Thanksgiving 2014: Busy But Grateful

I think this November has been the most over-committed of my academic career, so I am grateful that the stakes of missing deadlines are low for me right now.  Because I am so busy and beat, I am only going to give thanks for stuff that is new-ish in 2014 and link to last year's Thanks for all of the usual stuff for which I am very, very grateful.

• I am grateful that I had a heap of fun on multiple trips last winter/spring with my daughter as she was testing out various colleges/universities.  We had much fun, great food, good tourism and even got some skiing in (Whistler!).
• Which leads to the next thanks:  I am very thankful that Frosh Spew has landed on her feet, embracing her new school, engaging in many activities and organizations, and even doing well in her classes.  We miss her a great deal, so I am most thankful to skype and facetime for making it a bit easier on us.  
• I am grateful to Mrs. Spew for doing much of the work in preparing the kid for life.  Frosh Spew's success is mostly due to the work they did together, the patterns they set early on when she had piles of homework in first, second, third grade and so on.  I will take credit for Frosh Spew's ultimate frisbee-ness.  Mrs. Spew has a lousy forehand.
• I am quite grateful to my co-authors--who have been most patient with my past year of over-commitment.  I am especially thankful to Dave Auerswald, as I have had a heap of fun promoting our book this year.  I have talked about it from one end of Canada to another, across the US (especially where there is good skiing) and even all the way to Australia.  That one project has really been terrific not just for my career but for my frequent flier miles and tourism.  Indeed, I have a new trip to The Hague coming up in two weeks to figure out why the civ-mil side of things (coordinating efforts across the "whole of government") tends not to go well. 
• I am grateful to Vladimir Putin for making irredentism and the Steve and Bill book, For Kin or Country, hip again.  So much so that our publisher needed a new intro for a paperback version coming out in 2015.  Woot?

In sum, I am very lucky and very thankful.   I hope you and yours have a great Thanksgiving and clear skies/roads to and from.