I am committing business travel

Oddly, I have this feeling like I'm doing something socially inappropriate. I've gone to training sites and conferences before, but because the events spanned multiple days I didn't have this experience of going to the airport with just one bag containing a laptop and not much else. (It doesn't hurt that I did the correct university paperwork before going, for the first time ever.) There's something tawdry about using a bunch of plane fuel to visit another city only overnight, where I will take taxis and stay in a hotel.

and thistles surround the edge of it

I kind of fell in love with Eugene from the air: so tranquil-looking with farms and trees and rivers, with mountains on both sides of the valley, and I bet a person could afford housing here. Plus, the UO campus is pretty: a good mix of old and new buildings, great trees, formidable bronze heads on walls where you might not expect them.

But it is all allergenic as fuck. The taxi driver warned me, but I really didn't expect to react this strongly. Hope the aftermath of my walk to the symposium building tomorrow is less miserable than that of my scouting mission tonight. I showered promptly but am still experiencing excessive levels of snot production and sinus pressure. Ugh.