Another Bout of Craziness

In this case, the last few days were UNEXPECTEDLY BUSY (preventing my writing).... and  were edgy and frustrating.... but I was instead just feeling ornery.  So, in this way, it was better than the gloomy feelings I had about the business of the time prior.  

The long and short of the story:

A while back I had submitted an abstract for an international science conference I was planning to attend.  "International" is truthful as it does draw scientists globally, but it is not as exciting as it sounds THIS YEAR, as this year it is being held in the United States.  But it is an important and valuable meeting.... and some of my undergraduate researchers are co-authors on it (very important and valuable for them as they are navigating the next steps in their career). 

One thing non-science folks may not realize.... is that getting to present at scientific meetings is a juried competition.  And, the bigger the meeting (aka more "prestigious" (hah, "cough"... not really more prestigious in my opinion)) the greater the potential that they have a submission FEE to have an abstract CONSIDERED.  

This meeting is one of those that thinks it is "high falutin" as all get out... and charges $300 (non-refundable) to just SUBMIT the abstract so they can decide IF they will let you present.  Again, there ARE some conferences that do this routinely... but MOST do not.  

I have been submitting abstracts to conferences to present research for decades, so I damn well know how to write an abstract.  I knew the research was sound.  

I also had to plan and purchase the tickets for travel, reserve hotel accommodations, and all the other usual things, which I did.  

So, I received an e-mail bright and early on Monday..... telling me my abstract had been REJECTED...... get this..... because it "did not report data."

BALDERDASH! (I would have liked to use far more vehement language here because I felt rather enraged, and I DID say much more vehement language under my breath.... but you can use your imagination.)

My abstract DID (of course) report data, and I was furious.  I do not know if the folks selecting abstracts were intoxicated when they were reading, or if perhaps some of the evaluators were skimping and feeding abstracts into some damn AI tool to try to get out of work, or who-the-hell knows.  

So.... I began my MISSION to get this rectified.  Any time I had at the U when I was not teaching was spent on this damnable process:

1.  I first spent a helluva lot of time phoning the governing body of conference to eventually get some contact e-mails of folks.  

2.  I then put together an angry (but, polite and subdued) e-mail showing my abstract and attempting to point out the profound error of their ways.  I then received notification from someone there that I had to submit a "FORMAL APPEAL" to their ruling..... without any indication in the e-mail of what a "FORMAL APPEAL" entailed or any sort of link to find such information. 

3.  I then scoured the organization's website to see if I could find ANYTHING talking about what a "FORMAL APPEAL" entailed.  After scanning for probably a good three hours, I gave up as there was absolutely NOTHING on the site indicating any sort of process, and hell, not even mentioning what happens when an abstract is rejected.

4.  Unwilling to give up, I then spent much of late Monday and much of the day, Tuesday, developing what I considered a "FORMAL APPEAL" and put together a document of ~seven pages which I attached to an e-mail of every person on the conference committee I could find.  I put "FORMAL APPEAL for Consideration of Pipe Tobacco's Abstract" as the heading of the e-mail.  Most of the document pointed out how my abstract DID present data, but I also spent considerable time explaining why the data are important, and a lot more as well.  I then sent the e-mail.

5.  This morning..... I received an e-mail simply stating that my abstract had been accepted.  No reference to my "FORMAL APPEAL" no indication of what had happened previously, no apology, no reference to any sort of problem with data...... NOTHING.... just a standard acceptance letter.  

So.... "All's well that ends well."..... I guess should be my motto.... but.... I still feel rather "spicy" about the whole damn thing.  But I am glad it is now accepted (as it should have initially been... not a damn thing was changed about it)...... but mostly.... I am especially glad for my student co-authors.  

But.... it was a whole helluva lot of my time (which is already scant enough) that DID NOT need to be devoted to such meaningless nonsense.  I will not get back that time.  This is why I did not write on Monday or Tuesday.

I can tell you.... I am looking forward to being able to be at the "Retiree's Cigar Group" tomorrow.  I hope THAT pans out.  And, now that the above fracus is over.... I can also return to enjoying living in the beautiful memories of my beloved pipes.  I am even now hoping/trying to get back into finishing up the "Father's Display" so I can finally allow myself a real bowlful of pipe tobacco too!

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