vandergriff. I ordered it through Amazon but it was actually from a used bookstore. Something tells me it will not be a very exciting read but… I enjoy getting ideas but for the dissertation I need to start narrowing my topics, not broadening them.

Earlier this week I pulled together some ideas on a leadership minor and forwarded them to President Foglesong. I hope that program can get up and running soon.

Later this week the petitions and complaints will begin as students realize their academics have not been up to snuff and they can not get in summer school. I’ll deal with those as they come in but it does get to be a tough job at times.

Plans are underway for the Memorial Day Ceremony in town on Monday. I’ll be the master of ceremonies and am finalizing some of the arrangements. I’ve had some help which is great. It is amazing how much effort planning and executing these events takes. But I can think no cause more worthy. I must admit I felt a little strange having to go to the Police Department to get a permit for the ceremony. It was probably the closest I’ve ever come to feeling like a hippie!