DAMOP, Tuesday ed.
Posted by Michael.
[quick note: I don't expect anybody to actually care, but this is what blogs are all about, so here goes.]
Tuesday:
Leave H-town on the 7am Dartmouth Coach, scheduled to get to Logan at 9:25am, but we’re more than an hour late due to weather and traffic. Fortunately our flight was delayed as well (from 11am to 11:30) so we didn’t miss it. Andy and I sat next to some woman who looked to be in her early 40s but had very colorful/young fashion – orange top, short black miniskirt with bright red leggings underneath. she made it work, but it was still somewhat… interesting? startling?
Luckily we managed to just make our connection in Cincy (at which point I overheard a conversation that confirmed my suspicion that the guy in the seat in front of me was Merril Hodge) and landed in Knoxville 35 minutes later. Taxi to the convention center and registration, then once armed with a map to our lodging (for some reason we decided to go with the student housing option instead of staying in a downtown hotel) which turned out to be a 25 minute walk across the UT campus, (no, that’s not Texas, Tim) only to find that the ORL people weren’t ready for us (literally, the rooms weren’t ready, since the UT graduation was Saturday I’m told). So finally we get our key, drop off our stuff, then head back downtown for the “Welcoming Reception”.
Interesting bits from the reception:
1. great comment from the barman (who could pass for Samuel Jackson’s uncle/brother) as I made use of my “one free bar” coupon – “kinda sad when Bud is the best option you have, huh?”
2. Had a nice 15 minute conversation with Barbara Wolff-Reichert, marketing director of TeachSpin, who make pretty slick physics teaching equipment. Tim, this stuff is pretty nice, it’s worth looking into regarding the refit of P76. Mentioned in passing, talking about how physics teaching needs a boost from big names, “well, you know how Carl Weiman is stepping away from research and going to focus on teaching, moving to (she thinks) U. British Columbia”, which just happens to be on K’s short list for whales/marine bio. so that’s coo.
3. hunger makes anything taste good, but the turkey and cranberry sandwiches they had were big-time money.
and now I would post this except that apparently the wireless isn’t up and running yet, boo. hopefully tomorrow.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:01 pm Using
I know which UT you’re talking ’bout!
Took a look at the TeachSpin stuff; I’ll pass it along to Alex. My impression with pitches like the one you describe is that she’s got a lot of vested interest and economic incentive to sell you on it. It’s good to know that sort of stuff is out there, and it should definitely be investigated further, but I’m always careful to avoid getting sucked in by a hard sell. It’s much the same with you, I’m sure.
Turkey and cranberry sandwiches, huh? What I’m wondering now is, “Where’s mine?”
Hope y’all have a productive trip!
May 18th, 2006 at 5:18 pm Using
Yeah, it was a pretty hard sell, but of course one of the advantages of being “just a grad student” is that they don’t push too hard since we don’t have any control over the purse strings. Sales job aside, I was pretty impressed with their stuff, so it’s worth looking into at least.
I saved you a sandwich but it got kinda soggy in my coat pocket, I may have to throw it out before Saturday. sorry dude.