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Where did I leave off? Doesn't matter. My talk was on Tuesday. It went reasonably well. Nothing new. It was actually a combination of two talks I gave at other meetings. Because of this I went over time by a couple minutes, but I was by no means the worst offender. There were others in the session who had 35 slides for a 15 minute talk. Yes, this time includes Q&A.
This isn't one of my usual conferences, so I didn't really know many people there. I was fortunate enough to run into Erika Barth, who I'd gone to grad school with. We work in different fields, but it was nice to have someone to hang out with after the talks.
The rest of the meeting's a blur right now. Friday I mostly took off. I went to the Schonbrunn palace in the morning, but couldn't stay long. Due to bad planning and for a reason that deserves its own post, I had to pop by the conference midday. From my hotel I have to take three trains. Transitions are usually pretty seamless, but I managed to just miss each train on the way in. As in, I arrived at the platform and watched the train pull away. It's only a few minutes to wait for each, but they add up. In the afternoon I went back to the palace to tour the Hedge maze and gardens. I got some rather spectacular pictures to share eventually. Getting back there was a trick though. The U6 broke down at Westbahnhof so I had to take a detour into the City center to come back out again. They close the attractions at some point, so I was a bit rushed, but I hit all the main points. And I found all the signs in the maze alone and by myself. That's because I'm awesome.
So now I'm sitting in Chicago O'Hare airport. I have a 6 hour layover here (it's been 3), so I decided to pay the $6.95 for internet access. Not much else to do at the moment. Besides, what's this on top of the trip? I've been spending it like I have it. Well, the federal tax refund did just show up before I left, but we planned to put that into savings. It looks like that'll have to wait until the reimbursement comes through. I have not kept very good track of my meal expenses. I'll probably just claim the maximum per diem and let them complain about it if they want to.
Prices in Europe generally seem reasonable; it's just the dollar to euro conversion that sucks. The main difference is that drinks cost a lot. Soda and juice and water. Beer and wine are the same or a bit cheaper there. A lot of wine was consumed.
What else? Can't remember. I have to convince myself that it's really 5:00 because I'm in Chicago. Not midnight. I get home at midnight, not 9:00 tomorrow morning.
This isn't one of my usual conferences, so I didn't really know many people there. I was fortunate enough to run into Erika Barth, who I'd gone to grad school with. We work in different fields, but it was nice to have someone to hang out with after the talks.
The rest of the meeting's a blur right now. Friday I mostly took off. I went to the Schonbrunn palace in the morning, but couldn't stay long. Due to bad planning and for a reason that deserves its own post, I had to pop by the conference midday. From my hotel I have to take three trains. Transitions are usually pretty seamless, but I managed to just miss each train on the way in. As in, I arrived at the platform and watched the train pull away. It's only a few minutes to wait for each, but they add up. In the afternoon I went back to the palace to tour the Hedge maze and gardens. I got some rather spectacular pictures to share eventually. Getting back there was a trick though. The U6 broke down at Westbahnhof so I had to take a detour into the City center to come back out again. They close the attractions at some point, so I was a bit rushed, but I hit all the main points. And I found all the signs in the maze alone and by myself. That's because I'm awesome.
So now I'm sitting in Chicago O'Hare airport. I have a 6 hour layover here (it's been 3), so I decided to pay the $6.95 for internet access. Not much else to do at the moment. Besides, what's this on top of the trip? I've been spending it like I have it. Well, the federal tax refund did just show up before I left, but we planned to put that into savings. It looks like that'll have to wait until the reimbursement comes through. I have not kept very good track of my meal expenses. I'll probably just claim the maximum per diem and let them complain about it if they want to.
Prices in Europe generally seem reasonable; it's just the dollar to euro conversion that sucks. The main difference is that drinks cost a lot. Soda and juice and water. Beer and wine are the same or a bit cheaper there. A lot of wine was consumed.
What else? Can't remember. I have to convince myself that it's really 5:00 because I'm in Chicago. Not midnight. I get home at midnight, not 9:00 tomorrow morning.
