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Conference (etc.) Recap

First Published: 2023 June 25

Draft 1

So I’ve been absent another week and a half or so. In my defense, I was watching someone graduate, and then at a conference. In my offense,1 I could have made time for this. Anyways, in the interest of not doxxing my family2 I won’t be talking about the graduation here3. Instead, I’d like to talk about a conference I went to last week.

Despite being the most important conference that my group goes to,4 the conference is nearly unheard of. Even my friend who goes to the university that hosted it didn’t know it was happening. But, it was a great time to bond with my group, reconnect with old friends,5 meet new friends, and, of course, listen to a ton of incredible research talks. I also gave a talk, but it was far from incredible.

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  1. that seems like the wrong phrasing, but it is a nice antonym here↩︎

  2. which I may have done in the past, but now seems like as good of a time as any to try having a bit of CS literacy,↩︎

  3. even though I’m nearly positive everyone who has or will read this blog will know who graduated from where and when↩︎

  4. a feeling that seems to be shared among a number of people↩︎

  5. read: people I met last year at this conference and then forgot about for a calendar year↩︎

  6. though i did need to walk for parts of it↩︎

  7. which does remind me of a joke. the short version is two priests smoke together. One asks if it’s ok to smoke while you pray, and is told no. The other asks if it’s ok to pray while smoking and is obviously told yes. Moral of the joke: make sure prayer is what you add to other activities, rather than vice versa. (or I suppose, find ways to sanctify anything you do, etc)↩︎

  8. i.e. I’m not writing the chapter an hour before it’s posted. I don’t really want to finish it before going to bed, but I know I’ll be grateful tomorrow if I do it today.↩︎

  9. read last musing for a rant about this word in the footnotes↩︎

  10. read (I wonder if there’s a meaning behind when I use read versus i.e.): I’m hoping it lowers the activation barrier enough that I am actually able to do so.↩︎