The last cou­ple of weeks have been filled with a stew of cog­ni­tive dis­so­nance here: morn­ings spent in classes where I’m fum­bling with basics, fol­lowed by after­noons spent in Expert Engi­neer mode; one day prov­ing to my men­tors that I may be qual­i­fied to pur­sue a degree in my cho­sen field, the next day at an invitation-​​only work­shop catch­ing up with lumi­nary friends and old col­leagues who do sci­en­tific and engi­neer­ing work my pre­vi­ous day’s men­tors [appar­ently] can’t imagine.

But, qual­i­fied or not, expert or not, friend-​​of-​​cool or not, it is sum­mer. Nobody pays me now, and I can get back to the writ­ing, the button-​​pushing, the Actual Work, and above all else the thank­less task of think­ing out loud.

Hell, think­ing will be a wel­come change.