And counting? Oh Old Man Winter, I’ll grant that I did hope you would grace us with your presence and in so doing grant me another short vacation. The only thing, dear sir, is that it causes me to be locked behind this door and hardly able to remain upright for more than five hours at a time. I am slipping further and further into hibernation mode already, wherein all I really feel like doing is burrowing deep under the blankets and venturing out only to obtain necessary sustenance.

That’s right, we got brushed with just enough of the good stuff to ground us, but what would be laughable to those in colder climes. The biggest problem at the moment is that the sidewalk is a solid sheet of ice from my door outward. Actually there probably is a different way that I could exit more safely, but because the temperatures were barely out of single digits when I went to check, I didn’t bother going to survey that avenue. Should work open tomorrow, I might MIGHT take a look at going out that way. Truth be told though, if it’s delayed I probably won’t bother both because it then costs me unnecessary amounts of money that detract from the point of going in anyway and, well, I am storing up all this sleep for later. Not to mention there is a college football National Championship game on tonight that I could then watch in near entirety without worry of grogginess in the AM.

I’ve been ok in here for the most part. I do have the requisite food, though I just ran out of bread because I hadn’t properly anticipated how much I would consume. Still plenty of other stuff to eat though, so I won’t starve anytime soon.

I have also stocked up on books, grabbing four in my most recent go. I just started one called The Woman In Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware, in which a British travel writer, after suffering a break-in, embarks on a luxury cruise aboard a boutique ship and, I think, hears the voice of a woman about to be thrown overboard? I’m not exactly sure, I’ll admit, but it has a “The Girl on the Train” kind of feel. Might be good.

The “reading” I really need to be doing of course is that for my Master’s program, which just restarted officially today. This course is one on Organizational Identity and Brand, which I’ll admit doesn’t sound like the most stimulating topic ever? But, it is good to know for one who wishes to help an organization set its course. I’m going to be more interested in the nonprofit angle, to which one of the texts does allude so I hope it will be addressed. Given that most of my other major projects have focused in some way on the Norrie Disease Association, I will continue in that vain if I am able to do so. This should help in my efforts to become a more effective leader. There are two projects in this class of note: we have to write a paper on why identity and brand are important, a seven-page lit review and blog post; and we’ve to do a podcast interviewing three “employees” about how they see their place in their brand. I admit I don’t entirely understand the premise of the second project (any employees or those of a specific organization) but it should be the more interesting one. I’ll just need to have a teleconference with the professor, whom I’m having for the second time, in order to clear up my issues.

And that’s about it. Just over here now looking forward to thawing out and the 70 degrees we’re to experience by Friday. Here’s to wild weather swings! More later as this crazy 2017 really gets going. Hope yours is off to as interesting a start.