Gone. Like a fifth of gin. Gone, gone away
Gone. Like the shape I'm in. Gone, gone away
Gone. Like a Nixon file. Gone, gone away
Gone. Like my landlord smile. Gone, gone away
Gone like the one last turn she took before atlanta burned
Gone like everything I learned. Gone, gone away

~John HIatt

I'm a big fan of John Hiatt (the guy in the thumbnail) and "Gone" popped into my head with the realization that I'd use this blog entry to write about changes at my job.

I been gone from this blog for a few weeks now, exactly the thing I intended not to do. The time since I've gotten back from Dublin has featured two big... both good. The first, my daughter's marriage, was happy but is beyond the scope of this site. The second, my imminent departure from the faculty job I've held for the past 14 years, figures to reconfigure this site a bit.

At the time of my Dublin trip, my employer, University of the Sciences, made an offer to me and my tenured colleagues: they would provide 12 months salary and 18 months benefits to any of us who agreed to leave by the end of this month (June 2017). Given the tenuous situation of both the University and my department, it was an offer I couldn't refuse and thus I am preparing to split in two weeks.

I'll be in a pretty good situation for awhile after that. Along with the severance, I retain a 5/8ths appointment with the VA's National Center for Homelessness among Veterans, which gives me part time employment, and I have several consulting projects I'm working on. Beyond that, I expect to devote a good bit of my newly found leisure time on figuring out next steps. I'd prefer to, barring a dream job elsewhere, remain in Philadelphia, meaning that I need to expand my career horizons. Meaning that there may well be a visit to a career counselor in my near future. 

It also makes my having this website fortuitous, though I now will need to expand it, refocus it, and update it. My thoughts race with stuff that I can, and will, do with and to the site. But the first thing I need to do is stick with the basics and keep up this blog. Check back soon.