Well, I looked up where I am on the roster at the prairie conference this summer (midafternoon of the second day...and there's not much on the first day which is good, it'll give me a chance to recover from traveling/check out the vendors/maybe wander around town some if Winona isn't too big and scary).

I have a half-hour.

I have never been granted a half-hour for a talk before (at least not in my memory). Usually it's 15-20 minutes, or if you're at the big prestige-meetings, 10.

I am wondering - having looked at the slate of presentations - if the high price of gas, sharply diminished university and agency travel funds, and the general unappealingness of flying these days has combined to reduce the number of people who are going out to conferences.

I continue to do it, because (a) this year I have something interesting to present and (b) I'm still kind of in "I'm not worthy!" panic-mode about getting Full Professor (when that issue comes up in a couple years), and giving a presentation (and hopefully getting a paper out) every year is a good way to show I'm not just deadwood.

But I am having to shell out quite a lot out-of-pocket for this trip. (As I did last year for the Chicago trip for the BSA meetings). Not that I mind; my traveling is mostly restricted to visiting family (cheap, once you've paid for transportation) and I don't consider going somewhere and lying on a beach for a week to be exactly fun. (But I do consider getting to hear about exciting research people are doing fun, and meeting with people who have similar interests, and maybe, just maybe, finding some neat bookstores or yarn shops or something while I'm there).

I looked over the roster of presenters for people I know. With the exception of one chap I know a little (spoke with him at some length at a previous conference about soil invertebrates), the only names I recognize are ones I know from the top of journal articles. So it may be a bit of a lonely conference for me, if there aren't some non-presenters I happen to know showing up. (And I'm not sure how likely that is, once again given the price of gas, the cost of travel [most universities at least won't give you travel funds if you're not actually presenting], and the general horribleness of flying.)

But whatever. It will be a chance to be in a new town and hear a bunch of talks and maybe meet some new friends.

I'll have to practice my little talk though and make sure it's "respectably" long enough; I think I was shooting for a time slot of 15 minutes when I planned it, but I can always add in more natural history and more management considerations at the end.

I wonder, if gas continues to go up and airlines continue to treat passengers like cattle if eventually scientific meetings will die out a little. Or if only the real high-powered types will go (which will be sad for me, because I have to recognize it: I am not a high-powered type. I am a teaching professor who does a little research on the side). Or if there will be some new kind of "virtual meeting" thing where people set up webcameras and give their talks from their home institution, or make online posters they put up and have live chats scheduled to discuss.

And while it's not the same as going to a new place and getting to meet people and go on real field trips and such, I have to admit I'd not be heartbroken to do my research presentations that way - I wouldn't have to worry about getting to the place, or finding a safe hotel for a woman traveling alone, and I'd get to sleep in my own bed at night.

Because I find the older I get, the more the "excitement" of travel begins to pale against the comfort of sleeping in my own bed. (Especially with what I've heard about bedbugs in some hotels, ew.). Of course, once they perfect teleportation, it will all be a moot point, because we'll ALL (well, at least those who can afford the teleportation fees) be able to travel ANYWHERE and still sleep in our own beds at night.

(And honestly? In some future Utopia? I don't care about the Jetsons flying cars or the replicators or the robot maids. What I'd really like is a teleporter...I'd be able to go to my old professor's retirement parties with no effort, I'd be able to drop in on my brother and sister-in-law on their birthdays and take them out to dinner, I'd be able to see Turkey without actually having to use the infamous Turkish toilets, I'd be able to pop in to Liberty of London or La Droguerie or Purl Soho and buy craft supplies in person...)