For those of you living outside the Bay State, today is Patriot's Day, a holiday here in Massachusetts. This means that all classes are cancelled, and I supposedly have the day off. It also means that poor Laura had to report to work today at 7AM, since apparently these quasi-holidays have a way of becoming hella busy shopping days. Therefore, all the things the staff would normally do during slow periods in the day (straightening up the shop, dusting off the merchandise, making sacrifices to the gods of interior decorating, that sort of thing) must be taken care of beforehand. I have resolved to be extremely nice to the poor girl when she gets home, as she is likely to be both very, very tired and very, very cranky.

Me, I've been spending the entire day struggling to catch up on all the various garbage that's been falling by the wayside while I've been entrenched in THESIS mode. While I'd hoped to spend the day goofing off and playing Super Paper Mario, I have instead been plowing through the piles of old papers on my desk, sorting through last year's receipts, and putting the finishing touches on my taxes. I think I could click the 'submit' button now and be fine, but I like to make sure all my T's are dotted and all my I's are crossed. Or something like that.

So, yes – I'm sitting here in my office with the window open on a gray, yucky day, plowing through paperwork and trying to determine how much money I owe The Fed this year. I'm not entirely sure this is how our founding fathers would have wanted to spend their day of rememberance, but whatever. At this point, I'm just grateful for the breather! And boy, my desk needed a good cleaning...

There's a quote from Louis L'amour that I have taped above my desk where I can see it every day. It reads as follows:

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.

I think Louis had more of an "everything's gone to pot" sense of 'finished' when he said that, rather than an "everything's been ticked off the to-do list", but I like it anyway. I'm nearing a new beginning now, I can feel it – how much of a change that beginning will be has yet to be seen. More as it develops...