Beautiful, Wonderful Day

I have just had the most gloriously productive day.
I drove Mum to Lansing (and no one died, and no property was damaged!). We ran an errand for Dad, and then we made it to the church on time to meet a friend real quick to do a paperwork transfer. She's headed off to Egypt for the year and had some goodies for a peace group on campus. It was good to see her quickly before she leaves the country.
Ate at Panera (the seasonal strawberry poppyseed chicken salad with blueberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, and pecans is mighty fine).
Came home, dealt with a few crucial things at the condo (primarily garbage), and got ready to head on campus for some errands.
Took care of my hiring paperwork at the GenCen (Center for Gender in a Global Context). It required writing down my PID to have someone run through the system to see that my I-9 was all set. Let me tell you, it was difficult.
Dropped off some paperwork at the College of Arts and Letters (evaluations from one of the classes in Israel).
Stopped by Eustace-Cole (the Honors College building), saw Bess German. Made an appointment for next Tuesday at 4. (Originally, I set it for 1, and then remembered I have a very fun lunch date with two lovely ladies on Tuesday.)
Met Dick (Peterson, chair of the department of philosophy) just outside Kedzie - the building we were supposed to meet at - rather early. He was going to get coffee before our meeting, so I walked with him to Erickson, and then we sat outside and chatted. I'll be continuing our work on teaching peace and justice and a website this year through an independent study. We weren't able to complete the paperwork since his assistant was out today, but it was good to catch up.
And then...the true glory started.
I've been struggling with the option of an honors thesis in Madison (the public policy college at State) for a while now. Do I want to spend the credits? What should my topic be?
So, I decided to wander through Madison's offices today, just to see who was around. Given that it was 4 on a Friday, I was not expecting to find anyone. But lo and behold, there's Matt Zierler - who just that morning had been assigned as my academic advisor. I had to sit through another round of "Apply for the Truman," but we eventually got around to thesis.
Becca: I'm debating between food security/hunger/agriculture and Israel/Palestine.
Zierler: Well, why don't you do food security in the Middle East and look at water too?
Becca:...oh. Duh. Go, Advisor. You have just pointed out the painfully obvious, which I had somehow managed to miss. Good idea. Now, should I do Yael Aronoff or Mark Axelrod?
Zierler: Well, Yael knows Israel and has more experience with theses. But Axelrod is pretty familiar with the region and does a lot with food security and political economy...
At this point, I'm pretty sure I want to do it with Mark as my official advisor and Yael as a resource, especially since I wrote a paper on food security for Mark last spring.
Yael is not in her office (which is right next to Zierler's). And it's now 4:15 on a Friday. And Mark Axelrod is an observant Jew. So there's no way in heck.
But wait! Mark had a bug problem in his house, and so had to spray and then vacate. And there he is. And he'd love to do my thesis. And sure, we can start the required preparatory independent study this semester.
And Jeff Judge, the academic registrar, is in his office. And prints off the form for me to start and leave in Axelrod's mailbox. And, for some absurd reason I really don't know, he knows my name...(Seriously. He shouldn't. He's met me once. For a basic academic major sign-up.)
And so I fill out the paperwork, and head home. To write lots of emails, plan my independent study, and feel generally contented (read, ecstatic) in a day well spent and incredibly successful.