There are days where life intervenes with administrivia (I wish I could tell you today's story!), or family matters like my mother-in-law in her second week in hospital, that keep posting down.

But to be honest I simply got caught up editing and rewriting a paper I'm co-authoring with a lawyer on central banking operations. I've never written with a lawyer before, and the different ways we see the same phenomena has been fascinating. Central banks (like the Federal Reserve) have been my one abiding interest in economics -- the first professional paper I ever published was on central banks -- in a career where I go careening from topic to topic that catches my fancy (like Ukraine). I honestly believe that bit of professional attention deficit disorder helps make me a better blogger. But that's another topic.

Anyway, this paper was so fascinating that I buried in it for five hours last night and four this morning, and I really can't wait to get to it again. And the great part is that I get paid to do this.

What a great world.