Didn't I See Your Boobs at RSA 2008?

Aaahhhhhhhhh.

That, if you need a translation, was a long sigh of relief. We are back in Reno, both Squidge and I having survived my hair-brained plot to bear her along with me to my conference in Seattle. All told, it went considerably better than I could have expected. The flights both up and back went smoothly, with a bit of squiggly fussy boredom the worst reaction from Squidge. My aunt and uncle, who live in Auburn and who we stayed with, were kind enough to purchase a stroller and a car seat (there is another baby on the way in the family, so they were thinking they could pass it on after we used it) and that greatly reduced the amount of crap we had to lug along. My uncle had the carseat installed when we arrived, which was great, although we did end up spending an extra hour in the airport parking lot trying to adjust the stupid straps! Oh the miracles of modern engineering!

The conference was a big one, densely populated with, well, rhetoric rock stars. I always joke with one of my colleagues in the department that you know you're a rhet/comp geek when you get weak knees over the big names in our field, and at this conference, those were the people peeing next to you in the breaks between sessions. Those were also the people strolling by as I hurriedly breastfed my kid in the breaks between sessions. I am convinced when I go on the job market a few years from now, someone is going to remember me as the girl who had her boobs on display in the Seattle Westin!

The only reason the whole thing was doable was the generosity of my mom and her sister, my Aunt Mickey, who spent Friday and Saturday hanging out in downtown Seattle and popping back and forth to the Westin every couple of hours so I could fuel the little jet. Friday I watched some really great presentations, and Saturday I presented my paper, which (or so I think) went pretty well. Sunday I took the day off from the conference so we could see my cousin graduate from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma and spend some time with my mom's brother and his family--a lovely coincidence with regards to time and location. Monday it was back at the conference without the little bug, who went with my mom to visit one of her old high school friends. The weekend passed ridiculously fast, and now I am back in Reno with a Squidge who is just slightly more mommy-clingy...she missed her daddy but got a leetle TOO used to have me to herself. I need to get her converted back or I will never get a break.

Now onto the next big thing...I really need to start planning for the summer school class I'm teaching which begins June 9th, but thankfully Squidge gave me a good excuse to be a sack of potatoes today. She had a doctor's appointment this morning and another round of evil vaccinations, so we spent the day at home napping, snuggling, and nursing, doped up on Tylenol, having a Star Wars marathon (dorky I know. But somehow even though we own them I never had watched the new #2 and #3, so I remedied that.) As to the list of errands I need to accomplish, I quote from the original Scarlett..."I'll think about that tomorrow."