I tried to take Bandit outside on his leash yesterday, but he got scared and dragged me back home. (We were about 20 feet away.) And he's been whining at the door ever since, wanting to go back outside. D'oh.

I just found out that my cousin is running the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati this weekend. Yay! Another crazy runner in my family. :)

Running must be like crack or something. I distinctly remember spending the last 10 miles of the '06 Chicago Marathon saying that I was never running again. And not only did I start running again, but I'm paying to run in another marathon. Maybe I do it for the t-shirts.

I am about to go to two days of meetings at the Allen Center at Northwestern. It make me feel very old to go back there, not as alum, but as a professional.

To the rest of you, this may be tax day. To me, it's the day responses to graduate admissions offer are due. It has been a ridiculously crazy day.

I finished Stiff a few days ago. Very good book. Working on Visions now.

Finished Foie Gras Wars, which was very good. I wish there has been a bit more Chicago focus, but it was a surprisingly even-handed survey of the issue.

Today at work, I am meeting with people who are deciding whether to come here for a one-year M.A. program. They all want to figure out if it's worth the money. If nothing else, this economy has really focused everyone's thinking. I can't answer that question for them, but I do hope they're considering what in the world they'd be doing for the next year if not in school.