Friday, March 23, 2007

Conference Notes

Here are the highs and lows of the first full day (for me) of the conference in NYC:

• Had a yogurt and a Vitamin Water from the 53rd Street Deli. Impressive place. Might stop back in there tomorrow for fresh sushi sometime in the afternoon.
• Walked with Ph. to Times Square. Played PS3 for a few minutes at Toys-R-Us. Proof! that there is free entertainment in Manhattan (although free might soon be asterisked by yet-to-be-made purchases resulting from my rekindled interest in the PS3).
• Attended an 8 a.m. session reporting on the National Research Council's approval of "Rhetoric and Composition" as an emerging field.
• Followed that with an informal meeting with a colleague from alma mater whom I hadn't met before and who will be coordinating the U.'s writing curriculum with an eye on certain improvements.
• Awoke early enough to check out the workout facilities here in the hotel. Learned that they wanted another 15 clams per day per person to use the equipment. I looked at the price sheet and mentioned that Ph. might be coming in later in the morning. "He's only 16? You'll have to accompany him in that case. And there will be another $15 fee added." A rush of frugality motored my legs hastily out of there. There's nothing about the 30 minute workout I wanted this morning that was worth 15 bucks. No-thing. And so my fitness slides. I had a slice of pizza for lunch just to spite the Hiltons and their elliptical scam.
• Ph. and I walked over to the Empire State Building, lolled around the observation deck for 15 rain-soaked minutes. I asked the "host" how long the entire ob-deck-n-back trip would take, and he said 15 minutes. Forty minutes later we were on the elevator, heading up. Still, I'm glad we did it. Of course, standing on the observation deck at 1:30 p.m. didn't bode well for my chances of making it back to the conference (on foot, 34th St. to 53rd St.) in time for a 2:00 p.m. session. Made it by 2:15.
• And then there was a committee meeting from 3-4 p.m. related to CCCOA.
• Phillip has been watching the Star Wars this evening. Return of the Jedi. Luke and Leia are brother and sister?, he just asked. In fact, they are.
• Dinner (Chinese?) and NCAAs later. Plus a re-read of my talk for tomorrow.
• Seems like I'm not seeing as many folks as I did last year. The hotel lobby feels more like triple-wide hallway to me. Not a lot of seating space to lounge around and make casual contact with old friends, bloggers, etc.

Posted by Derek Mueller at March 23, 2007 6:15 PM to Travelog