I realize that I haven't really said what I am doing all day. Other than going to balls and receptions and such that is.

Three mornings a week we have "class". These are actually more seminars or discussions with the three most senior members of staff - the VP of Marketing, VP of Development and Michael Kaiser, our CEO. We also have finance class but it seems to be more sporadic. So far they are really the best part about being here. It's this amazing amount of access to people who are so smart and good at what they do. It is such a painless way to learn all this...stuff... about areas that I've had little exposure to- officially anyway. And it is amazing how generous they are with their time. These are not un-busy people but they clearly love talking about what they do all day. I'm completely paranoid about being late for one however (MMK says "on time is late") so I tend to get to work half an hour early, so it makes the day long!

Otherwise in my rotation currently I am writing my first NEA grant (National Endowment for the Arts) and I would just like to say no one should complain about the Canada Council grants ever again. The level of bureaucracy involved in this thing is astounding. They are very, very picky about formatting and what you put where, it is like they are looking for ways to disqualify applications based on technicalities. Of course this is horrifying as I don't want to be the fellow that lost them a grant because I named a file incorrectly! Actually I think we are stretching it a bit with this particular application but fortunately I am a gifted wordsmith.

Tomorrow it's back to cocktail parties..