As of Saturday evening, I’m back after nine days of travel to Colombia. On the plane, I managed to finish organizing all my notes from our field research into a 57-page matrix. If all goes well, I’ll spend the next several days turning that into a draft report on post-peace-accord security, organized crime trends, protection of social leaders, and human rights.

But the schedule could shift. I’m coming back to September in Washington, and unforeseen work may await regarding the U.S.-Mexico border (will Trump’s border wall cause a government shutdown by September 30?), Guatemala’s CICIG (why were U.S.-donated military vehicles involved in the government effort to shut it down?) or something else.

I’ll actually have a better idea what “the week ahead” is going to look like when I show up at the office in a few hours and talk to everybody about what’s been happening while I was away.

Meanwhile, I’ve had only one day off (yesterday) since August 26, I’m tired and barely unpacked. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my birthday, and I’m determined to take the day off, if only to get a bit organized.