I'm back!

Yep... it's been a long time coming. And as I've said before: A lack of posts here is a real cause for concern: If you spot my absence for an extended period of time, you should send, as a matter of urgency, any of the following: money, chocolate, coffee, alcohol. Experience tells me that each of these crucial ingredients is useless on its own, and each works far better in the presence of the other (except for the coffee which should only be consumed with alcohol if in a Galliano Hotshot). A quick run down of what I've been doing in these past few months:

• editing (never ends...)
• despairing (about editing)
• caring (my dad was seriously ill, but is now recovered. I'd forgotten how much time it takes to cook three meals a day for someone!)
• researching
• despairing (about data)
• celebrating (other data)
• vacationing
• conferencing
• grant planning
• future at UConn planning
• entering into a contract to build a house in Connecticut!
• planning that house (with help!)
• admining (not mining for ads, but doing admin)
• despairing (about futility of admin)
• teaching
• despairing (about teaching)
• writing
• despairing (about lack of time in which to write)
• publishing the 2nd paper to come out of an amazing collaboration with the folks in Philadelphia
• patenting an 'invention' which will shortly see the light of day (we release the iOS App in January)
• despairing a bit more (about the difficulties of managing the development of an app while simultaneously trying to hold down what feels at times like three jobs: York, UConn, Cognition)

It sounds like a lot, and were it not for some fantastic support (from family, friends, King Richard (not the one under the carpark), James (not King James, but close), Brian (not the Life Of... but similarly life-changing) and colleagues scattered here and there) I wouldn't be nearly as cheery as I am! So stay tuned for more regular updates.