Sydney - June 16, 2006

As I predicted, I don't have much to report of today. The morning started with my having to give a brief introduction about ACR to the general session of the conference. It was nice to get up before the whole conference group and talk about ACR (made me feel good profile-wise), but it wasn't a big deal. I had spent very little time thinking about exactly what I was going to say and assumed that as usual, when I got up there, I would think of something to say. I did have my PowerPoint slides and knew what the two key points were that I was going to make, but beyond that, I was completely winging it. Fortunately, I didn't stray beyond my ten-minute time limit and I thought it went pretty well.

Then, I attended sessions all day, drank coffee during the breaks, mingled with other professors, etc. This evening, we have a reception at St. Andrews College at the University of Sydney. That may go quite late and then it is back here to sleep before tomorrow's sessions.

The St. Andrews reception was great. This is the oldest college in the southern hemisphere and they had bagpipes playing when we entered. Obviously, it is a Scottish college and the dinner was great. I even got to have haggis! Now I am among those few and proud who have actually eaten haggis. Of course, that was not the main meal and the salmon they served was exquisite. Very tender and well cooked. There was a ton of wine and I enjoyed it all. I was seated at the head table with the conference organizers, keynote speakers, etc. Great conversation and overall a fun night.

Maybe I'll just step out a bit tomorrow (my last day in Australia) so I can at least feel I walked out of the hotel during the conference (believe it or not, I haven't done that yet). I haven't really done any shopping of any kind and I should perhaps think of some small (light) gifts for the kids. That will be easy. Finding something for Jerrie and others is next to impossible.