A Feathered Cap.

I just had a paper accepted to what is pretty inarguably the best journal ever to print my work. I’m second author, but corresponding author. A professor with a named appointment at the VFU medschool is the senior author. And I elected to let a colleague be first author. I wrote the paper, and we shared the work. But I’ve written lots of papers and been published a bunch of times, and my colleague, a youngish female engineer, has never been published at all.

This is a career-making kind of journal for her. It’s read by basically every senior hospital administrator in America, and we write about a very successful project. The reviewers and editors were all very impressed and eager to see it printed. It still took a long time. But we’re going to have the paper in a shiny, important, impactful journal. And my colleague is likely to see major results from it. I’m excited and proud.

I know we’re not supposed to care about glamour. And this journal isn’t “glamorous” in the traditional sense the way say, the New England Journal of Medicine is. But it’s at the top of its field, and it’s the flagship journal of a REALLY important organization in hospital administration. Probably the most important organization in hospital administration. When this group says, “this is a good way to do things”, every hospital in America pays attention.

So I’m happy and grateful. And I think I found the leak in my house, and fixed it. Caulk and paint and plastic shielding. Not carpentry and roofing. I don’t know what it will cost, but it’ll be a lot less than tearing up a roof deck and putting down a new roof and redoing a roof deck.

This past weekend BB and I ran a hard 12 miles at about a 9:25 pace. I’m very happy with that. I’ve ramped up my training a bit in anticipation of the Virginia Beach half marathon in March. I’m back up to about 22 miles a week, and have really added the bike to the mix. February was a good month, with 81.7 miles run, 70 miles on the bike, and 8 gym days.

Despite difficult challenges and frustrating issues, things seem to be progressing in life. They will, one way or another, no matter what. And I’m trying to face head on the problems I’ve encountered. That’s all I can ask of myself. And it’s all I can give.