"Jimmy Carter's passed out on the couch."

Yep, it's the season of applying for financial support for my research group.  Nat'l Sci & Eng Research Council, MITACS for a visiting summer undergraduate, France/Canada Research Fund.

Also working on AGN science working group interim report in support of the next generation CFHT idea.

So, very busy.  Though deadlines are helping push some papers towards submission!  And attending a conference on my research area right around this time has fueled lots of good ideas which will hopefully garner some support for both me and the ngCFHT.

Gullah

Last Saturday through Tuesday I was at the "AGN Winds in Charleston" (South Carolina) conference.  A very good conference.  Lots of ideas to implement in papers and my grant proposal (I missed out on a $100 research funds top-up  by turning in the latter to York for internal review today instead of Tuesday).  Said ideas will pop up on this blog from time to time, I'm sure.

Nittany

Concluded a useful reading week visit to Penn State yesterday, working with Niel Brandt, his students Nur Filiz Ak and Jianfeng Wu, and briefly chatting with my future postdoc Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo.  Talked mostly about broad absorption line quasar variability, which is a complicated phenomenon in which simulations lag observations.  Resolved to ask theorists what measurements would be useful for them to have, as theorists and observers are now mingling at the AGN Winds in Charleston meeting (of which more anon).

Wondrous

Have been preparing for the traditional post-sabbatical colloquium in our department which I gave today, on BAL quasars with redshifted troughs.  Very useful to spend the time making figures in SM and thinking about the various possible explanations for these weirdos.

Also realized I can see Canada's Wonderland from my office window.  How did I not notice that for seven years?