Traveling Man

So far, the travel has been good:

• With my N95 "bubble" mask, along with my three-layer cloth mask over the top of that to help hold it more strongly in position, I felt pretty confident within the airport and on the airplane itself.  
• Air travel is always exhausting, and this was no exception, but I do have to say that although I was rusty at it, it did go smoothly.  
• When my wife and I arrived at Atlanta Airport, we took the MARTA (the name of the subway/public transport system) from the airport to midtown Atlanta where our hotel was.  
• After we got things settled in the hotel, I left my wife to relax and traipsed the ~3/4 mile distance to the Convention Center where the meeting is being held.  As is my typical practice, I often do not stay at the Convention Center hotel where all the folks are "recommended" to stay.... because then it feels like 24-hour work the whole time.  Instead, I tend to stay away a bit from the conference site so that when I am done "science-ing" for the day, it feels also like a vacation as well.  I learned this technique/idea from the habits of my own mentor/advisor who did the same back in my doctoral study days.  It is a really good idea and has always worked well.  It is also often a bit cheaper than the "conference recommended hotel" often with more entertaining amenities.  
• When I got to the convention center, I obtained my formal registration documents, badges, program booklets, etc.  And, then I went to the informal "meet-and-greet" that happens the evening before all the science actually begins.  
• As I had feared, a LOT of the "old-timers" (my friends, who are all of a similar age to myself) did NOT attend this first in-person meeting since the start of Covid... but instead employed the "canary in the coal mine" strategy where they sent their student researchers to the meeting instead.  I had suspected this would be the case for several folks, as we scientists tend to be a somewhat cautious bunch.  Neither of my two pipe-smoking buddies attended, but I did meet several of their students.  There were a few "old-timers" who were there, which was nice, but while they are "friends/acquaintances" I did miss being able to see my closer friends who were not there.   However, one interesting friend/acquaintance was there and I ended up spending a fair amount of the meet-and-greet talking with him, Barry S.  

More tomorrow.  I have a huge number of things I want to write about.  However, I have to go and get to some talks now of research findings I really want to hear.  

However, let me conclude today with a bit of running information:  

• I had fortunately completed my 55 miles (~89 km) for the week PRIOR to travel, so I did not need to run during the weekend, which helped a helluva lot during all the travel.  
• On Monday, July 4th, the city was awash with all sorts of city festivities which involved the use of a helluva lot of temporary fencing all around the downtown to corral folks into specific areas to allow for a parade and other festivities associated with the 4th (fireworks, music performances, etc) to occur.  So, even though I would rather have ran outside.... I made the wise choice and ran on the treadmill at the hotel "fitness center" on Monday.  I ran 11 miles (~18 km).  Happily, I chose wisely and had the fitness center all to myself at the early morning time I ran.  
• Today, now that the crowds were gone, and the downtown area was at a more typical early morning urban pace.... even though the temporary routing fencing was still up... I was able to run outside.  I ended up running from my hotel.... watching VERY CAREFULLY for upheavals in the sidewalk, until I reached Piedmont Park.  There I could begin to run more freely as they had smoother trails!  It was very enjoyable seeing all the sites.  I think I will be back here every morning for running to explore further.  In total, today, I ran 12.3 miles ( ~20 km).  

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