Blogging's been on hold the last two days while I have attended to a number of things, including the start of a new semester. The first day of spring term is not at all like the first day of fall term. In fall term, everything's still light and bright, with green leaves on the trees, summer breezes, nice sunsets, fresh notebooks, school supplies still in their wrappers. When spring term starts, it's dark, cold and wet, everything's soggy, and many folks (students and teachers alike) are looking back over their shoulders at their performances from last semester. Fatigue and sniffles are everywhere. But there's no use complaining, and so we smile and tough it out.

In case you are inquisitive enough to wonder what it's like to sit in one of my advanced tax classes on the first day, here's a taste. Just think, you could have been dealing with this: