Raingear

It was misty with occasional showers this morning during my regular routine of walking Coma, feeding the birds (and squirrels), eating breakfast and watching Morning Joe. When it was time to get dressed I decided it was too wet to ride my bike so I'd walk. I put on my running shoes, blue jeans and a light turtleneck, duct taped the holes that Coma has put in my bright yellow Mickey Mouse poncho and put it on over my backpack. I topped it all off with the rain hat I got for fishing in Alaska. I got some interesting looks on my walk to campus, but everything in my backpack is dry.

I guess I'll never learn to say, "No!" I've agreed to be the "local chair" of an international conference on Evolutionary Computation at the New Orleans Ritz Carlton in June of 2011. Dr. Smith (ISE Department chair and my Adaptive Optimization teacher) said she'd had a difficult time finding anyone in New Orleans to be a local presence. She spoke with Tulane and found that they had eliminated most of their engineering programs after Katrina. She spoke with UNO and found that they did not have anyone interested in evolutionary computation. She asked if I'd consider helping. Of course, I said "Yes," thinking how hard can that be? Today I got an email asking for a digital picture and the link to my personal website for the convention website and I realize this may be a really big deal. I won't worry about this today; I'll think about it later...I finished Gone with the Wind on my Ipod on the way back here from New Orleans.