How Was Your First Day of Classes?

I very much like the rhythm of the academic life with semesters supporting the year and with class schedules.

Yesterday, was the first day of the new "Spring" 2014 semester at UMass Amherst and  a pending snowstorm hitting the northeast of the U.S. added to the excitement (spoiler - no cancellations in our area today).

I was so surprised and pleased to see several of my Operations & Information Management majors stop by to say "hello", who had taken by Logistics & Transportation class last semester, and who had fulfilled their graduation requirements. It is always great to see former students!

Yesterday, I had a busy first day of classes, beginning in the morning with my Humanitarian Logistics & Healthcare class and, in the afternoon, my Management Science Seminar, which this year is focusing on Variational Inequalities, Networks, and Game Theory.

Yesterday was also my daughter's birthday and somehow she made it, after a long flight to Newark from Hawaii, where she had taken an intensive science course, via Amtrak to New Haven, from where she then got a ride (there were many upset passengers at the New Haven train station since an Acela from Boston had broken down). She said that she was going to make it home even if she had to walk. I had visions of Steve Martin's movie, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles."

And, yesterday, January 21, one of my former doctoral students, who is now a professor, celebrated the birth of his first child with his wife, a daughter (and I predicted the day).

This will be a very exciting semester!

With best wishes to everyone on all of your endeavors.