Quick thoughts on a weekend, "strictly business" trip home:

- Interviews went okay. Well, Friday's interview in Evanston went okay, and Saturday's in Hyde Park went well. Friday's was with an admissions committee person, and she stared and nodded and wrote furiously the whole time. I got hardly a single good joke in. Saturday's was with a current second-year student, and we giggled a fair amount and there weren't really many questions asked because it was more a conversation about her experience. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I think I answered a few questions pretty well, and I think I made myself a better candidate on Saturday. Friday, I probably didn't help my case - I may have hurt it, but at least I groveled quite a bit.

- Saturday was a cattle call. There were probably 200 people interviewed throughout the day. I spent the "lunch with current students" hanging out with an applicant of similar profile: I was the Midwestern white guy with the beard, he was the Midwestern white guy with the pink tie. He makes at least twice as much as what I make, but my first career was far more interesting.

- Friday was preceded by my first career trip to Al's Deli, bankrolled by Treem. I never thought the concept of chunky, chunky blue cheese dressing on a roast beef sandwich could work so well but, gosh, it did.

- Interviews are easier the second time.

- I was so darn tired when I got home on Thursday night, and so darn tired when I got home from dinner on Friday night, and so darn tired when I played late night Boggle with The Boy on Saturday night.

- My dad was out of town. Still, dinner with my mom and my sister on Friday was a blast. It's great that she's in town. I'm only realizing now that I was seeing my sister for the first time since...July... That's crazy, though probably not all that different from the last eight years, really.

- I got to see Didi on Saturday, too. We shared a croissant and drank hot chocolate. I think that Didi is going to be a fantastically successful politician in about 10 or 20 years. I hope she's okay with that.

- I was struck Thursday and Wednesday by how many fantastic friends I have. At least three people stopped by on Thursday to specifically say "Good Luck" before I left, and I got a call from another local on Wednesday and from another one on Tuesday, and two more from classic standbys on the drive home on Thursday night. It was great.

- I was similarly struck Monday by how many people up here seem genuinely interested, or seem to be genuinely pulling for me to do well, or who seem to genuinely care, anyway. It's reassuring to know that a) people are supportive and think I'm doing the right thing and that b) they're concerned about when I'm leaving, presumably because they'll miss me.

- I have a gigantic ego. I'm looking forward to not-talking about myself come a month from now. I'll know my fate by the end of March.

- In the interests of hedging my bets, I'm working on a new application tonight. Three more essays to write...hmmm.

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As a concept, this is absolutely amazing.