The reality hit me somewhere between the coffee room and the departmental mailboxes: This is my last official day as a graduate student. Ever. The appearance in my mailbox just this morning of a recent article published in Insectes Sociaux may seem to be a piece of evidence to the contrary. I think it's just Dave's way, though, of reminding me that the bugs never sleep. (A tribute to Dave's mentorship will undoubtedly appear here at a later date.)

Also just finished grading the last papers from my science-ed class, which makes this indeed a day of celebration. It's still up in the air whether I'll be teaching any labs while in a holding pattern next semester, but let's say I'm leaning heavily towards crawling under the toaster if anyone so much as asks. At this point I'd rather re-format my dissertation with EDLIN than grade one more buggin' lab report. (For those of you who are under 35: There's probably no good way to explain how strong a statement the last one was, so I won't even try.)

Watch this space ....