You know what? I really appreciate that it's super easy for me to change my W-4 withholding online. It's going to take some tweaking to get it where I will hopefully not owe a ton next year but still have take home pay to cover my expenses and having to do that with paper would be a huge hassle.

I am at the airport, no panic attacks today and now nothing for me to do but wait until I land. I like it when there is nothing for me to do,

That is a good feeling. Have a good trip!

I adore the feeling of stepping onto the shuttle to the airport. I have made my plans and arrangements, and the job of getting me to my destination is in someone else's hands. I just have to present myself in the correct place.

So at the University where I work, anyone can be a first-year academic adviser, so I'm doing it! I just got my three kids assigned to me, and they are all from private schools and none of them is getting any financial aid -- and we give a LOT of financial aid. They also got many 800s on the SATs and 5s on AP exams. Yikes! (They all seem like nice kids from their writing, though.)

Airports have always been high stress environments for me, though I'm not nervous about the actual flying. It's all the lines, security theatre, waiting around, and did-my-luggage-arrive-or-is-it-separate-vacations worry that gets to me.

In other trip-related news, I've spent the last day and a half preparing for a quick getaway to Eureka Springs in the Ozarks after far too many months without a vacation. I don't remember getting ready for a vacation being this much work!

Yay for time off, Matt! Enjoy. I get the prep stress. I don't mind flying, but the whole indignity of the boarding process, and being squished into seats with coughing strangers is total yuck.

Cool Jesse! Not everyone tests well. My son Brendon tests absurdly high always and is basically non-functional, while his dad tests horribly and is extremely capable. Both brilliant, but only one knows how to use it.

Once I'm through security, I love flying. Wandering around the airport, people watching, plenty of time to read, perfectly acceptable day drinking. It's all good.

Cool Jesse! Not everyone tests well. My son Brendon tests absurdly high always and is basically non-functional, while his dad tests horribly and is extremely capable. Both brilliant, but only one knows how to use it.

Yeah, testing well is definitely a skill that gets you very far right up until it completely stops doing anything at all for you! Which is a shock for many of us.....

We have that to, but only in Arts and Sciences. We want to extend it to Nursing School and then, I will volunteer.

WRT testing, I am super good at it. Like, I can pass the nursing licensure exam without ever having taken classes. I usually go in to the test prep classes to demonstrate to the students how much of passing is just test taking skills and that that is what they need to focus on now that their nursing education is done, because they NEED to pass to work

Vortex, I think tone is the trick, which is hard when you're peeved! But if you have any kind of leadership role, you can just say that, but nicely.

I literally cannot control my tone. I sound like a condescending asshole. I hate it. Like, I have no tone between infinite patience and condescending asshole tone. Even if I try to sound nice, I sound super annoyed. I need lessons

Also, I need to share this cute sample video I made of my kitten [link]

In other news, I am on vacation and have been working since 7 am! The Beginning of the school years is terrible