I have returned from Denver. And this is what I discovered while I was there. First of all, it is dry. Now this may seem obvious. But I mean dry like the desert. Even inside the hotel with airconditioning going at maximum force, there was a constant need to drink water. And stepping outside made one feel like a shrinking prune. On top of this dryness, I had a runny nose. The runny nose was actually something everyone at the conference had; there was a lot of sniffing in between papers, blowing noses, and drinking water, all at the same time. Going out at night, I discovered that because of the altitude one drink equals 2 or 3 -- especially if it's wine. And they don't tend to serve vegetables. I remember ordering a half chicken -- something that would generally be accompanied by a happy green vegetable and potatoes. Well, this chicken was accompanied by potatoes and fried onion rings. Yes, that was the vegetable. Despite the dryness and my lack of vegetation, I enjoyed Denver, in part because I did a lot of carousing (obviously enhanced by the altitude/alcohol factor) disguised as networking.

Now that I'm back, I'm working on figuring out what/when/where I'll be teaching this fall. I thought I would have the answer to this yesterday, but here I am today with still no certainties. I'm not good at the whole "not knowing" stage of things. I don't seem to get a lot done during it.