Took Smurf to the doctor yesterday; he doesn’t have an ear infection — yet.
Relief.
Found out that one of the NSF programs to which I am applying this fall has recently abandoned the proposal window and moved to year-round submission.
Pure unadulterated joy!
Now only two full proposals and one preproposal before the end of the month. I might even make it.
October. Eh.
xykademiqz 
Hey, I’m in the same boat on NSF deadline suddenly disappearing! I never read my professional society’s newsletter, but randomly did a couple of weeks ago, and lo and behold, no deadline! I can’t say I’m as totally excited about it — I have lots of questions about how funding rates are going to be affected with the regrouping of subject area, as well as how rolling review (and possibly all non-panel external reviews?) will affect the review process. But I guess I should get over my “change is scary” reflex and embrace the “lack of deadlines is awesome” excitement.
Yay for no ear infection for Smurf! When my little guy had ear pain/fluid but not yet an infection, they had us give him Benadryl to dry it up, which was awesome because he also slept. 🙂 Hoping this means happier days for your little one!
lyra211, I have funds from another agency that has rolling review and only does mail-in review. They are allowed to hold on to your grant for a year, so if they like the grant and the money has been spent for a fiscal year, they can technically hold on to it until next fiscal year. Having said that, it’s good to call to see if they recommend a time frame (they usually do) that’s optimal for submission to avoid being bounced due to all funds already having been obligated. I plan on sending this proposal in by end of November, so not very late at all.
I have heard that removing deadlines reduces the number of submissions, presumably because people can work on proposals until they are happy and thus submit fewer, but better ones. That can’t be bad, right?
I generally am in favor of mail-in review. In my field, on panels there always seems to be someone with a case of “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” who picks on a nit and sinks good projects. At least with mail-in review they send out to all experts.
Btw, Smurf is on Zyrtec to clear things up. So far so good (knock on wood)!