Back in the Saddle Again...by Randy M. Ataíde

Well, my my, it has been a long time! My sincere apologies, and I simply cannot believe it has been...gulp!...four years since I have posted here! A lot has transpired and I apologize to anyone (students, alums, colleagues, Pulitzer Prize Committee, etc.) , who has wondered where I went during this absence...

Back in 2010 my work changed at PLNU in that we re-organized the Center I led...and it was changed to a Business and Economic Institute and it has been a blur of a great deal of work and energy and creativity during these years. I am grateful for that time and opportunity, and I think we really have accomplished a lot in providing PLNU the leading university based Institute in our fields in San Diego, and one of the most influential ones in the U.S. I also accomplished some academic writing in economics, entrepreneurship, and began to teach a new class on negotiations for MBA's, for which I wrote the curriculum...a lot has gone on! The office also created a fairly active blog to which I contributed to as well, so "Ontrapranur" was neglected...

But effective January 1, 2014, I resigned from full-time work at PLNU...and the past months have been good as I have made this transition...still teaching a bit and doing some consulting...and more traveling...but it was a good time to make a change and I am confident that the Institute at PLNU is better than ever!

So this means that I will start writing on topics of interest to me again...and as the title of the blog means it will be items that reflect a voice that is "broadly speaking" for I profess interest in many things but no great expertise in many of them. For example, I have always been fascinated by things as diverse as time travel, physics, medieval languages, etymology, myth, and psychology...but really have much training in any of them...what I do have is an eye for interesting things and a fascination for how and why things work...and I think this comes out in my teaching and relationship to students...

A great result of the change in my routine has been that I am going for long walks...typically 5-8 miles three or four times a week but as long as 15 miles...and a few weeks ago I purchased a beach cruiser bicycle and so have been riding as well...in the Mission Beach and Pacific Beach area...and these times by myself have been incredibly invigorating...seeing details and items that I easily miss by passing through quickly...the hours alone have been wonderful and i am savoring these days and the time to think, pray, listen to the radio, and simply see people on my daily journeys...

So be well and stay tuned...more to come!