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Chicago day 1
Jul. 21st, 2011 08:51 pmYesterday was absolute madness. Not enough sleep, up at 6, scurrying to finish my poster and get it printed, transit problems, argh. I had a good meeting with my software manager, though, and took him to lunch at Agua Verde even though it meant being later to the airport. That part was dumb, and I really should have asked for a ride to the gate once I got there, but I got on the plane slightly before the last minute and even wound up with an open seat next to me instead of my original middle seat. (Plus the flight attendant was amazing and got me ice for the sad foot. Yay Patti, and by proxy American Airlines.)
In Chicago at 11pm last night, it was 90 F. Wow. Long cab ride to the hotel, kept amused by the Ipad on cellular-data mode and trying to see climate differences in the dark. The hotel is the Congress Plaza, and it is --> astounding. Old metal elevator doors, odd smells, areas of AC and no AC, bizarre charm, and a gorgeous east-facing view of the park. The word "non-Euclidean" echoed in my head an awful lot as I was trying to find the ice machine, but I think I've got it figured out now. Either I lost a whole lot of San points during that venture, or I kind of love it.
Today's live-imaging symposium was very interesting and entertaining, though there were zero plant biologists talking. After that, well. The first speaker was a prominent plant scientist, who does fantastic work, and I think I've seen her give a good talk -- this just wasn't that talk. The next guy drove me up the wall. Seriously, after a plant person has just talked, don't try to tell me that "ALL BIOLOGY" or "ALL WELL-KNOWN SYSTEMS" do cell-cell signaling like fruit flies. And I don't think it was just my annoyance that thought he was making very unfounded assertions. (He did have interesting data in the last 20% of his talk, but he kept saying he'd shown things before that which he had not shown at all. Grr.) The last talk was about the kidney, which is generally awesome, but I was kind of done for the day by then. I left to get FOODS and found that my hotel's restaurant is pleasingly modern-yet-aged and unpretentious, and will give a person tasty bacon cheeseburgers.
I talked to my parents on the phone and found out that Dad is slowly improving after the last surgery! He has been pretty down and I was sure he was going to need the more invasive spinal fusion thing, but they had a really good doctor visit today and they're going to try movement and medication first.
Plus, the cold I felt like I was getting hasn't appeared yet. I hope I escaped.
[ETA due to too much awesome to remember at once] And I won a prize in the "come back from breaks promptly" raffle: a set of Zeiss-branded reflective-pouched TOOLS. Little flat and Phillips screwdrivers, the cutest tiny socket-wrench set, wire cutter and long-nosed pliers, and swappable screwdriver bit set. (Actually they called my number again later, settling my curiosity about whether they were doing a computerized elimination draw or just random numbers, but I said WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN TOOLS and they drew another number.) Guess I am checking a bag on the way home.
[Okay now I am really going to bed.]
So overall a really good day. Just have to email people the things I forgot to send in the chaos of leaving!
In Chicago at 11pm last night, it was 90 F. Wow. Long cab ride to the hotel, kept amused by the Ipad on cellular-data mode and trying to see climate differences in the dark. The hotel is the Congress Plaza, and it is --> astounding. Old metal elevator doors, odd smells, areas of AC and no AC, bizarre charm, and a gorgeous east-facing view of the park. The word "non-Euclidean" echoed in my head an awful lot as I was trying to find the ice machine, but I think I've got it figured out now. Either I lost a whole lot of San points during that venture, or I kind of love it.
Today's live-imaging symposium was very interesting and entertaining, though there were zero plant biologists talking. After that, well. The first speaker was a prominent plant scientist, who does fantastic work, and I think I've seen her give a good talk -- this just wasn't that talk. The next guy drove me up the wall. Seriously, after a plant person has just talked, don't try to tell me that "ALL BIOLOGY" or "ALL WELL-KNOWN SYSTEMS" do cell-cell signaling like fruit flies. And I don't think it was just my annoyance that thought he was making very unfounded assertions. (He did have interesting data in the last 20% of his talk, but he kept saying he'd shown things before that which he had not shown at all. Grr.) The last talk was about the kidney, which is generally awesome, but I was kind of done for the day by then. I left to get FOODS and found that my hotel's restaurant is pleasingly modern-yet-aged and unpretentious, and will give a person tasty bacon cheeseburgers.
I talked to my parents on the phone and found out that Dad is slowly improving after the last surgery! He has been pretty down and I was sure he was going to need the more invasive spinal fusion thing, but they had a really good doctor visit today and they're going to try movement and medication first.
Plus, the cold I felt like I was getting hasn't appeared yet. I hope I escaped.
[ETA due to too much awesome to remember at once] And I won a prize in the "come back from breaks promptly" raffle: a set of Zeiss-branded reflective-pouched TOOLS. Little flat and Phillips screwdrivers, the cutest tiny socket-wrench set, wire cutter and long-nosed pliers, and swappable screwdriver bit set. (Actually they called my number again later, settling my curiosity about whether they were doing a computerized elimination draw or just random numbers, but I said WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN TOOLS and they drew another number.) Guess I am checking a bag on the way home.
[Okay now I am really going to bed.]
So overall a really good day. Just have to email people the things I forgot to send in the chaos of leaving!
