New York State Of Mind

I went to NYC for my second SIOP Annual Conference last weekend, which was a good time.  In a time-honored tradition of attendees, I skipped certain seminars knowing that I'd be able to contact certain presenters and purchase an audio version including powerpoint slides after the conference was over.  Being in a real city (New York) as opposed to a lame city (Dallas) encouraged this tremendously. 

As always, some of the presentations were very intriguing, some were okay, and some were mind-numbingly boring.  Thanks in part to overlapping seminars, I don't think I've ever seen more people bail presentations early.  In their (our?) defense, it really wasn't in your best interests to sit and be bored when you could just dip into another seminar down the hall or on the next floor.  My focus was on subjects that applied to my current position. 

A pleasant surprise awaited me when I went to the Saturday post-day happy hour, and found that my grad program alma mater was hosting its own reception on another floor.  Bonus: ours had an open bar.  I got to see old professors (one of whom is now retired), I got to meet current and former students of my grad program, and I got to drink for free.  I also met up with Kristine, a friend I made at last year's conference who goes to Penn State. 

I stayed with Joe, and hung out with Dave, Tom, Noah and Maya.  I also got to see Daina's baby boy -- that was touching.  The Shake Shack in Madison Square Park called my name, and I couldn't avoid eating a red-meat burger.  Shake Shack's burgers are like In-N-Out, only not quite as tasty and MUCH more expensive.  Nonetheless, they are damn good.

Some of the best news I had all weekend?  Next year's SIOP conference is in San Francisco.  SCORE!  How awesome is that?!   It's like my professional organization is on a tour of my favorite U.S. cities.  I only have a couple of friends left out there, and I'll probably need to rent a car for 3 days, but hopefully I can work out some cheap lodging option...or maybe make a vacation out of it or something, which would justify the expense.  In any case, I am SO there.

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