oh, new orleans...

dude, what a week.

friday through monday, eric and i were at the national joint mathematics meetings in new orleans. 10 hours a day of math talks and schmoozing for 4 straight days is a lot of work. driving all day for both days on either end takes time too.

on the way south, eric and i drove to mobile, AL first and toured the USS alabama, which was super cool, until i got a migraine later in the day and had him drive from AL to LA. driving into new orleans from the east is kinda surreal. there are whole neighborhoods with dark house, and lit up trailer in the front yard for as far as the eye can see...

once there, we were kind of sheltered. the sheraton and the marriot are across the street from each other and for 4 days 5000 mathematicians attended talks and exhibits back and forth between the two hotels. they're on the west end of the french quarter which survived the hurricanes really well, so especially for people who just flew in, everything they actually saw was basically fine. eric and i walked the 2 miles to the garden district monday afternoon and saw a little bit of a different story along the way... sad thing is, so much of the city still has a lot to do to rebuild, and the part that's fine isn't really my cup of tea, (at least at night when most things are open,... i mean seriously, picture me on bourbon street? it's fun, but it's not me)...

even if we were sheltered in our exposure to the city, we definitely weren't in who we ran into at the conference. i crossed paths with my REU advisor from 5 years ago in texas, several of my past rutgers REU students, many of my undergraduate professors, many rutgers people past and present, and many people i've met at smaller more subject-specific conferences in the past year. it's really cool to feel like a valued part of a much larger community. practically every time i turned around there was someone new i knew from somewhere in the past who was happy to see me, so that was cool.

i introduced gillman (my undergraduate research advisor) to dr. z. (my phd thesis advisor) one afternoon. z's response? "nice to meet you! thank you for making lara!" i laughed SO hard...

anyhow, a VERY math-filled week is done. i'm being lazy in memphis for 24 hours before being on the road again. memphis to pittsburgh tomorrow, and pittsburgh to NJ on friday. tons of exciting fun, right?

be parties one and all!