Laying Down, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

Not much to say about days like today …

Night by Head Lights, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

I do miss the smoothness of a good blur from the old film days. The pulsing we get now is just not as nice.

Going Dark, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

Today was the day … shortly after 5 p.m., I pulled the last images off the server, shut everything down, killed the lights and pulled the door shut: the Photojournalism Lab is closed for the year, my teaching wrapped up until January.

As I was driving home, my boss called me, which was a little odd as we’d talked earlier in the day about a bunch of different things. He wanted to let me know right away that the President of the University of Georgia had signed off on my promotion to Senior Lecturer. Which is … cool.

Also, a little daunting as it means I’ve held a job long enough to get a promotion … it’s been a long time since that’s happened. Because, well … when this semester wraps up I’ll have worked here for more than twice as long as I worked anywhere else. In my life.

And I’ve only been here for five and a half years.

Of course, the promotion doesn’t go into effect until August when my contract cycles around again. And, with the current budget, there’s no raise involved.

Seven kids finished the emphasis today, five of them will don the funny gowns later this week and wander off into the "real world." Some are scared–it’s a hard time to enter the workforce. But they’re all prepared, they’ve proven to me they can think and, really, that’s the best thing I can bring out in them. Everything else comes after that.

Kind of a good day on the work front.

Stress Sleep, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

It’s the end of the semester, middle of exam week and the stress is starting to hit. Monday morning in the open lab, this was one of two students who were snoring into their notes.

But over in my lab, no one is sleeping … a lot of clicks, a lot of laughter. It’s a good thing.

Happy and Warm, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

It may seem like overkill, but it was cheap … and the $4 bundles of five sticks are kind of ridiculous. And we can use it in the fireplace and wrap some up when we go camping … and … and … SHUT UP.

I may not live in the north anymore, but I can at least look out at a stack of firewood like I am again.

Planning, originally uploaded by MarkEJohnson.

My wife says whenever she hears the Indigo Girls’ Get Out the Map she thinks of me. Whenever I hear it … I do.

That, believe it or not, is a rally idea I sketched out for one of my kids. She asked, I scrawled, she shrugged. Maybe the tween years are not the time to introduce her to this …