Budgets

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You know you're a problem patron at the library when they have to label a cart with your name. My stacks of historical budget documents arrived at the library from offsite today, and I got through Argentina and 2/3s of Bolivia. It's definitely slow going. The budget numbers themselves are quick to get; but I'm also taking the time to get counts of the relative troop/agent levels for the army and police. It'll take a while, but it'll make a much stronger measure of the army/police relationship at the beginning and end of the state formation period. This is the one real hurdle I have left in terms of analysis, and tomorrow I'll keep leaping over it.

I also spent quite a bit of time today reaching out to contacts in my network regarding my interview next week, gathering background information. As my dad said in his comment, it's exciting to have these two aspects of my life moving along well. Add in a fun visit from Matt and Laura, who left this morning, and an event for VPF next Wednesday, and there's a lot going on! Spring is around the corner, with the promise of renewal....