Early March Lower Michigan Style. . .

The old central part of campus here at MSU this morning about 8:15.

Still cold. Still pretty snowy here in Lower Michigan. Still dressing in tweed, corduroy, OCBD shirts with wool ties, and a crewneck sweater. Still relying on L.L .Bean 10" boots, or duck shoes with ski socks on the feet each day. But I'm not complaining.

I was struck by the beauty of late winter and early spring snows as I crossed campus this morning on the way to a three-hour pedagogy seminar (pretty interesting actually) and just had to take a couple of photographs with my phone. Here's the nicest one. To me, snow is always pretty, but it is at its most beautiful in February and March.

And who knows? I might persuade myself to rise early in the morning and get out on the cross country skis early tomorrow (Saturday) morning before the sun is too high in the sky, bringing warmer temperatures and serious melting. Still, we might, just might have one more appreciable snowfall before Spring truly arrives. A guy can always dream, right?

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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J. Press Goodness. . .

F resh out of the UPS box, three examples of J. Press goodness on a Friday morning. These shirts are replacements for three recently worn-through, more than 20-year old OCBDs from Land's End (two) and L.L. Bean (one). They were purchased shortly after I took my first teaching position at a now defunct local college outside of Minneapolis, immediately following graduate school, as the fall semester kicked off in September 2003. While some professional gear hung in my closet already, a few additional items were needed at that point to round out the weekly rotation. Said shirts all finally fell prey to small rips showing up in the now very thin, but incredibly comfortable, fabric within six weeks of each other this winter and early spring. So, time for a few replacements. The old friends will find new life as summertime lawncare shirts. Of the three new items above, my favorite shirt is on the right, but one cannot go wrong with a light blue OCBD either, so we're in good

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Job Talk #3. . .

C andidate #3 is, for my money, the person for the job. Considerable experience, broad perspective, well-connected throughout the college and university due to an array of collaborative pursuits of one kind or another, coherent and detailed vision laid out for the next three years and beyond. Yes. I am not on the committee that makes the recommendation to the dean, who will make the final decision and send the letter, but, were it up to yours truly, this is the guy. And he wore an actual suit (mid-gray), dress shoes, white shirt, and necktie as an added plus. 20 years or so my junior, but someone gets it. -- Heinz-Ulrich

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