Conferencing
Dear Padawan,
I know. It must have felt very lonely last week, with most of us gone. I know Chef and I have barely been answering your emails for the past two weeks, and that I was only able to meet up with you once in the previous week. I know it must have felt like neither of us was giving a shit about your project nor about the degree you are completing it for.
I am sorry it did. And in spite of the fact that I had warned you weeks before that this was going to happen (I have the email that proves it), let me explain you why.
I was in Spain. I was in Spain along with quite a few hundreds of other scientists from our field.
Yes, I visited the Alhambra. Twice. Including once along with an Important Professor who enjoyed listening to me telling him about my projects (including, yes, yours) as much as joking around with me.
Yes, I walked the streets of Granada and the Albaícin neighborhood a lot. I actually spent a few hours doing so with dear friends that I don't see nearly often enough (friends with whom, incidentally, I tend to enjoy writing papers). I also took a number of pictures that a lot of conference attendees want to see. Oh, and did I mention that most of this was done on a Sunday?
Yes, I stayed up very late at night, sleeping less than three or four hours at a time for six days in a row. This, incidentally, is why I moved our meeting from today to tomorrow, in the hope that my brain is more receptive to whatever ideas and stupid enlightened questions you want to bounce at me.
For three nights in a row, I wandered around scientific posters until 11pm, discussing their work with the authors or, in one case, presenting mine (past, and not officially accredited, but mine enough that very smart people enjoyed my explanations and insights) for four hours straight. The exchange was very stimulating, and I have quite a few ideas of how to improve my projects (including, yes, yours). I have also been invited to give talks at various institutions as a result of these conversations.
Yes, I did stay up after that, and had beers and dinner with people. Some of them friends, some of them pals, all of them colleagues to a degree. I clinked glasses with labmates; our bound as a lab has never been so strong, but moreover some difficulties in our relationships have been smoothed out, and this is quite a good thing for the general atmosphere around you. I clinked glasses with professors who later invited me to give talks at their institutions; I clinked glasses with researchers who alluded to setting up collaborations together; I clinked glasses with people from our department I had never talked to (or even met) before.
Yes, I ended on the dance floor three times, including one in the biggest disco in Granada (and I wouldn't be surprised if you told me it was the biggest in the world, but admittedly I don't know much about discos). Whatever happened on that large dance floor is staying in Granada (even if you might see a few of us smirk when alluding to it, be reassured that I did nothing I'd be ashamed of), but whatever happens to me between 2 and 6 am certainly isn't any of your business. On other occasions I danced salsa with a Big Company researcher and a well-known lecturer, who then discussed my research with me on the following day.
Yes, I did speak much more French than usual. Some of it with a professor who invited me to join a research group she is trying to start, and in her own words she wanted to talk to me because I would be perfect for the job; some of it with a professor who invited me to apply for jobs at her research institution because "we need more people like you"; some of it, admittedly, with a famous guy who asked me the same question about my last name as the previous times we met (three and counting) and at some later point proceeded to wiggle his butt in front of my face (something absolutely not out of character for him). And I also spoke an unusual lot of German and quite a bit of Spanish (remember that my formal training in that language lasted the whole of three months, and you'll realize how straining this can be).
Yes, I went star gazing. First off, don't you think it would be a crime not to when the sky is clear and you're 2100 meters above sea level? Second, the director of our institute, who barely knows what it is that our group is doing, now gets out of his way to greet me.
Yes, I had tons of fun and "networked" like never before; but most of it by discussing great science with great scientists, including after 6pm and on weekend days, and that's also what my job is about. So please stop behaving like we'd all been on vacation on your personal tax payer dollar and check your attitude at the door tomorrow when we meet. Officemate cannot wait to see me verbally kick your ass and you don't want to give him that pleasure, do you?
And here, have a picture of the Alhambra and click to enlarge.
All the best, K².
