Shirl Leaves; Funk Falls

[Note: This is the second new post published today. Please read the one dated April 4 first. Thank you.]

Shirl left on Tuesday, and though it was a busy week, it was so much less so than any week in March that I found myself asleep for untold hours at strange times of the day. It was as if I were in a blue funk.

Happily, Shirl made it home without incident, and reports that all is safe and secure at our New Hampshire home. But the Cluj weather has finally turned beautiful, and Shirl should be here, with her warm smile brightening my life.

On the positive front, we are moving forward with several academic pursuits. I have begun research of an entreprenurial case study here in Cluj, and have found two American companies operating in Western Romania that may cooperate as well in my casewriting goal.

My American Studies course is beginning to come into focus, with the help of several pblications sent me by the U.S. Embassy in sufficient quantities for my class. One is a booklet called "What is a Market Economy," another a little tome called "U.S.A. Economy in Brief," and the third a very practical primer called "Trade Terms," on the INCOTERMs, the language of world trade.

Working with Professor Muţiu in Management Accounting is thoroughly delightful. I admire her clear lecturing style. I hope that my discussions of cases and problems get through to the students as well as she does in her lectures.

Finally, we are continuing to develop our new PSU/UBB joint effort, which I cannot yet describe in detail, but which promises to deepen the long-standing cooperation between our institutions, and to make a solid impact on students on both sides of the Atlantic.

There, I have finally caught up!

Now, Shirl, let's see if we can arrange to fly you back here late in May, and then, in June, drive together across Hungary and Austria, see some Austrian or Bavarian Alps, visit the Schmid Family in Fellbach, and fly home together from Munich or Stuttgart! I think it would be a shame not to take that opportunity, and I really want you back in Romania. It was better with you here.