Yes, I am still alive

This turns out to be a regular feature, isn't it. I start each new post with an apology for being quiet for so long and the promise to do better in the future. So, let's just skip this part this time... The semester is finally open. I was fairly busy during the semester and the couple of weeks after it ended. Now, finally, things had calmed down a bit. We've finally submitted one paper. To Science of all places. They didn't kick us out yet (though it is surprising they hadn't replied yet after more than three weeks. For those who don't know, Science and Nature have a two tier acceptance process. Most of the papers are rejected without peer review by the editor. This usually takes about a week. In case the editor decides the paper has potential, it is sent out to reviewers, but they usually let you know if this happens. So, the fact that we hadn't heard anything is fairly strange). I am fairly skeptical about our chances. My boss decided to try and go with a very specific short format, which is published one per issue. This makes it next to impossible to get through. Before sending it out to the journal, he sent the paper to few specialists in the field to see what they say. Most responses were very positive, but one of the guys warned us that it would be very hard to publish in this format. Anyway, even if the paper is eventually rejected, together with the supplementary material, we have a full paper to send to any other journal. Two more paper drafts were sent to our collaborators at Northwestern. These are fairly straightforward papers, which have good chances of being published in high level journals. I am guessing, they'll be out to journals fairly soon. We are also working on another paper, which should be done shortly. Now, you can understand why I was so busy lately :-) On the home front nothing changed much. I finished a draft divorce agreement with my lawyer and sent it to my ex. No response as of yet. In the meanwhile, she took the kids for a month of vacation in Israel. I would have loved to go, but ,unfortunately, couldn't. They've been gone for less than a week, and I already miss them. I have no idea how what things will be like when they move to North Carolina in August... Well, that's it for now. I will try to give more updates, but no promises :-)