This postcard comes to you from Ottawa. Last week it was Toronto, this week the nation’s capital. I’m on the go again.  I took this shot a few hours ago. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was in the House delivering the annual budget. You can see it’s a dreary grey winter day here, although technically it’s spring. Weather like this takes all the romance out of this iconic gothic landscape. Note the steel barrier. A police car was squatting just to the left of the frame. The cop at the wheel took note of my picture taking. It’s not exactly a White House security situation, but things have changed in Ottawa over the years. I have been coming here for one reason or another for most of my adult life and I have seen the steady increase in surveillance and security. Well, it’s budget day and so I suppose there was a certain stepped-up degree of vigilance, just in case anyone too disenfranchised or angry at government might sabotage activity on the Hill.

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Two weeks way in the French West Indies sure is good for the soul. I highly recommend it. I took all my devices with me, of course, because a day without email is like a day without meaning. Returning to campus without having checked in and replied to various requests for this and that would have been unthinkable. As we all know, anything is possible if you’re connected to the Internet and so staying in touch with the home office is simply a fundamental part of a dean’s life these days. Most people I replied to had no clue I was sitting on a beach chair with a frozen margarita by my elbow. But I was.

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