4Cs

Back from San Francisco and lacking the time to write a proper report. Scattered thoughts? Why not.

Lew and I stayed at our favorite hole-in-the-wall, the Astoria, next to Chinatown's entrance. Tiny rooms, single beds, free bagels in the a.m., and an easy fifteen-minute walk to the Hilton. One day, two Chinese businessmen got in a fistfight in the lobby. It's like a Warren Zevon song at that place. In other words, WAY more personality than the Hilton. Plus free wi-fi. Eat it, corporate hotel.

Cheesy school pride? Heck yeah. Arizona put on a good party for good friends. Days later, Arizona makes the tourney. Good week to be a Wildcat.

A big huge publisher, who shall remain nameless, spent obscene amounts of dough in the hopes we'd all go home and make all our students by their books. I liked the huge projection of the corporate logo onto the wall. Their bartenders made nice 7&7s. The food was pretty bad though.

Browsing at City Lights was a highlight of the trip. Wish I could have rented a room there. Lew and I took a bus out to Haight-Ashbury, ate pizza, and listened to a drum circle in Golden Gate Park.

Dude checking IDs at the SF airport looked at my license and said, "Is Berkley, Michigan, like Berkeley, California?" I responded in the negative.

Okay, one point about the business of the trip. Our panel on empathy was good fun. Decent-sized audience for an 8 a.m. slot...and they asked way smart questions. Folks from another panel on empathy attended our session and we were glad to reciprocate later that day. Plans to collaborate began to be hatched. Cool.