whack-a-mole

Music: The Killers: Sam's Town (2006)

• Yesterday I completed the online application process for the NEH Summer Stipend program.
• Yesterday I finished my application packet for the Summer Research Assignment Faculty Development Program, which is much longer and more of a paper-work hurricane than the NEH applications
• Yesterday Rebecca Carruthers Den Hoed emailed to explain that the title of her conference paper was an homage to the work of my coauthor and me, and that she regrets not citing our article in the online abstract. She shared her conference paper with us, which cites our work repeatedly. She sounded quite contrite.
• Yesterday I finally had a chance to clean downstairs; it's clean for once. Of five neighbors I know, four of them hire cleaners. I do it the old fashioned way: with a glass of wine and blasting music (last night it was Brandtson—awesome, little known pop band).
• Having finally finished what seemed like 40 hours of dedicated work in application for grants, last night I finally—-FINALLY—-got back to reviewing my notes for the War of the Worlds paper, which has been on hold for months. Last night I managed to get in an hour of the film and take notes: " Cruise is running away from tripod. Woman in front of him while running is zapped;--he's instantly covered in ash. (28 mins). Back home: what's all this stuff all over you? What's all this stuff? His kids ask. He washes his face off. 'We're leaving this house in 60s seconds.'"

I look forward to getting back to "writing" mode. I like that mode. I do not like "writing grant" mode. The former actually yields results. Because of the stuff I like to study, the latter usually does not.

One more question: can any of y'all rhetoric-y types suggest external grant opportunities for funding conferences? I know I have a research office to help me with those questions, but those folks don't know rhetoric like y'all do, and some of you may have good leads . . . .