Hey Nate Bizziness,
It's great to see your face back in the place. Here are my answers to your questions.
What are all of you guys up to these days professionally / personally?
-I am a Full Professor now, so I'm sort of an 'old head' in the department. I finished a 3-year term as department chair back in June 2014, and now I'm on sabbatical grinding even harder on my research. I will be the PhD program director in the Fall, and I am advising several doctoral students on their research. My dean is pushing me toward seeking promotion to Distinguished Professor. I have to decide whether or not I'm going to make RU my permanent academic home. Distinguished Professor jobs are not plentiful in the larger job market, so getting promoted will likely curtail my job mobility. Finally, I am editor at a (research) journal and on the editorial boards of 5 others (so time is tough now). Also, I am serving in an administrative position in the Academy of Management, which is also time consuming. Yet, I'm loving every minute of work and it's all gravy!!!
How's life in general? Are you happy?
-Life is fantastic!!! I have lost over 60 pounds, with the missus and I hitting the gym 5 days a week. I'm healthier than I've been in over a decade. I have gotten comfortable with middle age life as I have clearly delineated my priorities in life. Because of this, I have struck a better work-life balance where I can get stuff done professionally, yet not ignore my family/social life. A little over a decade ago, life was far more work-oriented to the relative neglect of rest-and-relaxation. As an example, I now get a therapeutic massage every two weeks to reduce stress and tension.
Are you still collecting. If so what?
-Yes, I'm still collected, but not as much as I used to. I have a grip of records, so now my collecting is about finding novel recordings I do not have, or replacing others with either better copies or those that my brother had (of mine) but sold. I collected across a bunch of genres including various forms of jazz, rock, also soul, funk, dance music, soundtracks, latin, reggae, electronica, hip-hop, pop, etc., etc.
What are your current hobbies?
-I make beats, mix, play basketball, read, perform fitness training, watch sports, and patronize various forms of arts (concerts, exhibits, plays, etc.).
Is vinyl back?
-Yep, it seems that vinyl is more popular than ever. Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of stores are moving toward overpriced reissues of dollar-bin fodder.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
