Sailing to Philadelphia

AKA: What happens in Philadelphia stays in Philadelphia

Tomorrow, early in the afternoon (just after noon, when I won't be letting it all hang out), I am flying to Philadelphia to participate in the 2010 SIAM Conference on Nonlinear Waves and Coherent Structures. This is the 4th conference in this biennial series, and I have attended all of them thus far.

I am once again organizing a minisymposium, as is my tendency at the SIAM conferences that I attend. Additionally, I am for the first time chairing one of the plenary sessions. (I'll try not to make an ass out of myself.)

Update (8/14/10): I am now in a bus and am heading to the airport and from there to Philadelphia. But much more important than that is that I was seen off this morning by one of my closest friends, with whom I had coffee and showed off some of my pictures from China. Let no one underestimate how awesome it is to be seen off by such a dear friend on the way to a journey. (And it's always wonderful when somebody else wants to see me just as much as I want to see them.)

Update 2 (8/15/10): A Brit informs me that in the UK, "seen off" is an expression that means 'to be tricked out of money'. Damn Brits. Naturally, I was referring to the fact that my friend specifically got up very early on Saturday morning to go to the bus station to hang with me and then say 'goodbye' before I went on the bus. And that's the dog's bollocks! (And that, by the way, is a particularly awesome British expression.)