worker's playtime

there's a professional conference in town this week, one that i go to every year. between that and another conference held in the fall, it's the one of the few chances i have in any given year to see most of my friends and colleagues from around the country, so it's a good professional and personal event. lots of good eating, drinking, socializing and yes, even professional development and interesting research presentations. this is the first year, however, when i've been to a major conference that's in the city where i'm living. which means it feels less like the special event that it normally is, and more like just part of the work-week.

the session i'm doing is on saturday -- usually doing a saturday session is no big deal...when you're away, there's not as fine a line between weekday and weekend. you're just at the conference. now i'll have to get up early on a saturday and trek to the conference center. i should also probably get around (sooner rather than later) to reading the papers on which i'm supposed to be giving expert commentary (i'm discussant at the session, which means i give public critique of the papers).

the conference being here also means i'll have to play host...recommending restaurants and other places to go, like a good dive bar or two. the latter of which i know already (go figure) - but then i'm usually able to find a good bar in a strange town anyway (again, go figure).