It's been a while and a LOT has happened...Stress, Stress, Stress...

It's been a while since I have blogged - months in fact - but I have been kind of busy...

We moved 2700 miles.

We unpacked a lot of boxes.

I went back to grad school (Fall 2005) got a 3.9 carrying 14 graduate credits.

Ron commutes across the State of Maryland TWICE daily.

I drive 80 miles/day to take him to back and forth to the train so he can commute across the State of Maryland.

Our kids are now 2 and 4 (see pic from Ethan's 2nd birthday).

They are both boys. There is lots of dirt. There is lots of throwing oneself on the floor. There is lots of sharing. There is lots of love and hugs and pats.

We flipped our car on Rte 40 on the way to work one icy morning. All are well but we all started thinking about our mortality.

Ron had a heart attack. He was unisured. He also has diabetes. I would be lost without him.

I am waiting to find out if I was admitted to the Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Class of 2007, and worrying that I won't.


I don't have a dissertation topic. This is the really stressful part. I am thinking of and studying in depth fisheries and economics; international fisheries, gulf of mexico fisheries, developing states fisheries, collapsing fisheries, overcapacity, capital costs of entering fishing, ecosystem-based fishery managment, marine protected areas, property rights, modeling, environmental economics, commercial vs. recreational fisheries, marginal net benefit of a recreational fish versus marginal net benefit of a commercial fish, are commercial fisheries outdated, how will we retrain the current fishers if they are?

I don't know how to answer the question, or maybe I am not even sure what the question is... How do we arrest the catstrophic decline of the worlds fisheries? How do we maximize consumer welfare while we are arresting the catastrophic decline of the world's fisheries. In other words - the solution is simply less fishing pressure period - I guess the question is how can the reductions best be allocated? What is the best way to allocate the catch that must be reduced? How to deal with overcapapcity in the fleet at the same time? Can these questions be modeled? What is the policy relevance? Can we assist devloping nations if we can't get our own right? What about co-management? Is it in practice, is it helpful?

And those are just the major events. There so much more I can't get it organized to event talk about. I guess this makes this like one of those Christmas letters you get from various families. It's nice to know the major events, but what does it all mean?

Honestly, I have no clue and don't have the time to worry about it. However, I always have the time to blog about anything marine policy... So comments or suggestions are invited or rather, welcomed. I really have to sleep now... fair tidings to all...