Home from Chicago

Well, I made it out of Chicago.

The snow hit late Saturday afternoon and it was ugly. The wind was howling and the stuff was coming down in icy, wet sheets. Many flights were cancelled Saturday night and I wondered if my Sunday afternoon flight was on the chopping block as well. Thankfully, there was a lull in the weather Sunday afternoon before things picked up again that night and I was able to fly back to Seattle without a hitch.

I enjoyed Chicago. They people have a good vibe. They seem very down-to-earth and honest. I love Seattle, but the folks here can be a little too full of themselves, take themselves too seriously. The mid-western sense of humor was a nice change.

The McGraw-Hill focus group that I took part in taught me a lot about the corporate world and made me very thankful for being in academia. Although I make a lot less than someone working at McGraw-Hill, I have a freedom of thought and opinion that is priceless. It makes me think of that Utah Phillips song where he asks, "What sense does it make to give someone your brain for eight hours a day on the presumption that they will give it back to you in an unaltered state? Fat chance!" I may not be rich, but I am me and I don't have to worry about compromising what I believe in because someone else doesn't like it. This is one of the beautiful things about getting tenure. Not many jobs give you that kind of security.

So now I'm back in Seattle. The weather got cold again, the forecast says we might even get snow tomorrow. I don't know about that, but I did have to scrape my windshield this morning. I don't mind the Seattle winter too much. It recharges my batteries and makes summer even sweeter.