We have a pulse

Two months since my last half hearted post? I really have some catching up to do, especially with the great photo laden efforts of Matt and Andrew.

So, yes. I'm still alive and hoping to remain in that condition. I've been feeling a little burnt out and overwhelmed lately. I've got another two weeks of school left and two big projects to go and I'll be extraordinarily happy when it's all over. Both projects I find very interesting but they are massive amounts of work, comparable I think to my Master's thesis after taking the increased complexity of these projects into account. If I had more time, (or if I had been more on the ball) I think that they would have been excellent--probably would have been able to parlay one into substantial amounts of funding and the other into a major journal article, but alas. Maybe in the mythical world of the future where "when I have time" resides.

But it hasn't been all multi-level models and periodontal disease. I did get away to Europe for a little while, which was an excellent break. It's too bad that Matt wasn't able to come. Maybe after he gets his passport back we can meet up somewhere else.

It's interesting seeing a city again, relatively closely to the last visit. I guess I expect places like Montreal, or even Ottawa, to be essentially the same everytime I go back, but going far away, I expect, for no good reason, massive newness. But I really enjoyed the familiarity of the place. Seeing the hostel Christy, Heidi, and I stayed in last time. The anticlimatic clock. The stunning view from the castle.

I was staying at the Hilton, the conference hotel, which while nice in the hotelyness certainly had something lacking in the charm department (especially for the price--175 euros a night discount rate--Everything at the hotel was crazy expensive. I once thought about grabbing lunch there but thought again after learning that it cost $45 dollars for the "convenience" of not leaving the hotel.) The conference itself was good. I like conferences. I wear a suit and meet lots of people and learn lots of things and drink a lot. It's exhausting, especially with the Americans who keeping obstinately scheduling things before 8am, but great fun. There were a pile of Canadians there most of us who know each other from other events and it's just a good group. We even got all invited to a reception at the Canadian embassy.

After the conference was over, I took off to Salzburg. It took a little longer to get there than it should have, because the Czechs thought it would be fun to do little detours on buses. I did get to meet Martina Navartilova because of the delay. No, not the Martina Navartilova, but probably a nicer and friendlier one. But because of all the delay, I didn't end up getting to Salzburg until fairly late in the afternoon, just enough time to find a hotel, get some food, and wander along the river. The next morning, I got up super early and made my way up to Bad Gastein, one of the popular ski resorts in the area, for a little skiing. It was snowy and cloudy which was a shame because it would have been a fantastic view from up at 10,000 feet, but the skiing was worth it. It's amazing skiing above the tree line because there's no real barriers so you can let gravity take its course. My hostel there was fabulous, maybe one of the best hostels I've ever stayed at. Friendly, beautiful and crazy well maintained and clean. I was staying in a room with a few girls from Montana and a whole bunch of american army guys on a two week leave from Iraq. It was really interesting get to meet the army guys, people that I would likely never run across in real life. I tried asking them about Iraq, but they clearly didn't want to think about it. Most of them were supposed to have finished months ago, but were being kept on. "Iraq," said one guy resignedly, "is bad shit." It's true though about Army guys and women, even out of uniform. Amazing to watch. And even the Army guys were in awe of the Marines in that respect. Navy, though, got no respect.

Anyways, I've posted a couple of pictures from Prague and Salzburg if you want to see. I've really either got to get a flash or a new camera so I can take pictures at night. Scroll over to see all the pictures.