It's a New Year and a New Semester!

The classrooms are quiet. It's cold and rainy out, overcast and ugly, quite frankly. It's the first day of the new semester here at Lone Star College-Montgomery and it's an absolutely perfect day to start the Business and Social Sciences Division's blog... What better excuse to spend the morning inside a warm office, just letting random thoughts fly across the keyboard? Soon our students will be jamming the hallways and I'll be lucky to find the time to Twitter, so yes, this is as good a time as any to start blogging, and it's probably better than most.

The Holidays
One of the benefits of working for a community college is that you get plenty of down time during the holiday season. A few days off for Thanksgiving and then two weeks at Christmas. That's a real help to those hosting family and friends for the holidays. I spent three weeks just planning holiday menus and then another two nights shopping. If you went to mom's house for the holidays, count your blessings and enjoy it while you can. Your turn to cook and clean will get here soon enough!

One of the other benefits of working for a community college is the different people you get to know...from all walks of life! Today, the Division hosted its welcome back lunch which was attended mostly by full-time staff and faculty. It was a lot of fun catching up with people you don't get to see very often and then sharing stories about what everyone did over the holidays...

The Marfa Lights
I told a few co-workers about a holiday trip to West Texas to see the "Marfa lights." If you haven't heard about them, they are really something! They only show up about 20-30 times a year and no one really knows what causes them. Anyway, they were on fire this past weekend and my fiance captured them on film. They are pretty cool to see and, I think, bode well for a great new year!

Adjunct Night and The Economy
Later this week, the Division will host Adjunct night and that's another favorite activity hosted by the college. Most of our adjuncts are employed in the industry that is related to their field of study. With such a variety of subject matter experts to choose from as potential dinner companions, it's hard to figure out where to sit.

This year, with so much going on with the economy, maybe one of our adjuncts will be able to shed some light on the subject. Give a new perspect...Provide some insight on the road ahead... Perhaps somebody from government, or economics, or maybe even an historian... It will be enlightening to hear a grassroots analysis from someone with boots on the ground.

Civil War Trip
Then again, we have a couple of people here, myself included, who are former military, so a war story or two usually pops up some time during the evening. That brings to mind the trip that our history professor, Dr. Craig Livingston, has scheduled for spring break. Sign up and you'll be able to March to the Sound of the Guns during a tour of the Civil War's Western Theater. The trip runs from March 9-12, 2009. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.

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For information about programs offered through the Business and Social Sciences Division:

Accounting

Business

Economics