45 Hours

I've been everywhere, man

I've been everywhere, man

Crossed the deserts bare, man

I've breathed the mountain air, man

Of travel I've a-had my share, man

I've been everywhere

-Johnny Cash

Back in NYC after a spring break that was an utter failure in terms of meeting any of my goals for this trip. I'd thought I would take advantage of a week with no classes to bill a little extra time, meet in person with folks in Florida who required hand-holding, catch up on my one online class, and start outlines for the others.

Instead I billed about half of my usual time, accomplished zero classwork, and saw almost no one. Not great.

What happened?

Well, I think it comes down to spending too much time on the road. Eighteen hours from NYC to the farm. Two-plus-thirty from Wyldswood to Panama City. Another seven or so to Sewanee, then on average seven hours a day from Sewanee to Columbus and then Columbus to Corning. We spent about 4.5 getting here yesterday, with wicked traffic as we approached the Holland Tunnel.

So, basically an entire workweek droning down the interstate doing absolutely nothing productive.

I supposed there's benefit in all of that, getting the opportunity to clear one's head, talk to P a little more than usual, and enjoy the countryside. All good.

Not so good is what comes next, as I try to get back up on plane in this very demanding tax program. In about an hour I'll walk into partnership tax class, universally recognized among practitioners as the toughest part of the curriculum. Each class three folks volunteer to be part of a "panel" responsible for the problems that session. It works out to two panels per student per semester, more or less. I signed up weeks ago for this morning's session. No one else signed up, however, and so I am the panel. And it's probably the most difficult problem set so far, and maybe for the whole semester based on comments from the prof. I've spent the last couple hours prepping, but feel like I've been pithed after all that driving and zoning out. Worse yet, this isn't litigation or some legal philosophy discussion I can BS my way through--it's math, baby, only with the student having not only to do the calculation, but select the proper equation among multiple alternatives.

So yeah, I'll probably die today in front of a roomful of my very bright classmates. Getting humbled can be instructive. I'm about to learn that lesson in a bit.