Late November

Wings #1

Thanksgiving was last week. We had a quiet dinner with Jeff - that was nice. Now we are looking forward to a visit from Dave this weekend.

The past month was busy. The usual problems getting people to submit stuff to the Magazine by the announced deadline. I really wonder what would happen if we simply went ahead with publication, leaving out the late stuff. I'm sure that wouldn't be a popular move, but I don't know if it would actually cause people to become more timely with their submissions.

We've also had some problems with Manuscript Central. ScholarOne announced that they are going to be six months late with the next release, which means that it will be another year before we can actually start using the tool. And on top of that we have a continuing issue with basic user friendliness, and ScholarOne's standard response is that the problems are hard coded and there is nothing that can be done to fix them. That's unacceptable, but IEEE doesn't seem to try to manage their contractor.

I think most of the leaves are down now - seems like I've had to either mow or blow the lawn every week for more than a month to deal with the leaf fall this year. I think the problem is that the drought has caused the trees to hold their leaves longer rather than allowing them to fall all at once.

We are starting to worry about Christmas shopping. So far, very few ideas for Linda and the boys.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to a photography workshop this year. That makes it the first year in about 18 when I've not been able to get away for something. The program in Vermont scheduled for early November was cancelled. I need to start looking earlier next year and book something.

We also need to start planning some travels for next year. I know we will be going to the Bay Area for a week, and Linda has talked about going to Williamsburg in April but so far she won't actually commit to either trip. Last year, Keeble & Shuchet arranged a special evening photographer's tour of Alcatraz, and it would be neat to be able to do something like that the next time we are there. Scheduling would be tough, however, since they don't do it very often, and they have a limited number of slots that go rather quickly. Alternatively, there are frequently workshops in the Carmel/Monterrey area. The problem with that would be in scheduling something for LInda.

This is the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in Annandale. Typical Frank Gehry architecture, but makes for dramatic photography.