After a great weekend in Portland I’m home again in Iowa. Katherine seemed interested in playing with me this morning, though I didn’t get any sign of “Oh, you’re back! I’m so glad to see you again!” She was probably wondering why Grandma ran off to work.
I didn’t get great loads of work done, as I thought I might. It seems that even when you don’t have a little one at your knee you still may have trouble getting things done!
I did, however, enjoy the roses in the “City of Roses” on my 2-mile walk to the grocery store, wonder frequently what kind of strange conifers I was looking at, and eat some great Cuban and Mexican food with my friends Steph and Jamie. Always good when conference locations line up with the hometowns of friends. I also stayed in a dorm for the first time in five years, and I laughed that the four-bedroom suite in which I was staying was considerably larger than our Ithaca apartment (these college students aren’t exactly roughing it).
Although I’m generally pretty outgoing, I’m a bit slow at introducing myself and starting conversations at conferences. As usual, though, things picked up as the days went on and we had more to talk about, and I had a number of people introduce themselves after my talk and express interest in my project. By the final night I found myself having an hour-and-a-half conversation with a lady down the hall–all while I stood in the door frame of the bathroom!
Erin
Alan Schmierer