Conferencing

After I did the monthly cleaning of the computer — updating some spreadsheets and other documents, deleting stuff from the desktop and the downloads folder, and so on — I returned to the equally exciting task of packing for this afternoon’s road trip.

But before we left I got a stern talking to. Poseidon pointed out I was behind on the site’s most popular weekly feature, the check-in on the kitties. And he was also upset that, last week, Phoebe got a closeup and he did not.

They are jealous cats. So here you go, Poe, a recent closeup, to keep things equal between the two of you.

Phoebe also noticed we were two days behind. She was gearing up to tell me all about it, you can tell.

Next week he’ll probably want a photo in a bag or box, too. They are very jealous of one another. Him more so, but only because they haven’t yet realized that jealous is a thing they can compete for, too.

And, so you see, the are doing just great. Now they’re hanging out with a sitter, because we are just under five hours away, in beautiful and scenic Norfolk. Here’s a blurry shot from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel route. See if you can guess which this part is, bridge or tunnel.

We’re in Norfolk for the 95th convention of the Southern States Communication Association. This is our 10th time to this conference, and then second time we’ve attended it in Norfolk. The first time, my lovely bride won an award there. We’ve won two others, too. These days, we go back to point that out a little, but mostly to see our friends.

This is our first time at SSCA since 2017, though, because of other obligations, travel budget reasons and Covid.

Most everyone got in in time for dinner tonight, so we had some catching up today. We had blueberry french toast at this restaurant near the hotel.

And it was great, but seeing our friends was even better. You can text people and have group chats and do all of that, but when youget to see them in person you realize keenly what’s been lacking. These are sweet, sassy, incredibly smart people, people we have worked with and presented with and laughed with and so on since grad school. We get to spend a long weekend hanging out with them, and call it work.

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