My friends Rita and Keri, who work at the CDC in Atlanta, hosted a get-together for some Indiana University alums. The evening was planned as a "poker night" reminiscent of the times when we would play poker as graduate students, although--not unexpectedly--the evening was more about chatting than playing cards (especially, when, at the end, we didn't end up cashing in our chips anyway). The night was great, Keri makes a mean sangria and Rita has a gorgeous abode. Sadly, however, I do not have the young-puppy energy of my friends and so started to wilt early (around 12:30-1AM). But, as is not uncommon for me, I ended up being cajoled into stay around more than an hour longer than I should have, especially since I hadn't done much of anything as a start toward the talk that I am giving this afternoon. After spending $40 on a cab to get back to the hotel, I ended up not getting to sleep until 3:30am.
Phil Gorski came knocking on my door at 7:45 to pick up the plaques I had hauled down here to give him for the political sociology awards event. It was a good immediate jolt to start the day. I tried to look like I had just been awakened when I answered the door, but I suspect the tousled hair and mumbling, confused demeanor tipped Phil off.
Anyway, my mysterious half-sister Dahlia may have just saved the day. I realized that I didn't bring any of the various drives for my laptop with me, so I didn't have any easy way to get the overheads I just made for my talk off my computer. I thought then about e-mailing the presentation to the Kinko's downstairs, and got their e-mail address, but then the ever-frustrating SSCC webmail interface didn't work. But then I realized I could just have Dahlia send the attachments for me, and, after some whining about my general disorganization and incompetence, she obliged.
